It's already happening...in the future you wont be reading this article, you will be watching it. By the year 2017, Cisco forecasts that video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic. Marketers who don't plan on using video for the majority of their content strategy in the future will most likely fall to the wayside. It would take an individual over 5 million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks each month in 2019.
So what does this new wave of online video mean for people in sales or presales? Cutomers sure are patient in getting the information they want when they want is right? Um...NO. Buyers want shorter sales cycles, and expect more control, leaving little time for customer discovery. Have you heard of the rule of 24? Here's the rundown: customer sales cycles are shrinking at an astonishing rate. The time you and your team have to prep for a sales or pre-sales client pitch, or get them the information they want before a competitor beats you to it, has gone from months, to days, to hours, to minutes (you see where we are going with this).
As buyers become more accustomed to watching videos, they will be expecting them everywhere they go especially when making purchasing decisions...because it's easier, quicker, and more convienient for them. They will want to see your product in action, from the beginning of the sales cycle to the close, so sales and marketing professionals will need to incorporate a strong video strategy from the begining of the sales cycle, all the way to the product demo and beyond. One key to a great video strategy, is setting realistic expectations into the cost and creation of the videos. Which we will be talking about in coming articles. In addition to that, video analtyics (who is watching them, when they stop watching them, etc.) is the secret sauce for knowing how successful your videos are in creating meaningful interaction with prospective customers, and ultimately giving your sales team essential tools and insight to close the deal.