According to a forecast from Cisco, as much as 80 percent of consumer Internet traffic will be devoted to watching video by 2019. As B2B business owners continuously look for ways to attract and engage buyers, video has proven to positively affect B2B marketing results for 73 percent of those polled in a reelseo B2B video content marketing survey. According to the same survey, marketers use video in their strategies to:

• Increase brand awareness and engagement
• Promote products and services
• Increase website traffic and SEO results
• Generate new sales leads
• Educate sales prospects
• Increase website and landing page lead conversion

If budgetary reasons or fear of failure have stopped you from adding video to your B2B marketing strategy so far, don’t worry—there are many tools on the market today that make video production relatively painless. Do a quick online search, and you’ll find tons of apps, such as Animoto, WeVideo and Flixpress, to help. Just take your own photos and video clips from your tablet or smartphone, add music from a vast library of licensed tunes, and then post the videos to your website and on your social media accounts. If animated videos would work better for you, there are plenty of creation tools for those too. Check out GoAnimate, PowToon, and VideoScribe.

6 B2B Marketing Ideas

1. Customer testimonials

   You talking about your business doesn’t hold as much weight and influence as a satisfied customer. Video testimonials should be short but filled with information on how your business made the customer’s business better/more profitable, solved a problem, etc.

2. Product demonstration videos

   Product demonstration videos are especially helpful for B2B buyers looking for a new source or a new way of accomplishing a goal. If appropriate, you can inject a bit of humor into the video so it doesn’t come off as dry and boring.

3. Tutorial videos

   Marketers are turning to video to show customers how to put a product together or the best way to use what your business is selling. No one wants to read a long instruction manual anymore.

4. Your story

   It’s always helpful to include on your website a video about your business and how it got started. You’re hoping to build a lasting relationship, so make sure your video introduces the founders and your staff—and also gives a “behind-the-scenes” look at how the business is run.

5. Webinars

   Once you build some traffic, try hosting an instructional webinar where current and potential customers can talk to the experts. Encourage attendees on your social media platforms and provide an incentive to watch, such as a free newsletter or coupon.

6. Video blogs

   Instead of just writing about topics related to your industry, have someone videotape you or a staff member talking about a subject relevant to your company. Watch your social media channels for recurring questions or issues, then turn those issues into video blogs so everyone can benefit from the answers. Once you have a few video blogs under your belt, offer to video blog for other websites to get the word out about your business.