Product demonstrations and tutorials. Tech tips and how-to’s. Case studies. These categories — let’s call them “use cases” — invariably show up near the top in surveys of content preferences of IT decision-makers. Use cases help buyers develop budgets and justify spending, especially for larger investments. Relevant use cases that map to an organization’s priorities can help make a stronger business case for the spend. Use cases also aid in gathering requirements. By examining use cases, IT teams can better understand the capabilities that are needed to address their specific use cases and evaluate how a given solution meets their needs. Since 95% of B2B buyers say videos play a crucial role in their purchase decisions, according to Spiceworks, it’s easy to make a case for video use-cases.
Key Subject Areas
The phrase “use-case” implies a story where the hero overcomes a difficulty. You’ll want to highlight key areas that will resonate, such as improved security, better system performance and uptime, easier administration and maintenance, and positive impacts on end-user productivity and experience.
Credibility
The ideal use-case video features a real customer happily solving a real problem that viewers are struggling with. Realistically, customers don’t have the time or the motivation to share details on how they solve their problems. On camera.
However, you can dramatize trusted user reviews and published customer case studies to good effect. Your sales engineers and other subject matter experts know what types of problem-solution stories will resonate.
Repurposing Existing Assets
There may be lively use-cases hidden away in your recorded demos. They will need a little sprucing up for wider distribution, but probably not too much.
Length
Use-case videos should be concise, while still allowing time for a coherent storytelling arc with a beginning, middle and end. There should be enough arresting details along the way so that viewer doesn’t feel “marketed to.” Two to three minutes is a good length.
Attracting Viewers
Once created, make your use-case videos easily discoverable by IT audiences at multiple touchpoints — your website, social channels, email campaigns, virtual events, and more.
You may want to create a “trailer” from the finished video to attract viewers and spread the message.
IT decision makers today are highly video-oriented. By prioritizing interesting, credible, and educational use-cases, you increase the probability that the video — and the confidence it engenders — will be shared among buying team members.
