What Do You Do When Your B2B Video Strategy Isn't Working?

You revise it. A good video plan has the fix built in: you measure four things (showing up in AI search, clicks, watch time, and leads), and each one tells you exactly what to change when it is not working. Here is the worked example I use, with the fix for each failure point.

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Key Takeaways

• A video plan should include what happens when it does not work. Revision is part of the process, not a sign of failure.
• Start with buyer questions, make videos that answer them so well the buyer has no more questions on that topic, then analyze and revise.
• The number one thing to measure is whether you show up in AI search.
• Each failure point has its own fix: answer the question better, repackage the title and thumbnail, restructure for watch time, fix the CTA, or look at your sales transcripts.
• In my example, weekly videos at $5k a month only need to help win two more customers worth $50k a year to pay for themselves.
• You are not buying a library of videos. You are buying a process that learns and adjusts as it goes.

This fits inside a bigger picture. If you want the full view first, here's the bigger picture.

What does a B2B SaaS video plan look like?

Take a B2B SaaS company that wants more sales. In my example, an average buyer is worth about $50k a year, and the current cost to acquire a client is about $100k. The plan is to make weekly videos that answer buyer questions, with a $5k a month budget. That gets you one video a week.

Over time that builds a library. When you first start, you have a bunch of unanswered buyer questions. You make video content that answers each one so well the buyer understands it and has no more questions on that topic. Then they can move on to the next step in their buyer journey, and you have video content for that step too.

What should you measure?

The number one goal is to show up in AI search. If you are showing up, you are part of the buying consideration set and part of the conversation. Buyers can start consuming your content and move down their buying journey.

If they consume the content and get educated, that turns into qualified inquiries on your website. Those turn into demos or conversations, and those turn into pipeline. That is the process working correctly.

What if your videos do not show up in AI search?

AI tends to surface the best answers: the ones that most specifically answer a buyer question, deeply and well. If you are not showing up, that is a telltale sign you are not the best answer yet.

So you revise the video and make another version that answers the question better. You keep doing that until you show up.

What if people are not clicking?

That is usually about the title and the thumbnail. Repackage the video: test other titles and other thumbnails.

What if people click but do not watch?

If they are bouncing early, open YouTube analytics and find out why they are leaving. Analyze what is going on, then structure the video so people watch more of it.

What if people watch but do not become leads?

Look at who you are targeting with the videos, and at the calls to action on them. If the CTA is not working, you need to do a better job of driving people to your website to book a demo.

What if demos do not turn into pipeline?

If demos or website leads are not converting to pipeline, look at your sales transcripts and your website data. That tells you where the conversion is breaking down.

Why is revision built in?

"At no point are we unaware of what's working and what's not." (Dane Frederiksen)

The loop is: start with buyer questions, make videos about them, post them, then analyze what is working and what is not. You already know what you will do when something is not working, and then you revise. It might take a little time to get the data, but it is built into the system.

Can a video library pay for itself?

At a $50k a year customer value, spending $5k a month ($60k a year) is a reasonable use of money if the library helps you win two more customers in a year. Two customers at $50k is $100k, so at that point it basically pays for itself. That is my worked example, not a guarantee.

It also makes sales easier. When buyers have their questions answered with videos before they show up, they arrive better educated. You are not just buying a library of videos. You are buying a process that learns and adjusts as it goes.

Get the free AEO Video Checklist

Download the AEO Video Checklist here. If you want to see what this plan would look like for your company, reach out.

Doing the thing is the easy part. The hard part is knowing where you're already winning and where you're invisible. That's exactly what our free AI Visibility Snapshot shows you, before you spend a dollar.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the first thing to measure in a B2B video plan?

Whether your videos show up in AI search. Showing up puts you in the buyer's consideration set, so they can start consuming your content and moving down their buying journey.

What if your videos do not show up in AI search?

It usually means you are not yet the best answer to that buyer question. Revise the video, or make another version that answers it more specifically and deeply, and keep doing that until you show up.

What if people are not clicking on your videos?

That is usually about the title and the thumbnail. Repackage the video and test other titles and thumbnails.

What if people click but leave early?

Look at YouTube analytics to find where and why they leave, then restructure the video so people watch more of it.

What if people watch but do not become leads?

Look at who the video is targeting and at the calls to action. If the CTA is not driving people to the website to book a demo, fix that.

What if demos or website leads do not turn into pipeline?

Look at your sales call transcripts and your website data to find where the conversion is breaking down.

Full Transcript

Here's what would happen if our video plan doesn't work. It's actually built into the process. So I want to walk you through exactly what a plan would look like and then what would happen if things weren't going the way that we intended. So let's say we're looking at a B2B SaaS company with the goal of increasing sales and an average buyer is worth like 50k a year. And their current acquisition costs are like 100k per client. So our plan is to make weekly videos answering buyer questions and we're going to budget 5k a month to do that. So that's going to get us one video a week. So over time we're going to start to build a library that is going to answer these buyer questions. So when we first start we have a bunch of unanswered buyer questions. Then we're going to start making video content intended to answer these questions so well that they understand and don't have any more questions about that topic. Then they're able to move on to the next step in their buyer journey and we have video content for that step as well. So if that wasn't working what would happen is they are... Let's just start actually the four different steps here. So the things we're going to measure here about our plan is we want to show up in AI search. That's like the number one goal. So if we're showing up in search that means we're part of the buying consideration set, we're part of the conversation, and then they have content that they can start to consume and move down their buyer journey. So if they are consuming the content and getting educated and that turns into qualified inquiries on your website and then that turns into demos or conversations that turn into pipeline that's the process working correctly. Now if it's not working, here's what we would do. So if you're not showing up in AI search that means that we need to do a better job of answering that question. Normally what's going to happen is AI is going to surface the best answers that most specifically answers specific buyer questions deeply and well. So if we're not showing up that's a telltale sign that we're basically not the best answer. So we're going to revise the video and do another version that answers this better and we'll keep doing that until we show up. If they are not clicking on those videos, that's usually about the titles and the thumbnails. So we're going to look at repackaging those, doing a testing some other titles, other thumbnails. Then if they're clicking but they're not watching fully, like if they're bouncing early, we're going to look at the YouTube analytics and find out, okay, why are they leaving? We'll analyze a little bit about what's going on there and see if we can basically structure this in a way that they're going to watch more fully. If they are watching the videos but then they're not translating into leads, well then we'll look at who we're targeting with these videos and then what sort of CTA's or call to actions are on these videos that are not working and we need to do a better job of actually driving people to the website to do a demo. And then if those demos are not converting or the website leads are not converting to pipeline, then you can look at your sales transcripts, you can look at your website data and find out where that conversion is breaking down. So baked into this entire process is revisions. So just to generalize, we'll come up with a plan and we'll launch the plan but we're talking about as we're going, this is what happens. We're going to start with our buyer questions, then we're going to make videos about them, we're going to post them out there and then this is the revision part. We're going to analyze what's working and what's not like we just covered over here, right? And we know what we're going to do when it's not working and then we revise. So at no point are we unaware of what's working and not, it might take a little time to get the data but it's built into the system to make sure that this works. And so our goal was to get, you know, increased sales. So at a 50k a year value of a customer, spending 5k a month as a customer acquisition cost is a pretty good use your money because once we create this library of videos, right, we're basically every week making a video and these are answering the buyer questions, do we believe that this library of videos can help us get two more customers in a year? Because at that point it basically pays for itself. And the good news is this is going to make sales easier. So when people are having their questions out here and they're getting answered with videos, when they finally consume this concept content and they show up, these are going to convert like three times better. And so you're not just buying a library of videos, right, you're buying a process that learns and adjusts as we go. So this is basically the process. If you want to learn more about it, just reach out and I'll show you what this would look like for you. Okay, good luck.

Most teams don't get this right on the first try. Here's how we approached it for a real team. Curious what it'd look like for you? Let's talk it through.