How to Use Videos to Generate More Leads for Software Brands

Video marketing is the most effective way to generate leads for different types of businesses. In fact, 86% of marketers prefer video over other forms of marketing content. Even consumers want to see videos more than blogs, emails, and the like. 

Therefore, it’s only appropriate to use videos to generate leads for your brand or website. This post will tell you how to go about it. But, first let’s learn:

What is Lead Generation?

A lead is a person or a group of people who show interest in your product or service, in terms of marketing and sales. 

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospective customers to your business or brand and converting them into paying customers mostly executed via various marketing campaigns. Lead generation is an intriguing style of digital marketing as it transforms a normal customer into a business relationship. 

It can be a bit overwhelming especially if you haven’t tried this marketing method before. But, lead generation can really help you attract new customers and grow your business. It is highly important when you’re launching a new business in the market or revamping your existing marketing strategies. 

Types of Lead Generation

There are several types of leads that you can use for the lead generation strategy of your business. The way you market to your customers will most likely depend on which stage of the buyer’s journey they’re at. Following are the main types of lead:

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• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) - These types of leads find your business via an inbound marketing channel such as digital marketing techniques or social media platforms. 

• Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) - These types of leads are researched and examined by your marketing team or sales team. They display a sufficient amount of interest in a specific product or service so you can move them towards conversion. 

• Product Qualified Leads (PQL) - They are the ones who’ve already purchased and used your product or service, and found it immensely useful and beneficial. Usually, it involves customers signing up for a free trial of the product/service. 

• Service Qualified Leads - These people speak to your customer support team when they want to make a purchase. For example, to try a free version of a product or service or to upgrade to the Premium version. 

How To Use Videos To Generate Leads 

The lead generation process involves the following steps. 

1. Write Engaging Email Scripts 

You can’t just attach links to your videos in an email copy and expect the customers to take action. Following are the essential steps to craft an engaging email copy that compels your subscribers to watch and respond to the videos. 

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The Subject Line 

• Make sure that the subject line is short and interesting. It should arouse curiosity among the readers
• Avoid using words like discount, unique, exciting, etc as these indicate red flags both to the readers and their email service providers

Opening Line 

Your opening line must be eye-catching, if you wish to attract your audience from the beginning. Avoid starting your email with - “Hi, my name is….”.  Instead, begin with sentences like:

• I enjoyed reading your article/blog on..
• I noticed that…
• Congratulations on the success of your…
• (Mutual connection) recommended….. 

These opening lines means that you have something in common with the person you are writing an email to, whether through a mutual connection, or an event you attended, etc. Such connections intrigue the readers to read the entire email. 

Call To Action

Your email copy must have a clear and interesting CTA that compels readers to click on it. The following tips will help you get more people to take action:

• You can use words like “Get the Discount’, “Go for the Free Trial”, “Reserve your Spot”, etc
• The word count of your CTA shouldn’t be more than 2-3 words long. In some cases, you can use five to six words but not more than that
• Use phrases that showcase urgency such as, “70% discount”, “Hurry! Only Three Left in Stock”, “For a Limited Period Only”

Closing & Signature 

Try to write a compelling conclusion of your email so it offers a clear path to take action. 

• Can you spare some time from your schedule to talk about it?
• Do you have 30 minutes to catch up tomorrow or day after?
• How do you like the proposal?

An email signature should never try too hard to impress. Instead, keep it short, concise and aligned with your brand. 

You can include your email address and a link to your social profile. Never use any images or quotes. 

2. Make an Attractive Thumbnail 

A thumbnail of your video creates the first impression on your audience. So, make sure it’s nice and catchy enough to prompt them to play your video. The viewer must get an idea of what your explainer video is about just by looking at the thumbnail. 

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There are various free software or thumbnail creation tools available on the internet. You can choose either of them to create your own customized thumbnail. All you have to do is:

• Pick a template
• Upload your photo/image, or add icons, banners, etc
• Choose your fonts style and write the text
• Choose the preferred colours

3. A/B Testing of your Sales Script

It’s always recommended to write several scripts for your video and send it to different people so that you get to know the script that performs the best and can be used for the cold reach campaigns for best results. 

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It’s also important to know how to create a good sales video script. Creating a video without a script will result in an unstructured and poor-quality video. Therefore, it's imperative to write an engaging video script for your brand. 

4. Use Good Quality Equipments & Tools 

There’s no denying that you can use your smartphone camera to shoot videos. However, you’ll need a professional camera if you want professional-quality videos. Besides, you’ll have to get a tripod, microphone, good lighting as well as video editing software. 

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Beginners can use a good camcorder, but I suggest you use a DSLR if you can afford it. When it comes to microphones, both USB and lapel work excellent. 

An umbrella light or softbox should be enough for lighting, but if you’re shooting in a poorly-lit room, ring lights are the best option. Then comes the editing part, for which you can use a good video editing software depending on the type of the project. Both free and paid editing software are available online for creating captivating videos for marketing, sales, entertainment, and the like. 

5. Examine Video Metrics 

Keep a track of all the video metrics so that you are aware of what’s working and what’s not. This way you’ll know which videos are liked by your audience, and which ones aren’t helping them. 

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There are three fundamental metrics that must be observed:

• View count - It helps you determine whether your thumbnail is compelling enough or not
• Watch-time - By keeping a close eye on the average watch-time, you’ll be able to know the time duration people spend watching your videos. It’ll help you determine whether you should keep your videos long or short. 
• Click-through rate - This lets you know about how your CTAs perform and whether they need any changes or not. 

Final Words

Videos are a perfect medium to generate leads for software brands or any other type of business. Moreover, it also translates to knowing how to showcase video content to decision-makers while choosing the right channel. 

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