Introduction
When we mention Software as a Service (SaaS) products, we normally think of programming software that offers some innovative functionality…and a bit of a headache to the marketing team. Indeed, SaaS projects are difficult to promote. The success of the entire campaign may depend on how well you’ve managed to explain to your audience how your product works.
Animation videos have already become an effective marketing tool for SaaS projects as they can be used to demonstrate the functionality of the SaaS product, its interface and in fact, adapt to the needs of the SaaS audience, which is very whimsical when it comes to the formats of content they consume.
In this article, we delve into more detail about the peculiarities of the use of video marketing for SaaS projects, take a look at the most common types of animated videos, and how they can embed into your B2B SaaS video marketing strategy and funnel ☑️
Summary:
- What is Video Marketing for SaaS
- Saas Video Marketing Strategy and Saas Video Marketing Funnel — How Are the Two Concepts Connected?
- 9 Types of Saas Videos: What Is The Best For Your Business?
- Consider Blue Carrot Your Trusted Partner
- Final Thoughts
What is Video Marketing for SaaS
In terms of marketing, the SaaS industry has always been and will always be different from other types of products. Let’s take a physical device for example — before buying it, you can hold and experience it in real life, or you can see it in a TV ad.
With SaaS software, the situation is just the opposite. You can’t ‘physically’ show the product to the customer, which is why it can be difficult to pitch your offering to the audience using traditional marketing tools. This is where video content marketing for SaaS may come into assistance.
👉 Animation videos allow for the conveying of complex ideas, explaining sophisticated functionality in a clear and understandable way, and helping prospects visualize the product itself. Aside from that, by using such videos in SaaS promotions, it’s easier to spot the target audience and communicate with it.
Saas Video Marketing Strategy and Saas Video Marketing Funnel — How Are the Two Concepts Connected?
When using promotional, explainer, or other types of animated videos in your SaaS video marketing strategy, it’s important to keep in mind that each type targets a particular level of the marketing funnel.
In other words, SaaS marketing videos are developed with a particular objective in mind — do I want to just introduce my product to the audience? Explain the functionality that my solution offers? Or update my existing user base on new features of the software? Thus, the different objectives demand different videos to be produced. Not only in terms of type but also length, style, narrative, etc.
So, this is how two concepts — the marketing strategy and funnel — are connected in the SaaS marketing video production: your marketing objectives (regarding future video) should fit into a particular level of the marketing funnel. This is how you’ll be able to understand what kind of animated video you need to initiate.
9 Types of Saas Videos: What Is The Best For Your Business?
Since marketing videos are inextricably linked with the marketing funnel, let’s discuss the types of animated videos with regard to particular stages in this funnel. Basically, there are four funnel levels or stages: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Loyalty.
Awareness
In the first stage of the user’s journey, the main goal of SaaS product video marketing is to make users aware of the SaaS product, i.e. let them know that such a product exists and can help them solve their particular problem. For this stage, businesses normally use:
- Promo videos — short SaaS product videos that, due to their length, can be effectively used as ads on Youtube or social media. Normally they introduce SaaS products and address specific pain points of the audience.
- E-learning videos — these videos are created to educate potential customers on the benefits of using a particular SaaS product. All information in a video normally gets presented in simple language that is easy to understand, even for non-tech-savvy customers.
Video example of awareness stage:
Interest
At this funnel level, users start to learn more about the company and its SaaS product. They already have some basic information about the software and are now looking for more details that would help them make a buying decision regarding the product. At this stage, marketers commonly work with:
- Explainer videos — created to explain to users how the presented product can help them. Such videos commonly come with a well-developed storyline and are produced in a unique style. One of the main advantages of SaaS explainer videos is that they can effectively work (and be used) across all levels of the SaaS video marketing funnel.
- Corporate videos — these materials are usually made to target a specific audience, for example, C-level managers or venture investors.
Video example of interest stage:
Decision
At this stage, the users are ready to make the final decision about the product, and all they need now is a small push that will make them say: “Ok, I’m in.” In the Decision stage, companies normally utilize:
- How-To videos — an advanced form of an explainer video where users are presented with more details regarding SaaS product functionality, get explanations on the different workflows inside the software, are given some specific guidelines, etc.
- Testimonial videos — a great way to prove the legibility of the product is by demonstrating testimonials from existing clients. This can be done with the help of videos as well.
Video example of decision stage:
Loyalty
Now we’re at the bottom of the SaaS video marketing funnel. After prospects have been successfully converted into customers, it’s time to make them engage with a product even more. The goal of video marketing for SaaS products here is to help customers develop a strong bond with the brand or company. Marketers work with such videos as:
- Onboarding videos — these videos add personal touch to the onboarding process and make it less generic. A personal message from the CEO recorded on camera, for example, can greatly add to the overall customer experience.
- Video tutorials — instead of sending out boring text copies with instructions to new users, companies often come up with SaaS tutorials that help to boost the training process and make it more engaging to users.
- Branded videos — any kind of interesting content or fun videos under your brand.
Video example of loyalty stage:
Consider Blue Carrot Your Trusted Partner
Since 2014 our team has been providing full-cycle SaaS video production services, and over the course of that time, we’ve engaged in dozens of different SaaS projects. AI, FinTech, EdTech, and Healthcare are just a few industries that we’ve had an opportunity to work with. We are very open with what we do, and the majority of projects that we’ve done are available in our portfolio.
🔹 Route4Gas
An explainer video that was produced by the Blue Carrot team for Route4Gas — a digital platform that allows gas trading companies to optimize gas transmissions across Europe. The Route4Gas analyzes traders’ requests, available gas capacities, and other publicly available data to come up with the most efficient deals that would help companies pay less for the route bookings they make.
Despite the complexity of the subject — our team had to spend a significant amount of time sorting through the cumbersome processes of gas trading and routing — we managed to successfully deliver the project and meet the client’s expectations.
Find out more about this project here 👈
🔹 Proquest
A 90-second SaaS demo video that our team produced for ProQuest — a connected-knowledge platform that provides access to 5+ million citations and 3 million text titles. ProQuest helps students, librarians and other learners speed up the knowledge discovery process, making it easier in general.
The goal of our team in this project was to briefly explain how the knowledge discovery process works, introduce the platform and show its functionality and the benefits that ProQuest brings to its users. For this explainer video, we developed a unique animation style that included product demo screencasts.
Find out more about this project here 👈
Final Thoughts
Compared to all other methods, videos continue to be one of the most effective ways of promoting your product, and the SaaS industry is no exception. What’s hard to do via text or still ads (visualize innovations, target a specific group of users, raise brand awareness, etc.) can be easily done with the help of video content production for SaaS. This is what makes video marketing for B2B SaaS products so unique.
We hope that this short overview of the types of SaaS videos was helpful. If you require extra information on video marketing strategy for SaaS products or simply are looking for a team for your next project, contact us! Our video production specialists are well versed in creating 2D and 3D animation videos for startups as well as established enterprises.
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