Why I Chose Vidyard: A Story of a CMO, The Video-Enabled Business, and Culture

Source: Vidyard If you’re lucky, at least once in your career you will have an opportunity to work someplace truly special. For me, Vidyard is that

Source: Vidyard

If you’re lucky, at least once in your career you will have an opportunity to work someplace truly special. For me, Vidyard is that place.

As a chief marketing officer, one of my core tasks is to communicate stories that engage people. So much has been written on the power of storytelling and how buying decisions are made by a magical mix of emotional and rational factors.

Storytelling

I experienced firsthand the impact of video storytelling when I produced my first “2 minute explainer” video about eight years ago. I was able to communicate both the complexity of a business problem and my company’s unique solution in a short video that left viewers energized and motivated. My partners on the sales team loved it. I was hooked! Video was a better solution to the old way: a 10-page whitepaper that left readers exhausted and uninspired… So this was the start of my “video for business” journey.

Inbound

Then came inbound marketing. As the power of inbound marketing became a proven way to cost-effectively attract, engage, and convert prospects, companies realized they needed to become publishers and create lots of content to feed the inbound beast. The result was a rising flood of whitepapers, case studies, webinars, ebooks, and blogs competing for attention.

Since I knew video was so effective at storytelling, I started thinking about how to use it for inbound marketing. It became clear to me that video cuts through content clutter, and has the power to accelerate every stage of the buyer’s journey. For instance, a short video is great “top of the funnel” content to attract prospects and is perfect for social media sharing and amplification. A chalk-talk video that shows how a solution works is great for the middle of the funnel and a customer testimonial video can seal-the-deal at the bottom of the funnel. Take a look at the 12 Types of Video infographic to learn what works best at each stage of the B2B sales cycle.

Inside Sales

Then came the rise of inside sales, business development reps, and account-based marketing. Virtually every B2B company relies on hard-working sales people to engage with prospects and close business. With their main tools, email and telephones, it may require eight or more touches before a connection is made with all the noise on those channels.

What if there was a way to cut through the noise and get more prospects to engage with less touches? Video is quickly emerging as the new secret weapon for sales for exactly these reasons. With simple screen-recording and webcam video technology like Vidyard’s ViewedIt (give it a try, it’s free), sales teams can enhance their outreach by including personalized videos that drive 5x increase in email opens and 8x increase in click-throughs.