Brands and businesses have already begun to acknowledge and harness the power of online video marketing in the Business to Consumer (B2C) space. More and more success stories are emerging as marketing directors, brand managers social media managers and their agencies are beginning to grasp the core fundamentals of establishing goals, optimizing content for sharing and search and measuring results. Likewise, brands and businesses are now turning to online video marketing to raise interest in and awareness of their products and services in the Business to Business (B2B) space, but with caution.

What differentiates a B2B from a B2C online video marketing approach is simply a shift in the focus of the creative and the viral marketing strategy. Always keep in mind that businesses are made up of people… who are consumers. A business doesn’t watch and share videos, absorb a product or service message, read a blog post or article in a trade publication or share advice. People do these things on behalf of themselves and their brands and businesses.

This is not intended as a step-by-step guide but rather an outline to get you thinking differently about the perceived chasm that exists between B2B and B2C online video marketing.

Establishing B2B Goals and Objectives

A successful B2B online video marketing campaign will have both goals and objectives. Goals are predicted end results like “more sales” and “increased brand and product awareness.” Objectives are short term and include targeted video views, video posts and re-posts, specific mentions online, comments and website traffic.

1. Establish objectives that, if achieved, will reach the goals you have set.
2. Establish goals that, if achieved, will warrant the investment you are making.
3. Establish objectives that will achieve the goals.
4. Measure the achieved goals against the investment to determine ROI.

The Creative Approach for B2B Video

1. Target the creative concepts toward the end buyer. This is a person, or people responsible for purchases within the brand, business or organization. What type of content will inspire them to pass along the video and your message?
2. Create videos in which they can see themselves and the problems they face… preferably in a fun or funny way. Allow them to relate to and share with others in your primary and secondary demographic.
3. Target the creative concepts toward the viewers who influence them from both the Business and the Consumer worlds. Think in terms of primary, secondary and tangential influencers.
4. Smart and clever vs wild and wacky: Arm influencers and co-workers with videos they will want to, and can actually share in the workplace without feeling embarrassed for liking them (even though they probably do).
5. What factors influence their purchasing decisions?
6. Create content that will entertain and make them aware of your brand, products and services without being overtly salesy. Most people don’t share commercials.
7. Establish a balance between entertainment value and marketing message.

The B2B Viral Video Marketing Approach

1. Target: Establish your target audience, direct influencers, tangential influencers. Where do they find information on the business products they buy? What blogs and publications do they follow? Target toward the end business consumer, target toward the viewers who influence them from the B2B and the B2C worlds to touch on something likely to be passed from one target audience person to another and also from outside the loop inward.
2. Invest budget or time into blog and publication outreach, social network marketing and paid placement on highly targeted online publication and social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube to stimulate views and conversation. Again, you are ultimately going for lots and lots of “earned” views.