Nobody likes being sold to, but everyone loves finding new products and services that make their lives easier. This is the tension facing B2B companies dealing with crowded markets, jaded customers, and high expectations.
Regulatory, reputational, or competitive constraints tend to make B2B startups default to bland marketing, making it harder to cut through the noise.
This is where video marketing comes in handy. Some time back, I spoke to Rishabh Bhandari, the founder of Content Beta, a company that helps B2B startups close deals faster using studio-quality customer videos, podcasts, and designs.
Content Beta’s target audience is B2B software companies, specifically product-led startups with constantly changing features.
Founding Content Beta: From venture capital to video design
Starting in venture capital, Rish eventually translated his analytics skills into an online school called Yoda Learning (YL) Academy.
YL Academy helps analysts, consultants, and reporting professionals analyze, visualize, and automate data using Excel and Power BI. The company’s main YouTube channel has just over 52,000 subscribers as of writing and hosts video content around analytics.
“We realized, “Hey, we could create really good content around a software [tool],” because YouTube thinks your video is good-quality only when a viewer completes it. If they drop off in the middle, especially in the early 10%, YouTube concludes your content is not so good.” — RB
This insight led to the creation of Content Beta, helping other SMBs create engaging videos to grow their brands and revenue.
The future of B2B is conversational
Rish believes B2B marketing is becoming more conversational. Instead of talking about features, B2B marketers now talk about their products’ benefits and use cases — just like in B2C marketing.
Per Rish, some marketers resist using customer videos because they are unsure how to create them or are afraid of coming across as too sales-y. However, showing your existing customers using and benefiting from your product can help build trust and credibility with future customers.
Rish also believes that customer videos are essential for SEO, helping a brand rank higher in search engine results. Companies can also use videos in email marketing and social media to generate leads and drive traffic to their website.
Perfecting the value proposition (plus the importance of immersion)
Content Beta’s journey hasn’t always been smooth. It took years to refine its value proposition and identify who’d be a good fit for the company.
“Initially, we’d do a lot of free work, complimentary videos, and scripts. Because of that effort over the last two years, we’ve worked with about 85 B2B software companies.” — RB
Content Beta’s sales engine leans heavily on personalized cold email outreach and community participation. The latter is especially important, as Rishabh and his team are immersed in communities with many product marketers, content marketers, and founders.
“Whenever someone asks questions, if we have created a resource or could add value, we try to help that person. This way of helping has always helped us.” — RB
Content Beta also hosts a podcast, where Rishabh brings on people he can help.
“My motivation is, “Hey, I might learn something new from this person, or maybe I’ll get to learn about problems this industry faces, which will help me improve my website or email copy.” — RB
How to produce great video content
The most important element of video content production is getting the production right. You’re always competing against millions of channels across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, so don’t kneecap yourself with poor equipment or glitchy recordings.
“If your voice is fuzzy, there is an echo, or you’re not in 1080p, you lose much of your attention to competitors. Content is the second part — get the production quality right first.” — RB
Start writing early
I bang on about the importance of writing online, and Rish agrees. While he started writing pretty late, he recognized the clarifying power of writing for an audience and how it can propel your career.
“Writing doesn’t mean I have to be a great writer — it’s okay to maintain a personal diary or share interesting stuff. Learning copywriting will help you in sales, marketing, and business communication.” — RB
Connect with Rish on LinkedIn.
Mohammed Shehu, Ph.D. writes on content and marketing for creators and brands. You can find him online @shehuphd everywhere.