Q1 is an interesting time of year for businesses. Trends differ based on the industry and whether businesses sell primarily B2B or B2C, but in most cases, the first few months of the year represent a slowdown from the holiday and Q4 boost in the months prior.
With that in mind, it’s common for Q1 goals to fall within two main themes: take action to try to boost sales during the slower period, or use the sales slowdown to get ahead on big-picture sales and marketing initiatives that may pay off later. In both cases, using video to your advantage is a huge help.
Let’s explore a few potential Q1 goals and how video supports their success.
Q1 Marketing Goals
Retain Holiday Business
Given that Q1 falls right after the holiday shopping boom, many businesses hope to use Q1 to turn these one-time customers into brand loyalists. Consumers are more likely to purchase from brands they’re not familiar with when buying gifts for loved ones, so many businesses see an uptick in first-time buyers.
Email marketing campaigns, repeat purchase promotions, and social media plays can help bring these buyers back a second time, encouraging them to become long-term customers.
How Video Can Help
Video is the perfect tool to connect with these buyers authentically, staying on their radar without directly pushing another sale. Here are just a few ideas of specific videos that you can put to use as you aim to develop brand loyalty:
- How-to video that explains how to get the best use out of the product or service already purchased
- Social media videos with UGC of gift recipients enjoying their new items
- Commercials that customers will see on their favorite platforms, reminding them of your brand
Accomplish Miscellaneous Projects
Another common approach to Q1 is to put aggressive sales tactics on the back burner to focus on projects that often get de-prioritized later in the year. Think website updates, company rebranding, improvements to employee onboarding, or any other big-picture initiatives that never quite come up at the right time.
Since some consumers won’t be receptive to sales-heavy content in Q1, if you choose to dial back your marketing efforts, investing time into these irregular projects is a great way to maximize your resources.
How Video Can Help
Video can play a critical role in every example of long-term projects we mentioned above. If you’re updating your website, make sure to incorporate video on a few of your key pages to provide a dynamic opportunity for visitors to learn more. If you’re updating your company branding, consider an internal video that helps explain the changes and roll out the new version to employees. If you’re improving your onboarding process, standardize the company-wide training with video content that employees can watch autonomously.
Better yet, if your organization isn’t already using video content as part of your marketing efforts, make “develop a video marketing strategy” one of the projects you plan to tackle. Use these slow months to identify opportunities to incorporate video, then get started with brainstorming, scripting, and storyboarding to bring the content to life. Or, hire a video production partner that can guide you in the right direction.
Whether you choose one of these projects or something else that’s long overdue in your own organization, take a moment to consider how video can take your project to the next level.
Close Unfinished Deals from Last Year
For B2B organizations, it’s common to pick back up in January with deals that never closed the year prior. Clients may not have signed on due to budget constraints, lack of executive approval, or even just because they couldn’t make it happen before they set their holiday OOO message.
It’s important for sales and marketing professionals to reengage these clients in Q1, checking back in to understand whether the deal is still viable or not. These opportunities can be low-hanging fruit that help make up for the traditional slow period, so don’t ignore them just because they didn’t finalize before year end.
How Video Can Help
There are two key ways to utilize video to help close these stubborn deals. The first—and likely most effective—is to have salespeople send custom, one-on-one video messages addressing the client. Think of these videos as a replacement for your typical email or phone outreach, and provide the same information in video form as you would otherwise. The key is that video makes the interaction feel more personal, helping you build (or recover) the relationship and stand out from other outreach efforts.
If you don’t want to go that route, you can also share testimonial videos with these clients to help them understand how your product or service has helped other clients in the past. Both options will go a long way towards helping nudge unfinished deals closer and closer to success.
Start Strong on Annual Sales Goals
Last but not least, your team (and your organization as a whole) likely has ambitious goals set for the year ahead. Whether you’re hoping to improve brand awareness, increase your conversion rates, or capture more value from repeat customers, you’re going to have to make a dent in Q1 to have a shot at hitting your targets. Don’t make a mistake by assuming that Q1 marketing is a lost cause.
How Video Can Help
There’s a video type for virtually every type of marketing goal. Brand (or “About Us”) videos are great for boosting brand awareness. Product videos and video ads are effective when it comes to attracting new leads. Testimonial videos go a long way towards encouraging conversions. For internal goals, team videos help attract top-tier candidates and improve employee morale.
If you need help understanding which video type aligns best with your 2022 goals, you’re in luck, because that’s exactly what our Producers love to help with. Schedule a call here for custom (and free!) guidance based on your industry, your goals, and your budget.
Final Thoughts
Q1 is an exciting time for businesses, and incorporating video in your Q1 strategy helps ensure you’ll accomplish what you set out to accomplish. If you need new video content to pull off your plans, let us know!
