If you’re in charge of growth or marketing for a SaaS platform, how can you use video marketing to get more leads and users? And how can you keep those viewers to increase your lifetime customer value? Today Dominik Wever tells you how.
GUEST: Dominik Wever of Grow Your SaaS Business With Video, LinkedIn Twitter, Facebook.
See these resources from Dominik:
- Free Online Course: How To Make Videos That Sell
- Definitive Guide: Personalized Video
- Blog Post: Why No Software & SaaS Business Can Do Without Video Marketing
- VIDEO: Why Video? What Is Video Marketing? – Benefits of Video Marketing B2B
HOST: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube
SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.
PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy Studios
TRANSCRIPT
Dane Golden:
It’s time for the Video Marketing Value Podcast from HEY.com. This is the podcast where we help marketers and business owners, just like you, get more value out of your video marketing efforts. My name is Dane Golden, and today we have a special guest, Dominik Wever, a video software and marketing expert, from Germany.
Dane Golden:
Welcome, Dominik.
Dominik Wever:
Good to see you Dane. Thanks for having me.
Dane Golden:
Now, my German, I’m not that good, but technically, W-E-V-E-R, that would be pronounced Vaber, right?
Dominik Wever:
Like Vafer, exactly.
Dane Golden:
Vafer, okay.
Dominik Wever:
Exactly.
Dane Golden:
Vafer, but we can say Wever is that okay?
Dominik Wever:
Yes, please lets stick to that.
Dane Golden:
So, tell us Dominik what you specialize in.
Dominik Wever:
Well, actually I have been running a CRM software company for the past 20 years. And after selling that company last year, now I dedicate my time to helping SaaS founders, software entrepreneurs, get more clients and keep more clients, using video.
Dane Golden:
Excellent, and you had a certain blog post that you talked about why no software and SaaS business can do without video marketing. I’m gonna ask you about that today, is that okay?
Dominik Wever:
That’s more than fine. Looking forward to it.
Dane Golden:
Okay, so why is video so important to SaaS platforms and other software businesses?
Dominik Wever:
Well, if you are selling software of SaaS solutions or basically any type of service or subscription, you are selling something intangible. Something that people cannot really imagine, right. Especially when talking about B2B software. Things get even worse, because people like in their past have had bad experiences buying software. So how do you really bridge that gap, how do you really connect with your clients and get your message across? Get that message across, how you really help your clients solve their problems, or how you help your clients achieve their dreams and aspirations. And then video is like the perfect element to connect and get that message across.
Dane Golden:
And people have been doing content marketing with blogs forever, and of course this podcast here is another method of content marketing, but how is video different than a blog or podcast or, lets say, any sort of image?
Dominik Wever:
Well, if we look at the statistics, those paint a pretty clear picture. Like, just imagine, do you know how many new blog posts are actually published each day? Do you have an idea Dane?
Dane Golden:
A lot.
Dominik Wever:
Exactly, it’s quite a lot. Like, the number is freakingly high. Its actually more than 3 million new blog posts. Not per year, not per month, not per week. More than 3 million posts, per day. And this is what you’re competing with if you’re producing written content marketing.
Dane Golden:
Mm-hmm (affirmative), okay. So is there any other elements that video can convey. I like to say we can convey our emotion and our personality. It helps us get to know the person a little bit better, and that can be both good and bad.
Dominik Wever:
That’s true. But, especially when we’re talking about software and SaaS solutions we are talking about very technical stuff. And as they say, people buy from people. In the end, people will take or make an emotional decision whether to buy a product, and tech and software is no different. So by creating video, you can add a face to, on the other hand a faceless or intangible solution. And, especially as the founder you can not only show what your product does and how it works, but you can get across your mission: why you have started your company, why people should trust you and should start using your tools or services.
Dane Golden:
And there’s also the ability to demonstrate the tools, the very, some people might consider it boring, I don’t, but you can just call it the screen cast or the screen share. And I say this is not boring because for anyone who has a problem, whatever the video is that’s providing that solution is the most important thing in the world right now.
Dominik Wever:
Yup, and I mean this goes directly back to your question about content marketing, and I say this is the essence of content marketing. To bridge that gap between a client’s pains, challenges and the product, and how to help him solve those problems and challenges. And if you can do that in a matter or maybe, two or three minutes. Again the statistics are helping us because this here has found, like having this really big, big amount of data, that if you manage to create a how-to video, that is not longer than 2 minutes, than 70% of people, 7 out of 10 people, who click the play button, will watch that video to the very end. So, you get two minutes of undivided attention, to show that solution, and again, to show your face, create trust and rapport, and create that relationship.
Dane Golden:
And how do you determine exactly what types of videos to post?
Dominik Wever:
Um, that’s a good question. This sort of depends on the buyer’s journey, I’d say. So, if you’re like, one might say, top of the funnel, or like still in the awareness stage, or in the early stages, this might be as you just pointed out, Dane, this might be more those how-to videos, those problem-solving videos that people might Google for, or search for on YouTube.
Dominik Wever:
But especially in the software and SaaS world, there’s a second problem. Because it is not only about getting the attention of your potential clients, its about attracting them, its also about converting them, from your usually free trial to a paid plan. And then after converting them, its about keeping them. Because with all that subscription economy, that has been invading today’s business, once you’ve got the client you can’t stop. You need to keep educating your clients. The software or special term would be, ‘onboarding’, but again it doesn’t only apply to software or SaaS, I guess it applies to all relationships you can have with your clients. You want to educate them, you want to really deliver on the promise you’ve made before. This is especially is where those how-to videos come in handy, because by showing how you can really use the product, in those how-to videos, the client will start using more areas of the software or SaaS solution, and by that they will get more out of it. They will be happier and they will turn into raving fans, that then by word-of-mouth marketing, should create even more clients for you.
Dane Golden:
And what about, say the, comments area, lets say you are making YouTube videos, what about the comments area if people ask a question, should you just say, you know, “I don’t have time to manage those comments”, or “That’s totally irrelevant to what I’m selling”, or “Does this present an opportunity?”
Dominik Wever:
Now, like its, thanks for the clue. I mean like, this is a huge opportunity. Because again, especially with those cloud and software solutions, there is this really vast distance between the client and the vendor, right. So by really listening to those comments you can really surface the actual problems, or the actual questions clients have in their minds. You can get into their heads, and this of course like, sparks the topics for your next videos.
Dane Golden:
So, I think we’re in an agreement here. I sort of see videos, particularly on YouTube, not as in a, in an of itself, its not, when the video is uploaded, its actually the communication has just begun, because its the beginning of a conversation starter, and how do you follow through on what that conversation is that you started.
Dominik Wever:
Yeah. I mean like, you just said, “conversation” I like to call it, “relationship”.
Dane Golden:
Okay.
Dominik Wever:
So, that even if we might be talking about technical solutions, still in the end people always do business with people. They want to have an answer, or a response from a true human being. So, using comments, answering those comments, and then of course, by adjusting and fine tuning, not only the topic of the videos you create, but also by incorporating and directly speaking to the problems, challenges and aspirations of your clients, your clients will realize that you understand them, and that you really want to help them out. That its not about you, but you make it about them, about really helping them.
Dane Golden:
Its about the viewer, its not about the subject of the video, its about the person watching.
Dominik Wever:
Exactly.
Dane Golden:
And what are your thoughts on, you know, how much should people spend on, you know, production? Is production the most important thing, or are there other elements?
Dominik Wever:
Um, depending on the stage of the funnel. I believe that, especially in today’s world, that authenticity, really strikes. And actually, I believe that people have become suspicious of all those shiny, glossy, perfectly produced videos. So, especially in the software and SaaS world, I believe that if the company itself, maybe one of the project managers, maybe one of the sales or support guys, someone who has a fable for video, if you educate, one or two people inside a company, how to use video, just using maybe the webcam and doing screen casting, as you mentioned before, Dane. So by combining a screen cast with the webcam, by just playing the person, maybe like in a circle or rectangular area of the screen, you can actually very quickly and very authentically record those videos. So, this refers to this, like, I call it the ACK [inaudible 00:11:33], first you attract the-
Dane Golden:
What, the ACK?
Dominik Wever:
Yeah, sorry.
Dane Golden:
All right.
Dominik Wever:
I call it ACK, right.
Dane Golden:
All right, what does that stand for?
Dominik Wever:
Okay, so its attract, convert and keep your clients. So of course the attraction phase, that happens at YouTube. I would invest some more production value in there, especially if you’re going for YouTube ads, which need to be really short and to the point and maybe more highly produced. But, as soon as we move onto the convert and keep stages, I would say that a company can really learn and integrate video, as a sort of in-house tool, within their in-house marketing tool set.
Dane Golden:
And I know a lot with some of the tools that enable salespeople to communicate via email, excuse me, email video, like there’s Wistia has a tool, Vidyard has a tool, where you, just from your browser, you just record a quick communication, “Hey, by the way, it was good talking to ya, I’ll talk to ya next week”. Just a personal video like that. So, salespeople are getting very used to using that on a personal basis. But what would you say to the company that says, “Listen, if I start putting my salespeople on video, or my marketing people on video, or someone in my company, my competitors are gonna find out about how awesome this person is and they’re gonna steal them”, so then I have sufficiently put myself in a deficiency because I’ve made my employee into a star, what are some way around that, you know, very interesting challenge?
Dominik Wever:
Yeah, that’s true. Still the bigger picture, the true focus should be on the product, and on the viewer, or on the client, right. So, of course from, lets say, from the CMO, or from the company’s perspective, one should try to maintain equilibrium here, right. But on the other hand, just imagine you have an employee that is so dedicated and so committed to your company, that he dares to show his face, that he dares to put himself out there. Just also, from my point of view, this also gets the company and employee closer together.
Dane Golden:
And there’s no reason why you couldn’t have a different person on everyday of the week offering a different tip. You can have 5 people train, so that if that one person left, because people, you know, this is the modern world, people leave companies for whatever reason. And you can swap in, and that becomes a fundamental part of everything that people do. Just the same as if you owned a retail store. You have to train every person to talk to customers.
Dominik Wever:
Yes, exactly. And that’s why I believe that nowadays companies should really learn those basic video making skills. Because communication really shifts to video, just as you pointed out, and even in [inaudible 00:14:52] emails. People would record these super highly, personalized videos, like its a one-on-one video, just dedicated to one viewer, right. I mean, like, it couldn’t get anymore personalized.
Dane Golden:
What about the balance, and where on the funnel, or what types of uses for, say YouTube, versus video that stands alone on your website, like Wistia or Vidyard. Do they have different uses? Can you use one in different situations? Do you have any thoughts on best uses there?
Dominik Wever:
Well I would again, align that to the funnel. So when you target top of the funnel, so that first awareness or attraction stage, of course you need to get where people are already hanging out. So you need to put your videos out there, to YouTube, maybe to Vimeo. But basically you need to get them into the Google search engines, right. But, as soon as you’ve captured the interest, especially in that subscription economy where you need to convert and then later keep your clients, I believe that these specialized video platforms, like Wistia, like Vidyard, and the like, you can really use them, to not only embed your videos on your website, but when you think further, all these software and SaaS solutions nowadays, they live in the browser. You can actually integrate the video, right into the tool, right into the software.
Dominik Wever:
And very cool, use- case, we did in my time of my CRM company was, that after people would sign in for their very first time, they would land in their dashboard, you know, your typical dashboard, showing daily tasks and everything. But, in the middle of that dashboard, there would be a video of me, on autoplay, greeting the person, “Hey, cool. Good, nice to see you. Cool that you signed up. Now look around, this is the dashboard. My recommendation is click here, and then do that. Have fun.” So you can actually incorporate video, right into your tool.
Dane Golden:
And that was with a Wistia or Vidyard, or was it a YouTube video at the time?
Dominik Wever:
At the time it actually was YouTube. But then we moved onto Wistia because at the same time we had started using HubSpot, as our central CRM marketing automation tool. And Wistia has that really cool integration with HubSpot.
Dane Golden:
Got it.
Dominik Wever:
And its not only like, you know, the standard statistics that you can have, like how many people watch how many percent of your videos, and when they spend, and what moment they stop watching. With that integration between Wistia and HubSpot, you actually know which person has watched what parts of your video, and you can track that back to the CRM history. So that’s a huge, huge advantage there.
Dane Golden:
Wow, well this is very interesting Dominik Wever. How can people find out more about your work, and techniques that you’re advocating.
Dominik Wever:
Well, like the easiest thing would be just hop on the internet and look at my website dominikwever.com and there’s like really cool definitive guides and background infos on how you can leverage the power of video for your software and SaaS company. And if you want to step up your game, I’ve even got a free online course-
Dane Golden:
Great.
Dominik Wever:
You can sign up and that gives you like, some lessons on how you can use video, what types of video to use, and how to incorporate videos, like throughout the whole sales funnel of your software or SaaS solution.
Dane Golden:
Excellent. And Dominik Wever, I’m gonna spell your name, so people know how its spelt. D-O-M-I-N-I-K-W-E-V-E-R. So look for that, at that URL, and people can find this episode by searching HEY and Dominik Wever. My name is Dane Golden and I wanna thank you, the listener, for joining us today. I do this podcast, the video marketing value podcast from HEY.com and the YouTube videos because I love helping marketers and business owners, just like you, grow your customer community, through helpful how-to videos. Because when you share your expertise, in a way that helps your customers live their lives better, or do their jobs better, you’ll earn their loyalty, and their trust, and their business.
Dane Golden:
Thanks to our special guest, Dominik Wever!
Dominik Wever:
Thank you so much Dane and keep rocking.
Dane Golden:
Thank you Dominik. Until next week, here’s to helping you help your customers, through video.