The Power Of Personalised Video For Business

Video has topped the list of the biggest marketing trends for almost half a decade. This year analysts and commentators are still backing video, however the real trend for 2015 will take the medium to a whole new level, with the emergence of Personalised Video.

This was highlighted late last year by Jim Nail, principal analyst at Forrester, who declared: “We believe that personalized video will command increasingly larger portions of advertising and marketing budgets due to its ROI improvement over traditional video content and other outbound methods of communication.”  But Personalised Video (creating a bespoke and highly targeted video for every viewer) has all kinds of powerful applications in business beyond simple marketing campaigns. The same powerful principles can also be applied to sales, training and internal communications – all of which can make a huge impact to growth and the bottom line.

Marketing – this time it’s personal

B2B marketers in particular will be looking for new ways to make every customer touch-point count. Generating leads is a tough business and getting cut-through has become increasingly difficult in this noisy digital age. So if a business has a very focused target list of prospects, Personalised Video provides a unique way of opening the door to a more meaningful discussion. Using the right tools marketers can see who has watched what and when, and alert the sales teams to follow up. The latest statistics show that Personalised Videos get viewed an average of four times each, which is a great indicator that the message is being cascaded to colleagues and being forwarded by the recipient.

People buy from people

For enterprise sales teams, like Vodafone’s, Personalised Video can be used at almost any stage in the buying cycle. Inside sales teams can follow up a call with a Personalised Video ‘selfie’ which helps put a face and personality to the voice, creating an emotional connection with the prospect. Bid teams can enlist the help of subject matter experts and senior directors who can quickly get their message in front of hot prospects which can make a huge impact on bid success. Sales people can follow up meetings with a Personalised Video, and these can then be ready and waiting in their prospect’s in-box by the time they get back to their desk. Sales directors could also plug Personalised Video tools directly into their CRM, to ensure it’s accessible at the very heart of their sales machine and can be properly measured and reported.

Everyone is unique

When employees join an organisation, or need re-skilling for new roles, Personalised Video is the perfect way to get the right video training to the right individual at the right time. Views can be fully tracked, perhaps within a Learning Management System (LMS), so that trainers have a full record of who has watched what and when. This could be essential for Health and Safety compliance, or for new joiners who might watch a generic video about the company, seamlessly followed by specifics about their role and even their specific store location.

Communication is everything

Personalised Video is being used by senior leaders as a means to effectively communicate with their teams across the globe. The core of their message may be attributable to all, but different specific messages can be delivered to different functions and locations too – increasing the impact of the video based communication whilst taking little extra effort.

It’s here and now

The good news is that some Personalised Video tools are cloud-based SaaS solutions, so its impact can be tested without breaking the bank or initiating huge change. Early adopters are getting the considerable benefits of real cut-through before it becomes the norm. Personalised Video has truly arrived and those companies who are starting to take advantage of this method are being given a significant competitive edge.

Ben Moore is managing director at Positive Image

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