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The Big List of B2B Video Ideas

Content marketing maven Ann Handley has said that one of the most important components in her creation process is compiling a sizable repository of ideas from which to draw when inspiration is needed. She refers to it as scatter-hoarding —  like a squirrel stashing away acorns for the winter.

This practice is especially advisable for marketers delving into the world of B2B video. We know by now it’s a critical tactic for today’s strategies, but brainstorming creative and effective ways to make it happen can be challenging, particularly if the medium is unfamiliar to you.

We’re here to help. We did our own scatter-hoarding and put together this big list of B2B video ideas. But unlike a protective squirrel standing guard outside its stockpile, we’re all about sharing.

Dig in and help yourself. Hopefully this collection will spark your next awesome B2B video production. Try shooting a few of these and publishing them on LinkedIn to grow your company’s reach and impact.

25 B2B Video Ideas to Get You Rolling

1. Tell a Story
Some believe that video storytelling is the future of content marketing. It’s hard to argue. Compelling stories can grab a viewer’s attention and keep them watching. Narratives formats will (or should) be present in many of the B2B video types listed here, but simply telling an anecdote to the camera you’d have otherwise written up for a LinkedIn update or blog post is an easy way to quickly create something worthwhile. 

2. Executive Interview
Research shows that thought leadership is very influential in the B2B purchase process, with more than 90% of C-suite execs and decision-makers describing it as important to them. Try filming interviews with your company’s leaders and broadcasting their unique expertise on topics your audience wants to learn about. This will help you build authority within your niche.

3. “Day in the Life” Snapshot

What does a typical day look like for employees in your organisation? Walk viewers through the routine for a position in your company (or run a series looking at various roles), providing a window into your office culture and inner workings. These kinds of videos can be beneficial for recruiting efforts, and they also make your business more relatable to prospective clients.

4. Gain Visibility at an Event

Videos can help promote your upcoming presence at an event, or highlight it afterward. These gatherings offer opportunities to engage others in the industry, grow brand awareness, and capture interesting sights and sounds. For example, Matt Heinz of Heinz Marketing sat down for an chat with LinkedIn’s Katrina Neal at Content Marketing World last year, using the conference as a backdrop.

5. Document a Company Outing
Another excellent way to make your company more appealing to prospective talent. Bring some cameras along for your next holiday party or team function. When viewers can actually see your employees smiling and laughing together in a natural setting, it’s a powerful indicator of strong synergy and rapport.

6. Group Panel
In the same vein as the executive thought leadership concept mentioned earlier, this approach invites multiple viewpoints and more comprehensive exploration of a topic. Set up a group of specialists and subject matter experts (either internal or from outside your company), with a curator asking questions and guiding the conversation. If you can incorporate participants with differing views, and ignite some spirited debate, you can really capture your audience’s attention.

7. Showcase Diverse Perspectives
This is distinct from the group panel format because instead of assembling experts for a staged discussion, you’ll be collecting viewpoints from everyday folks in efforts to gauge general sentiments on a particular topic (e.g., “What does data privacy mean to you?”). It could either be a montage of quick responses from employees around your office, or even random people out on the streets.

8. Customer Success Story
When done right, video testimonials or case studies can become your most effective marketing tools. They provide the audience with a concrete look at the work you do, while also enabling your real customers to give their own perspectives on experiences with your product or service. The key is finding an angle that makes your story interesting, and not overly self-promotional. Slack hits the right note in this humor-infused collaboration with clients Sandwich Inc.:

9. Profile an Employee
Elevate your talent. Produce an in-depth profile on one of your team members to highlight their particular skills and strengths. Portray their personality through interviews and candid footage. You could even call out their hobbies or personal interests. This helps to humanise your brand in the eyes of prospects while also playing up your team’s capabilities.

10. Customer Gratitude
Express appreciation for your customers in the form of a video “Thank You” card. Invite employees to share genuine thoughts on why they love working with the companies they do. This can generate a lot of goodwill, projecting a conscious and considerate attitude.

11. How-To Video
Audiences tend to find instructional videos among the most useful. Walk them step-by-step through solving a problem or overcoming a business challenge commonly experienced by your customers. At the end, invite them to reach out and learn more, or explore your website for more helpful content. Rand Fishkin’s Whiteboard Friday videos at Moz illustrate this idea:

12. Live Broadcast
Live video is a popular trend, offering an avenue for speaking directly to your audience in real-time while driving strong engagement rates. There are a number of ways to leverage this approach, but focus on taking advantage of the format with casual, off-the-cuff content.

13. Product Demo
Show your solution in action. This can obviously be a good method for familiarising people with your offering, but you’ll want to think critically about developing a good hook that compels someone to press play. This video from Unroll.me, an automated email unsubscribing service, frames its pitch around a universally recognisable pain: junk mail.

14. Narrate a Presentation
This is an easy, low-barrier entry point for video marketing. No need to appear on camera, or deal with production equipment. Take one of your company’s most popular presentations and make it more robust by guiding viewers through it with spoken narration, adding insights and opinions.

15. Turn a Blog Post Into a Mini-Documentary
Another option for repurposing content that has already resonated with your audience and delivering it in a new way. Pick out a high-performing post from your company blog and use it as the script for a mini-documentary, integrating visuals and sound to breathe new life into the subject.

16. Film a CSR Initiative
Today’s customers are increasingly invested in Corporate Social Responsibility, and millennials in particular are more likely to do business with companies that engage in CSR. Dedicate a day to doing volunteer work and document the experience through video. If you handle it in a way that focuses more on spotlighting the cause, rather than promoting your involvement, your video will come off as less self-serving and more authentically altruistic.

17. Showcase Your Workplace Culture
A broader and more high-level version of the “Day in the Life” or “Employee Profile” ideas, providing a general glimpse of your workspace and team dynamic. This quirky effort from Risual exemplifies a quality production in the category:

18. Launch a Contest
Hold a competition among your social media followers and kick it off with a video that explains the premise and rules. Everybody loves a chance to win something, so this approach can be conducive to higher view counts.

19. Host an Interactive Q&A
Give people a chance to tap into the knowledge of your specialists by inviting them to an open Q&A where they can submit questions and have them answered (either in live format or with pre-submitted questions). Plenty of potential for lead generation with these webinar-style B2B videos.

20. Visualise a Relatable Pain Point
What problem does your product or service solve? Create a video that empathetically emphasises the struggles your customers face (e.g., “Do these five CRM nightmares sound familiar?”) with a CTA pointing them to your solution.

21. Animation
You’ll need to have the capabilities on your design team (or hire out) but animation presents a creative and aesthetically appealing method for delivering many of the video types on this list. Check out this animated explainer video via Triggermail:

22. Record a Presentation
Whether at an event or simply in the conference room of your building, capturing a business presentation on video enables you to amplify your message to a larger audience. It’s also pretty easy to do. Set up a camera at a proper vantagepoint, and make sure you’ve got mics in place to clearly pick up all the speaking.

23. Create a Running Series
A recurring series of videos, such as a “Daily Thought” or “Recommendation of the Week,” can get viewers into the routine of watching regularly, if they find its content valuable.

24. Make Fun of Yourself
One of the biggest misfortunes in the corporate world – especially in the B2B space – is people and companies taking themselves too seriously. Video allows you to loosen up and show your lighter side. Put together a blooper reel, or have an executive share an embarrassing story, or play up a stereotype about professionals in your industry.

25. News Rundown
What’s going on in your industry? Round up the top trending stories pertinent to your customers, and analyse them in the style of a news broadcast.

Put Your B2B Marketing in Motion

Any of the 25 B2B video ideas listed above can be effective. Pick one that makes sense based on your business objectives, and add your brand’s own distinct flare. Then, we encourage you to publish your work to LinkedIn and boost your targeted reach with Sponsored Video when it becomes available next month.

Good luck. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.