6 Video Prospecting Tips to Get More Leads

The inbox and social media timeline is flooded with emails and videos, respectively. We won’t go as far as saying they have lost importance. Nowadays, people engage with emails and videos only if they offer something useful and unique.

That said combining these two can offer the impetus that your email outreach needs. Furthermore, the best way to grab the prospect’s attention is through video prospecting.

What Is Video Prospecting and Why Use It?

Video prospecting is a marketing tool that allows brands to reach out to their target audience with compelling information about the product or service. It has emerged as one of the best techniques to increase conversion.

It’s the right time to adopt video prospecting because businesses are looking to stay ahead of the competition with new marketing methods.

Plus, nowadays, it’s quite easy to record a video with a smartphone and hire video post-production services to create a professionally created business video.

Video prospecting is certainly different and better than standard tools such as text emails, regular videos, and cold phone calls.

Reasons to Use Video Prospecting

Allows You to Express Your Personality: The chance of the prospect accepting and agreeing to your message drastically increases if the message is conveyed with conviction. This is possible via video prospecting where you get to show your personality.

Adds Personal Touch to Communication: When you personalize the message by using the prospect’s name and addressing his/her pain points, the video has a greater impact. The listeners will feel their time and opinion are valued. Plus, videos with a personal touch will remove the fears and doubts that the audience has about your product or service.

Improves Engagement: Video prospecting improves engagement with the help of visual elements, polls, surveys, etc. Video prospecting follows the technique of ‘show, don’t tell’. You’ll remember the product better after seeing it and watching it in action. Similarly, video prospecting encourages the audience to get involved by seeking their opinion via polls, surveys, etc.

6 Tips to Improve Video Prospecting

You’re already on the right path if the lead prospecting campaign includes video content. The following are some essential points of a successful video prospecting strategy.

(1) Understand Your Audience

Earlier in the article, we saw how ‘personalization’ is a major feature of prospecting videos. It would be impossible to personalize the content without knowing the target audience.

Hence, know who you’re talking to, what’s their status in the organization, what are their pain points, and a brief understanding of their likes and dislikes.

Perform in-depth research to learn about the prospect you’re targeting. Focus on the challenges they are facing and whether you have a solution to meet the challenge.

You need to understand the target audience to tailor your message to suit their needs. Bear in mind that ‘tailoring content’ doesn’t mean promising something you can’t deliver or misleading the prospect.

Tailoring means personalizing the content to improve engagement and increase the prospect’s interest in your product or service.

Fitness on the Go 

Here is a video that uses personalization to grab the prospect’s attention, puts the person at ease, and gets the message across effectively.

In the video, from the title to how Kara addresses her prospect, everything is personalized. Kara, from Fitness on the Go, uses the prospect’s name which makes the message more personal and lighthearted.

She also mentions a common acquaintance, which further increases the chance of engagement and conversion.

(2) The Ideal Video Prospecting Formula

No two videos are alike and they shouldn’t be. That said most prospecting videos follow a standard formula or a set of good practices that work for all niches and target audiences.

The following are the five essentials of a prospecting video:

• Reveal why you’re contacting the prospect

• Briefly highlight the challenges or pain points faced by the prospect

•  Offer your solution to their pain points

• Share positive results you have already achieved with previous clients

• Conclude with an effective Call to Action (CTA)

Infuse some energy and enthusiasm into the video so that the prospect is immediately hooked to the video. But, don’t overdo it.

Whether you’re using a webcam or a high-end camera, always check the video and make necessary edits before sending it out.

Avoid publishing poorly recorded videos just for the sake of showcasing authenticity. If your budget permits, it’s prudent to rope in a professional video creator.

There is a lot more you can do to improve engagement with the video. Adding a pinch of animation or using slides to highlight important points are just two ideas to grab the prospect’s attention.

You can tinker with the formula to suit the video format and content. Your target audience and their problems should be the main focus of your script.  

(3) Pay Attention to the Video Thumbnail

Despite engaging content, your prospecting video will have no impact on the audience, if the prospect doesn’t even play the video.

The prospecting video, so carefully crafted and personalized, might be important to you. But, for the prospect, it’s one of the many he or she will come across in a day.

The video must invite attention. You can grab the prospect’s interest by using an effective thumbnail. The thumbnail is the banner image that the viewer would see just before playing the video.

In addition to being inviting and friendly, the thumbnail image must convey the core message of the content. Do not use thumbnail images that mislead the audience.

Prospects react positively to thumbnails if the image features a face; adding a positive, expressive face is even better. Thumbnails with minimal text are better than long texts because viewers consider text-heavy thumbnails boring.

Keep the thumbnail simple and clean. That’s because images that try to convey too much information often drive away the viewers from playing the video.

(4) Include a Call to Action (CTA)

You can experiment with the ingredients of a successful prospecting video all you want. But, there is one feature indispensable to this type of video. Yes, every prospecting video must include a Call to Action (CTA).

Every marketing video should include a call to action and a prospecting video is no different. Don’t expect the viewer to do what you want if you don’t direct them to take a particular action.

The call to action could be anything from ‘click here to learn more about the service,’ ‘visit this page to buy the product,’ or ‘click here to join the event’.

Do not restrict the CTA to just the video. If the prospecting video accompanies a supporting copy, include the CTA in the text as well.

A call to action in isolation has little chance of inducing the prospect to take action. Also, mention what the viewer can expect in exchange for doing what you want. The value proposition could be anything from a free book, or free content audit, to discount codes.

Furthermore, keep the call to action clear and concise. CTAs that confuse won’t encourage the audience to take action.

(5) Style, Tone, and Presentation

Even though you have plenty to share with the audience, your prospects might not share the same enthusiasm, at least not at the start of the video.

Hence, value their time by keeping the prospecting video short, preferably less than 2 minutes. A concise video that’s less than 120 seconds is ideal to introduce yourself or your brand, presenting an overview of how you can help the audience, and promise more information on a web page or email.

We regret discussing the subject line so late in the article. The email subject line has the potential to make or break your email campaigns.

The subject line that you use must entice the potential customer to open the email. It should be short, friendly, and personalized.

In prospecting videos, almost always you’ll have a person addressing the prospect. You have a better chance of attracting and holding the attention of the audience if the person in the video makes eye contact.

This is opposed to reading from a paper placed down. Make sure the person looks at the camera. This will give the impression to the audience that the person in the video is directly addressing them.

Furthermore, keep the language simple, the style casual, and the tone friendly. The prospects focus equally on the message and how it’s delivered.

(6) Include Testimonials or Case Studies to Improve the Trust

No amount of personalized, friendly content will make the prospects take action if they don’t trust the product or service.

The primary thought in their minds while watching your video is whether the product or service can solve their problem.

You need to bridge the trust gap and show them (and not tell them) why they need to trust you. You can build trust only through case studies, reviews, and testimonials.

Bear in mind presenting your credentials through case studies and testimonials is not the same as bragging about your product or achievements.

Most people can’t stomach brands bragging about their products or service. That’s the reason many experts prefer either testimonials or case studies.

Case studies rely on facts and statistics to present your message. Alternatively, in testimonials, you allow previous clients to present positive information about your brand. In e-commerce marketing, adding testimonials is a must.

For example, the company that sells blenders can include a short segment showcasing a customer using the blender at home, at the end of the prospecting video. Another example is roping in a customer to show how your translation software works in real time.

Final Thoughts

Video prospecting is a highly effective strategy to generate leads and conversions. If used properly, video prospecting can grab and retain attention, sway opinion in your favor, and encourage the audience to take action.

The six tips and tricks that you see here will help you create engaging prospecting videos that’ll win over the audience.