Who said making videos is all about selling products? B2B companies use videos to break into the brand world
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[Why we reprint this article] In the field of marketing, because B2B companies do not directly face consumers, B2B content marketing cases have always belonged to ethnic minorities. Previously, “Content Hacker” has introduced to you the special case of Maersk Line. This time, Duncun used his professional advertising perspective to analyze for us many cases of B2B companies using video content to build brands, which is worth your reference.
Why B2B companies should make videos
A while ago, I saw the image video of YKK (manufacturer of zippers, aluminum doors and windows), which I found very interesting. It also triggered my thoughts on B2B (Business to Business, generally refers to the business model between enterprises) corporate marketing brand. I will share my views on this topic later. First, please take a look at this image video shot by YKK:
This video is very detailed and vivid. Even the various expressions of small animals such as sweating and panting are quite well done, and it is very eye-catching. But what this article wants to discuss is not how good this video is, but YKK’s purpose in shooting this video.
YKK’s most well-known product is zippers. If you happen to own coats from major international brands, such as NIKE, adidas and other brands of clothing, the zippers they use are most likely YKK products.
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Image source: Internet
I don’t know if you have noticed that YKK’s direct customers are not ordinary consumers, but clothing brands; in other words, they are B2B companies. But why do B2B companies need to shoot videos for marketing like ordinary B2C companies (Business to Customer, generally referring to general retailers)?
To be honest, B2B companies operating brands and doing marketing are nothing new. From participating in large-scale exhibitions that were common in the past to the popular online content now, more and more B2B companies are using brand marketing. However, only a few companies choose to use advertising or videos for marketing.
In general perception, the target audience of advertisements and videos are general consumers. The customers of B2B companies are not ordinary consumers. Why do B2B companies still use video marketing? What is the strategic significance behind it?
In order to analyze this problem, I tried to analyze two B2B brands that also use video marketing but have completely different models, namely Intel and Caterpillar.
Intel: Avoid price-cutting competition
Intel should be the most classic B2B brand marketing case in business history. The four notes at the end of its commercial, “Wait for it, wait for it,” may be one of the most well-known advertising soundtracks in the world.
Intel’s motivation for advertising dates back to the late 1980s. At that time, Intel developed the 80386 microprocessor. In order to prevent competitors (mainly AMD) from launching products with similar names to confuse the market, Intel registered the product name (x86) as a trademark.
In the early 1990s, AMD launched a series of microprocessors called Am386. Intel believed that this move had infringed on its trademark rights, so it filed a lawsuit. However, the court believed that the 386 serial number used by Intel was a general description and did not have trademark rights, and ruled that Intel lost the case. This ruling prompted Intel to quickly change its brand strategy from product-focused to brand-focused.
Intel’s Brand Strategy
Intel’s new strategy is to use advertising to reverse the consumer public’s stereotype of Intel as an impersonal and unfriendly technology company. Its main appeal is “Intel Inside.”
The first TV commercial was launched in 1991: Room of Future, followed by a series of commercials (1992: Power Source, 1992: Library). Next is Intel’s big move to build its brand advantage: subsidize its computer merchant customers. No matter what kind of advertisement, as long as “Intel Inside” is shown in it, Intel will subsidize 50% of the advertising cost.
By the end of 1992, more than 700 computer brands had participated in this advertising subsidy program. In 1993, “Financial World” magazine selected Intel as the third most valuable brand in the world, second only to Marlboro and Coca-Cola, with a market value of US$17.8 billion.
Intel’s pull strategy
I think the reason why “Intel Inside” is successful is that it is a pull strategy. It first affects the final consumers, establishes their recognition of the brand, and generates market demand. Consumers then actively require computer manufacturers to have Intel microprocessors built into their products. In order to comply with market demand, computer manufacturers placed a large number of orders with Intel, forming a positive cycle, thus achieving Intel’s current position as the dominant microprocessor. The simple logical concept is as follows:
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Intel: B2B2C model
Back at that time, Intel’s pull strategy originated from competition with homogeneous products. B2B companies, like B2C companies, will face the problems of highly homogeneous products and fierce competition. If Intel had not shifted the battlefield to brands at that time, but continued to compete with its opponents on products, it is conceivable that the two sides would soon transform from an arms race in product development to a vicious competition in price cutting.
In order to avoid such vicious competition and maintain its competitive advantage, Intel chose to use advertising to first influence final consumers and dominate market demand, and then prompt intermediaries to place orders with itself, which is the B2B2C model.
Two major features of Intel products
The reason why Intel chooses advertising to communicate with final consumers is because it has two major features:
1. Although the microprocessors produced by Intel are not terminal products, they are a very important part of the terminal products and even a key factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Some consumers said that when buying a computer, they will definitely specify an Intel processor.
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2. Although Intel’s main customers are computer vendors, end consumers have a strong influence on computer vendors, so the idea of “rather than competing directly with competitors, it is better to influence the end consumers first.”
From these perspectives, Intel’s use of advertising to communicate with final consumers is a very rational strategy, and the results are quite successful.
But if it is different from Intel, its own products are end products and will not be of concern to final consumers. Does it make sense to operate advertising and marketing?
Caterpillar: B2B model
Caterpillar is this type of B2B company, and its products are heavy machinery, such as forklifts, forklifts, excavators, etc.
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Image source: Internet
Although Caterpillar is also a B2B company, it is completely different from Intel. Caterpillar’s products are end products, and they are not what final consumers will care about. Even so, Caterpillar has continued to film “Built for It Made for You” series of videos, explaining the process of Caterpillar using its own products to complete various tasks around the world, such as [Large-scale Jenga](https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=DWc8dUl7Xfo), Glass Pyramid, Power generation and lighting for rural areas, etc.
The “Built for It” series of videos won the “Best Storytelling Award” in 2014 from the American content marketing authority [CMI (Content Marketing Institute)] (https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/). Capterpillar’s senior managers also unexpectedly discovered that many of their employees would take the initiative to share videos to increase the number of video exposures. Currently, Caterpillar’s official YouTube account has more than 100,000 subscribers.
Caterpillar Video Benefit Analysis
Caterpillar’s customers are not final consumers, and consumers don’t care which brand of machinery the middlemen use. Operation video marketing obviously does not directly help revenue, but I think it can achieve several effects:
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Demonstrate product capabilities by completing various tasks. For example, in the process of challenging the glass wine glass pyramid, it showed the dexterity and excellent control performance of small strange hands in narrow spaces.
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Use videos to assist catalogues. Let’s take another example of a small-scale tycoon. Traditional catalogs can only indicate the specifications of the product, and it is difficult to present excellent control performance. The use of video expression is the most direct way, which is the concept of “no matter how much I talk about it, why don’t I just do it once and show it to you”.
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Interesting content attracts the public to actively watch and share. In addition to increasing opportunities to contact potential customers, this move also increases public recognition of the Caterpillar brand, which has a subtle effect and helps attract more talented people to invest.
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Caterpillar’s own employees will also take the initiative to share videos, indicating that they highly identify with their products and videos, so they will take the initiative to share. By sharing and discussing videos, employees’ loyalty to the company is virtually enhanced, which helps to a certain extent to unite the company’s centripetal force.
For B2B companies like Caterpillar, the purpose of advertising and marketing is not necessarily to increase revenue or demonstrate product strength. Increasing public recognition of the brand (https://www.contenthacker.today/search?q=%E5%93%81%E7%89%8C%E8%AA%8D%E5%90%8C) may be the focus of their consideration.
YKK’s video marketing strategy
Going back to YKK’s videos, which of the above models is YKK? I analyze it from three perspectives:
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Product aspect: The zippers produced by YKK are of high quality and are loved by major clothing brands and trusted by the consumer public. Although they are not end products, they are end products──an important part of clothing.
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Consumer purchasing behavior: Looking back on my own clothing purchase process, I will consider the style, function, material, color, etc. of the clothing. Zippers are important, but they are rarely the focus of consideration. In other words, I will not buy a piece of clothing just because the zipper is YKK. Especially now that online shopping has gradually replaced offline shopping, the quality advantage of YKK zippers has been directly diluted.
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Video content: The Zipper & Bears (which appeals to make your life better) and the animated series -FASTENING DAYS (which appeals to connect people’s relationships) shared at the beginning of the article are both image videos. The content is interesting and easy to attract active sharing, which helps to increase brand recognition. Another series of videos - fastening products shows the strength of products, including products such as luminous, waterproof, quick-release and suitable for children, replacing the rigid traditional catalog.
Analyzing from the three perspectives of product, consumer and content, YKK zippers are not the key to the final consumer’s purchase decision. They do not need to adopt a pull strategy (B2B2C model) that affects the final consumer first like Intel does. In other words, the purpose of YKK’s filming of the video should not be to dominate market demand.
However, the content of the image video is interesting and helps to enhance brand recognition, and the product series video naturally also demonstrates its strong product power. Based on the above analysis, I believe that the purpose of YKK’s advertising and marketing is similar to that of Caterpillar, which is to demonstrate product strength, attract potential customers, and increase public recognition of the brand.
Summary
Having said that, let’s make a summary of B2B2C model and B2B model operation advertising (video) marketing:
B2B2C model: The final consumer is enough to influence their own customers, marketing their own brand to the final consumer, and directly helping the company’s revenue. If you follow this context for marketing operations, you have to think about the same as B2C brands: how to solve problems and create demand. It is worth noting that the appeal of advertisements (videos) should avoid self-promotion and emphasis on how advanced the technology of one’s own products is. After all, our own products are not end products, and consumers may not understand their value at all. Companies can communicate more about their core concepts, describe the changes their brands can bring to consumers’ lives, and create a vision for a better life.
B2B model: If the product (service) is an end product and the customer is not an ordinary consumer, the content of the video may not directly help the company’s revenue, but it can also bring several benefits: demonstrating product capabilities to supplement traditional catalogs, increasing opportunities to contact potential customers, increasing public recognition of the brand to attract talents, and gathering employees’ [centripetal force] towards the company (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/01/content-hacker-englishisland.html).
In addition, good content will bring its own traffic and will be constantly forwarded and shared, and its influence will be immeasurable. If you want to have a good word-of-mouth effect, the content of the film is very important. The core concept is the key and a good script is indispensable. It does not have to be limited to short videos such as 30 seconds or 1 minute. Telling the story well is the most important thing.
Based on the above points of view, the purpose of B2B companies shooting advertisements and videos for marketing operations is mainly to convey the core concepts of the company and establish brand value. For example, the slogan Intel launched in 2013: Look Inside calls on everyone to find out and appeals to the brand spirit of “exploration”. The video that won Intel the Bronze Award at the Cannes Advertising Festival in 2014: Look Inside - Jack Andraka has once again become a good example of video marketing for B2B companies.
The video describes that Jack Andraka’s uncle passed away from pancreatic cancer, which made Jack, who was only 13 years old at the time, determined to find a way to quickly detect cancer. After 4,000 experiments and 199 rejections, Jack developed a test strip that can detect cancer in just 3 minutes and $5. The accuracy is almost 100%, and Jack won the Intel International Science Fair Award.
Jack’s story is very inspiring. Not giving up and working hard to discover things that others cannot see are also in line with Intel’s “Look Inside” spirit. Intel made Jack’s story into a video to convey the core concept of “Look Inside”. Consumers and employees who agree with the video content will form a force to support Intel and become the company’s brand value.
There are precedents for B2B companies to operate advertising marketing. Although the customers are not ordinary consumers, as long as the purpose is clear and the strategic direction is correct, they can still achieve the effects of increasing revenue and improving brand recognition. After all, B2B companies and B2C companies operate advertising and marketing in the same logical vein. If you blindly emphasize how great a product is, either consumers will not understand its value, or they will face competition from homogeneous products and fall into a red ocean of price cutting.
On the contrary, by sorting out the company’s core philosophy and conveying it to the public through videos, you have the opportunity to win the trust of consumers and employee support, and truly establish brand value. This is the company’s long-term competitive advantage!
★ Photo Credit: Courtney Clayton
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