I recently returned from Olathe, Kansas, where we were filming a mini-documentary for Custom Storefronts, a company that manufactures the storefronts for brands we’re all familiar with.
We spent a day filming the work they do with wood, metal, and glass, and interviewing some of their employees, for what will become a short video piece on quality workmanship.
It’s an approachable way for viewers to learn more about what this company does, by wrapping the video in a quality and format all of us, regardless of occupation, appreciate.
In the past year, we have done more than our usual share of work with manufacturing companies.
Video & Manufacturing
In the past year, we have done more than our usual share of work with manufacturing companies. It’s been nice to break from our usual work with software companies to work with companies that make things you can see and touch. Things that people use every day.
For manufacturers, I think the sector is beginning to see that video is the perfect medium for highlighting the work they do.
The ability to walk viewers through the production process, show machinery at work, and hear from the men and women who invest so much of their intelligence, effort, and passion into their work, makes for especially compelling video.
Video gives manufacturers the ability to elevate their offerings above spec sheets and price quotes, by providing a glimpse into how they do what they do.
It’s reassuring to know that the manufacturers you’re working with hire only the best, invest in technology, obsess about safety, and really sweat the details when it comes to delivering the products you want, at quality levels that you demand.
Being able to see what goes into a Tory Burch, a Lululemon, a Versace, or a Nike storefront gives you new insight into the lengths to which these brands must go, to stay competitive themselves.
During our stay at Custom Storefronts, I was dazzled by the intricacy of the work they do, and the commitment to craftsmanship that runs through the whole process.
When our documentary is published, I hope it captures at least some of that attention to detail, focus, and underlying craftsmanship.
With any luck, our documentary will encourage other brands to explore what Custom Storefronts has to offer.
Use Video to Involve Customers in the Manufacturing Process
Shortly after we returned from Kansas, I was recounting for a marketing consultant friend of mine, my recent trip. Turns out, he represents a manufacturer in Colorado who is also using video in an innovative way.
Xylem Design, of Ft. Collins Colorado, builds an array of products that are used to display retail goods in storefronts, at trade shows, at art museums, and elsewhere.
The company makes it a practice to send their sales reps, and other employees, down onto the factory floor to shoot quick videos of customers’ products in various stages of the manufacturing process.
The videos are then sent to customers to convey a sense of excitement and anticipation for the arrival of the products they ordered.
And, their customers love it!
As seen in this example, the customer gets:
- To see their product coming off the factory floor
- A nice ‘thank you’ from the sales rep
- And, perhaps most interesting, a request that they send in a photo or video of their product in action, after receiving it.
It’s a great way to touch base with the customer, reassure them that their product is on the way, and remind them that Xylem Design remains focused on how their product will ultimately be used by the customer to accomplish whatever it is they hope to accomplish.
Manufacturers who haven’t yet begun to use video should consider how they might use it to give themselves a competitive edge, by using it to highlight what makes them unique.
Take advantage of the visual aspects of your business to provide a platform for talking about what makes you special.
Then choose the video formats that work best for you.
Documentary videos are nice things to have, but there are easier, much less expensive options too.
Whatever video formats you choose, they’re sure to help you bring to life what you do, how it distinguishes you in the market, and what customers and prospects have to gain by working with you.
According to the 2018 Manufacturing Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America report, by the Content Marketing Institute, video is playing an increasingly important role in the growing success of content marketing for manufacturers.
What’s behind this success, and how can manufacturers further leverage video to their advantage?
Content Marketing Survey Says!
The 2018 report, which was published this past November, indicates that video is in use by 80% of manufacturers surveyed. That’s up from 71% in 2017, making video the most popular type of content being used by manufacturers, second only to social media.
More importantly, a whopping 52% list video as the most effective type of content, followed by social media posts (43%), and illustrations/photos (39%). In 2017, only 43% of marketers listed video as most effective.
Manufacturers are ahead of the game with it comes to video, as compared to their non-industry-specific counterparts. In the 2018 B2C Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America, a survey of B2C content marketers across multiple industries and markets, only 72% of B2C content marketers at large are using video in their marketing mix.
Additionally, the 2018 report for manufacturers indicates that more than half of manufacturers surveyed (56%) believe their content marketing program is much more or somewhat more effective than it was the year before.
Although the report does not provide direct causal evidence, I think it’s more than mere speculation to say that video, with such high adoption and success rates, may be playing a critical role in the marketing success of manufacturers.
Why Video Marketing Works for Manufacturers
There are two aspects of content marketing for manufacturers that make video an obvious go-to component of the marketing mix. The first is obvious – manufacturers make things, and prospects and customers want to know what those things look like, and how they work.
A good product video answers a lot of questions that potential buyers may have.
A spec sheet is one thing, but to see a product in action, lends perspective and understanding that mere words – or even photos and diagrams – struggle to convey. This is all the more true for industrial manufacturing, where size, speed, human factors and other considerations can either make or break a deal.
Buying dynamics provide another unique aspect of content marketing for manufacturers.
Manufacturers, especially industrial manufacturers, have a buying cycle often centered around a proposal process, with multiple stages and, more often than not, involving multiple roles within each customer company. This dynamic often creates ample time and complexity for video to make an impact.
Different types of video content lend themselves to solving problems at different stages of the marketing/sales funnel. Targeted at the different roles within the prospect company (i.e, marketing, engineering, operations, CEO, etc.), video marketing can be exceptionally successful.
Video Helps Meet the Challenges of Content Creation
A consistent challenge for content marketers across the board has always been content creation. In 2017, 62% of content marketers listed content creation challenges as a major hurdle to improving their content marketing efforts.
Yet, in 2018 manufacturing marketers cite higher quality, more efficient content creation as the number one factor contributing to a 56% increase in the success of their content marketing over the previous year.
“To improve your content marketing (i.e., grow in your maturity) you need to develop effective processes to scale and create content efficiently. If you don’t prioritize the process, you’ll continually struggle to make strides, so this is key.”
– Lisa Murton Beets source.
I have long said that quality video content can be less expensive and faster to produce than many written forms of content.
With a solid process in place, it’s possible to generate a lot of video content, and deploy through established marketing channels, in a relatively short period of time.
For one thing, it is easier to repurpose video than it is to repurpose most any other type of marketing content.
Video can be sliced and diced many different way, to do service for wide variety of marketing channels:
- Strip out the audio and repurpose as a podcast.
- Optimize one version for your website, and another version for YouTube
- Cut your video into multiple, shorter segments and then optimize them for different social media platforms.
This flexibility, combined with the native effectiveness of video content, and falling cost of video content creation, are making video-first marketing strategies more and more appealing.
So, is this the secret that manufacturers have discovered? They’re investing heavily in video, and are reporting increased success with their content marketing programs.
Unfortunately, the numbers are silent on this point. But again, I believe it’s more than mere speculation to suggest that video is playing a role in manufacturing’s growing success with content marketing.
How Can You Apply This Information to Your Content Marketing Strategy?
If you haven’t already explored the possibility of adding video to your content marketing mix, the obvious answer here is that perhaps you should.
Video doesn’t work well for everyone, so tread carefully. However, if what you manufacture could benefit from some additional visual exposition, video might very well be a sound investment.
If you’re already producing video, the next step would be to find ways to improve the efficiency of its creation and distribution.
Perhaps this is the year to explore some DIY options to augment what you’re already doing, or if you’re already shooting everything yourself, maybe 2018 is the year to kick it up a notch, by outsourcing some of your video production work to a video marketing agency.