5 Underused Video Ideas to Generate Leads

In a 2020 survey, 86% of respondents said they would like to see more videos from brands.

That statistic alone makes a case for video-based content marketing. But the trick is to create videos aligned with your goals that strike a chord with your audience. Creating a winning video marketing strategy that attracts potential customers requires ample planning, strategizing, and coordination.

Generally, videos can be engaging. However, using them to generate demand and leads requires you to put in some special effort. Here are five ideas to help.

1. Add an effective call to action

Whether you upload a short Instagram Reel or a long YouTube video, encourage viewers to take action. It could be one of many options based on your goals – visiting your site, making a purchase, subscribing to your channel, signing up for a newsletter, etc.

Clearly communicate what you want them to do with an effective call to action. For instance, “Download now” or “Share with your friends.”

If your video is long, add CTAs at frequent intervals throughout the video. With YouTube, you can add cards and annotations for specific CTAs. Make sure the CTA is relevant and timed to direct the viewer on what they should do to engage with your brand.

You can get inspiration from Business Insider’s YouTube channel. At the end of each video, they post a clear CTA that stays on screen for 10 to 15 seconds – giving the viewer enough time to read and act on it.

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2. Add a video to landing pages

Landing pages are designed to generate more leads. They are optimized to entice qualified leads. To make them more engaging and informative, you can incorporate videos on them.

Videos enable you to convey more information without using too much text. You can detail the main topic in the video and use the page’s text – headline and CTAs – to give it more context.

Want some inspiration?

This landing page from SharpSpring, a marketing automation company, features a video next to a lead capture form. As you can see, given there are no other distractions on the page, the video is likely to get the attention of the viewer.

While adding a video to your landing page, place it in the center of the screen and above the fold. Don’t require visitors to scroll through the page or look too hard for your video – most won’t do that.

3. Add videos to email campaigns

Using videos in inbox outreach can help your emails stand out. You can incorporate videos in all kinds of emails – newsletters, product launches, event invitations, etc. You can experiment and test what works best for your audience and your brand.

However, using videos in emails isn’t straightforward. Providers such as Outlook and Gmail do not accept emails with embedded videos. Even if the provider allows embedded video, the recipient’s device may not.

To solve this problem, you can add a link to your video in your email. Alternatively, you can use specialized platforms for email marketing. BombBomb, Vidyard, Hippo Video, and other such software solutions have special integrations for Gmail and Outlook to make it easier to incorporate videos into your emails.

Or you can create a thumbnail image – take a screenshot of the video and add a play button to the image. Want a quick trick to do that? Visit addplaybuttontoimage. You can add an image, pick a play button design, customize its size, and create it. Download the new play-button image. Put the image into your email and link it to the video.

Don’t forget to add the word “video” in your email subject line. That can entice more subscribers to click and boost your open rate, which should increase the number of leads.

4. Use videos as gated content

Gated content is a great way to generate leads for your business. For the uninitiated, visitors must give their contact information to view the content. Though white papers, case studies, and e-books are content types that tend to lend themselves to gating, video can too.

Tutorials, demo, and how-to videos can work well for gated content because they are educational – something audiences typically find valuable.

You could create a video series. The first few would be ungated to get the viewers interested in the content. Then, gate the remaining ones. Those who opt-in are more likely to be qualified leads.

For this strategy to work, you must communicate the value the viewers will receive. Be clear about what they are getting and how they can benefit from watching.

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5. Leverage video SEO

Getting your videos ranked in search engines can drastically improve your visibility and attract more interest. To attract searchers, craft a short yet engaging title. To optimize your videos for search, craft a title that naturally incorporates the main keyword. Keep the title to 70 characters or less so it can be viewed entirely in the search results.

It’s important to craft a meta description that gives searchers a brief idea of what they can expect. Don’t stuff keywords into the meta description but incorporate them when they make sense in the context.

Since search engines can’t scan the words spoken in the video, include a transcript below it. This gives web crawlers a better idea of what the video is all about and makes them more likely to index it.

Get started with video marketing

Videos offer a plethora of opportunities to educate your audience and convince them to engage with you. By incorporating videos strategically in your content marketing, you can turn them into demand and lead-gen machines to grow your business. Are you ready?

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute