How to Approach Inbound Video Marketing vs. Outbound Video Marketing
Inbound and outbound video marketing are two distinct approaches, each with its own objectives, strategies, and audience targeting methods. Understanding the differences and knowing how to approach each one can significantly enhance your overall video marketing strategy.
Inbound Video Marketing
Inbound video marketing is a customer-centric approach, where the goal is to attract, engage, and convert customers by providing valuable, relevant content that naturally draws them in. It's about creating videos that your audience actively seeks out or discovers because it addresses their needs or pain points.
Key Characteristics:
Value-driven content: Focuses on providing value to the viewer, often through educational, entertaining, or informative content.
Audience pulls you in: Rather than reaching out directly to prospects, inbound marketing encourages them to come to you by offering content they find interesting, helpful, or entertaining.
Long-term strategy: The focus is on building relationships and trust with your audience over time.
How to Approach Inbound Video Marketing:
Focus on Educational Content:
Tutorials & How-To Videos: Teach your audience something valuable or solve common problems they face. This could include how-to guides, product demos, or troubleshooting advice.
Webinars and Expert Talks: Offer in-depth discussions or insights on topics of interest to your audience, positioning your brand as an industry expert.
Product Explainers: Create videos that explain how your products or services work, or how they solve specific problems.
Create Entertaining and Relatable Content:
Storytelling: Use storytelling to connect with your audience emotionally. Share customer stories, brand stories, or success stories that resonate with your target audience.
User-Generated Content: Encourage your audience to create and share their own videos, which adds authenticity and social proof to your brand.
Optimize for SEO:
YouTube SEO: Use appropriate keywords in video titles, descriptions, and tags to improve discoverability. Since YouTube is the second largest search engine, optimizing for it can help your videos rank and get discovered by people actively searching for content in your niche.
Video Transcriptions and Subtitles: Adding transcriptions to your videos improves accessibility and also helps search engines index your content for relevant queries.
Video Playlists: Organize related videos into playlists on platforms like YouTube to increase watch time and improve discoverability.
Create Content for Different Stages of the Buyer’s Journey:
Awareness Stage: Produce videos that introduce your brand or highlight industry trends and challenges.
Consideration Stage: Offer content that dives deeper into your products, services, or solutions (e.g., comparisons, case studies).
Decision Stage: Provide content such as customer testimonials, reviews, and in-depth product demos to encourage conversion.
Use Call-to-Actions (CTAs) That Build Relationships:
Subscribe & Follow: Ask viewers to subscribe or follow your channel for more content. Building an email list through video CTAs can help nurture leads.
Engage with Comments: Encourage viewers to comment with questions or opinions. Engage with them directly to build a community and foster relationships.
Examples of Inbound Video Content:
How-to guides: “How to use our product in 5 easy steps.”
Customer testimonials: A video of a customer explaining how your solution solved their pain point.
Behind-the-scenes content: Show the people behind your brand and share stories that humanize your business.
Outbound Video Marketing
Outbound video marketing is a more interruptive, direct approach, where the goal is to reach potential customers through proactive, often paid efforts. These videos are typically targeted at prospects who may not yet be aware of your brand or offering, and your objective is to capture their attention and drive immediate action.
Key Characteristics:
Direct outreach: Outbound marketing involves pushing content to your audience, often through ads, promotional videos, or outreach via social media.
Paid promotions: This strategy often relies on paid channels such as YouTube ads, Facebook video ads, or even TV commercials.
Short-term goals: Outbound marketing typically aims to drive quick actions, like clicks, sign-ups, or purchases.
How to Approach Outbound Video Marketing:
Craft Compelling Video Ads:
Short and Engaging: The video should quickly grab attention, typically within the first few seconds. Focus on an eye-catching hook, problem-solution narrative, and a strong CTA.
Product Demonstrations: Showcase the features and benefits of your product in an easily digestible format. Make sure the value proposition is clear from the start.
Limited-Time Offers: Create urgency with time-sensitive promotions, discounts, or sales.
Retargeting Videos: Use retargeting ads to reach people who have interacted with your website or previous videos but haven't yet converted.
Use Personalized Video Outreach:
Personalized Video Emails: Send personalized video messages to prospects or existing customers through email. These videos could be used to follow up on inquiries, answer questions, or showcase new products tailored to their needs.
Targeting Specific Demographics: With outbound video marketing, you can use data to target specific demographics, interests, or behaviors. Craft different messages for different segments of your audience.
Use Video for Lead Generation:
Lead Magnet Videos: Offer free content like downloadable guides or eBooks in exchange for contact information. Create videos that explain the benefits of signing up for your content or services.
Webinars or Live Events: Host live video sessions that require registration. These can be educational or product-focused, and the goal is to convert viewers into leads during the event.
Maximize Paid Video Advertising:
YouTube Ads: Use skippable or non-skippable YouTube ads to get in front of a large, targeted audience. Set clear objectives for each campaign, such as brand awareness, traffic, or conversions.
Facebook and Instagram Video Ads: These platforms offer highly targeted advertising capabilities, allowing you to serve video content to specific segments based on age, location, behavior, and more.
Use Direct CTAs to Drive Immediate Action:
Click to Purchase/Sign-Up: The goal of outbound video is often to drive immediate conversions. Use clear, action-oriented CTAs like “Shop Now,” “Sign Up Today,” or “Learn More.”
Lead Capture Forms: Add lead forms directly in your videos, especially on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, to capture details like email addresses for future nurturing.
Examples of Outbound Video Content:
Pre-roll or Mid-roll Video Ads: Ads that play before or during YouTube videos.
Facebook/Instagram Ads: Short promotional clips or product demos targeted at specific audiences.
Sales Promo Videos: A video highlighting a seasonal sale, limited-time offer, or product launch.
Which Approach to Use?
Both inbound and outbound video marketing can complement each other. The key is to understand your goals and audience at each stage of the customer journey:
Use inbound video to build awareness, educate, and nurture prospects over time.
Use outbound video to drive immediate action, reach new audiences, and retarget potential customers.
A balanced mix of both can create a more comprehensive, effective video marketing strategy.
