Citibank’s CEO, Jane Fraser, made a splash with her last year announcement of Zoom-free Fridays for employees, “to combat the ‘Zoom fatigue’ that many of us feel.” This is no knock on Zoom, or online meeting software in general, which has proven to be remarkably effective during the pandemic. The problem isn’t software, it’s people. What causes Zoom fatigue? In Nonverbal overload: A theoretical argument for the causes of Zoom fatigue Professor Jeremy Bailenson of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab suggests several reasons why video calls are so tiring. Eye gaze at a close d ..read more

More show, less tell Have you given any thought to how much video these days gets watched without audio? More than you think, probably, because LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube all autoplay videos with no audio by default. Now consider the short videos you’ve created to explain and promote your products and services. If the viewer doesn’t listen to the voice track, how much of your message is getting across? Social media viewers have become accustomed to being carried along by animations and imagery supported by subtitles, headlines, and other text elements. They’re happy t ..read more

The most influential tool for sales success in 2020 was video conferencing — a key element in digital selling. According to Hubspot, “74% of leaders who outperformed targets this year said virtual meetings were “as or more effective than face to face meetings.” In the same article, a spokesman for Zoom assures us that video is 34X as effective(!) Anyway, we can all agree that video is effective. More show-and-tell People involved in the sales process are much more comfortable turning on their webcams than they were a year ago, because putting your professional self out there can increase trus ..read more

At the top of a recent article titled “Attitudes Toward Information Signal Buying Effectiveness,” Gartner analyst Hank Barnes billboards this alarming (if you’re involved in sales communication) headline “43% of Buyers Feel Strongly That Volume of Information Overwhelming” The feeling captured in the headline emerged in Gartner’s studies of how organizations with different psychographic profiles think about enterprise technology adoption. “Too much information” is something we’re all familiar with. But, besides the overwhelmed 43%, the data also distinguished a group of technology buyers who ..read more

If you’re developing your 2021 video budget with a fixed number of productions and a cost estimate for each — there’s a better way. So much of B2B business is conducted via online video today, it makes sense think of the video budget as a resource for boosting your brand by enlivening everything else that you do online — from customer meetings, to social media, to text content like white papers and blog posts. Cost components of new video content These costs are common to all B2B sales/marketing videos: Time spent identifying what you want the viewer to take away Time and talent writing, vis ..read more

“Social video generates 12 times the shares than text and images combined” has been a favorite stat of video makers since it was mentioned by Forbes in 2017. But what is “social video” anymore, now that socializing with video is an everyday thing for people in business? What’s not sociable? Commercial interruptions. Sure, competently produced video marketing messages video stand out compared to text and static images. That’s why “explainer” videos are still around. But customers and prospects who respond to your invitation to a live meeting (or recorded webinar) have almost certainly looked a ..read more

Only 20% of B2B companies these days rely on in-person or field teams — down from 60% last year (source). For many B2B companies “website interactions” has meant redoubling their eCommerce efforts — with good results and with fewer interactions. But it’s not so easy to get online orders for complex and pricey purchases like technology solutions. They’re seeking to make up for the lost engagement with online tools that can all be improved with new video content. online meetings website interactions self-serve interactions live chat agents The experience of tech buyers Some intriguing charact ..read more

Findings from a recent report on lead-gen strategies from Ascend2: Most marketers think their social media tactics are increasing the quality of leads Most marketers are spending more on social media because of COVID-19 Most marketers regard video as the most effective type of content for lead-gen, followed by webinars, and live events/webinars All these “most-effective” online content types feature moving pictures on a small screen — in other words, they’re all video. Looking at no-motion on the screen for any length of time makes most people antsy.  Consciously or not, viewers expect ..read more

When it comes to digital transformation in B2B marketing and sales, marketing has led the way in recent years. But now B2B sales teams are finding that they need get up to speed with digital selling in a hurry. “The pandemic makes digital selling absolutely essential to hitting goal,” says Glenn Eckard, head of client success and experience at Journey Sales (a long-time client of ours). Having launched their well-regarded digital selling solution, called Smart Rooms, in 2015, Journey Sales works with a variety of sales organizations, including some of the largest and most respected brands. So ..read more

For many sales professionals, conducting online video meetings is now a big part of the job. And, it’s not something that comes naturally to most of us. Even if you perform well and the group resists talking over one another, attention will wander in online meetings. Multiple talking heads on a small screen? That’s very different from a professionally produced video where everything has been well thought through by a director or performer. Every online video meeting can benefit from more of that. Visual content that improves online meetings In talking with our technology sales and marketing c ..read more