How to Use Video Content to Sell

Wondering how video can support your sales process?

Looking for tips on how to use video in your marketing funnel?

To explore how video can turn leads into customers, I interview Marcus Sheridan.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Marcus Sheridan, an amazing keynote speaker. Formerly known as The Sales Lion, Marcus is a partner at IMPACT, a digital sales and marketing agency. He also wrote the book They Ask You Answer and co-hosts The Hubcast Podcast.

You'll discover how to create four types of video that are essential to a company's online sales process.

Marcus explains the importance of involving your sales team in your videos and how to help them shine on-camera.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
How to Use Video Content to Sell
How Marcus Got Into Video Marketing

In 2009, when Marcus was still working full-time at his swimming pool company, River Pools, he started blogging, and by the end of the year, produced and uploaded his first video, "The Truth About Salt Chlorine Generators: Everything You Should Know."

He filmed the video in his office at night. Because he lit the video with two big work-construction lights, Marcus says he looked too pale, like he'd been at the bottom of a lake for 3 days.

Still, the video was a huge victory. When Marcus uploaded his first YouTube video and hit Publish, he realized it was a special medium. Because people have become visual learners, Marcus' philosophy at River Pools was (and continues to be) "Unless we show it, it doesn't exist." And today, the River Pools YouTube channel has a few million views.

Marcus says that when similar businesses in the marketplace talk about what makes their company special, they all tend to say the same thing. So showing (instead of telling) prospects what you can do helps your business stand out. With the importance of showing your work in mind, The Sales Lion started teaching companies how to develop a culture of in-house video production.

I ask about Marcus' show The Balance, which he produced for about a year. Marcus says there's so much content about the hustle and grind, and some people find it inspiring, whereas others find it depressing and demotivating. Marcus wanted The Balance to emphasize that you can crush it personally and professionally. Creating the show was fun and taught him a lot about the documentary process.

That learning curve was messy. Although people tend to aim for perfection, video is humbling. It's messy. Because businesses will need to become media companies whether they like it or not, the time to start embracing that messy process is now. It will help you become comfortable behind and in front of the camera, as well as with the process of uploading and distributing video.

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By 2019, 80% of the content consumed online will be video. What percentage of your website is video and visual content? Because everyone is becoming a media company, you ought to start thinking of yourself as a one-person shop.

Listen to the show to hear my thoughts about social media video trends in the next 3 years.

How to Get Started With Video Content

Over the last 8 years, Marcus hears most often not from business owners who need help, but from frustrated marketers. They know what would work and see the trends, but their team (the CEO, sales manager, whomever) doesn't buy in. Now they're having this issue getting buy-in for video.

Almost every single time, good ideas are rejected because the decision-makers aren't educated about marketing and sales.