To make the most of your video marketing, proper presentation can be as crucial as good content. Here are some best practices to keep in mind.

For many B2B marketers, lead generation is the primary goal.

Video can be a powerful medium to help accomplish that – particularly as prospects begin to move through the sales funnel. More than 75 percent of Fortune 500 executives view online video content regularly, and roughly twothirds have visited a vendor’s website after watching a video.

It’s a golden opportunity to reach audiences. But to make the most of your video marketing, you need to focus on both the content and how it will be displayed.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

Understand where the video belongs

Your video project should fit into a specific piece of your content funnel.

With a testimonial, your social posts and CTAs need to be focused on deep funnel options – such as live demos and sales calls. For higher-level promos, you should be pushing potential clients toward less intense lead generation opportunities – such as case study downloads.

For lead generation, target the message to hit someone after they’ve done some research about the company, and are ready to learn more.

And once they watch the video, you want to leave them with a clear takeaway.

Keep this perspective in mind throughout the process so the content of the video – and all the messaging promoting it – is appropriate for its place in the buyer’s journey. Including messaging mismatched with the goal can turn off viewers.

Use YouTube wisely

YouTube is important. But when you’re putting your focus on lead generation, it definitely shouldn’t be your main medium.

Regardless of where the video is hosted, your primary destination for your videos should be on a specific landing page, where you control what users see when they watch the video. This helps you better dictate their next interaction with your brand to help drive the engagement you’re looking for.

So if you promote the video via social – and you should – point people toward that landing page, and not YouTube.

Clear next steps and calls-to-actioninsta

Calls-to-action are another aspect of a successful video strategy. Your viewers’ intended actions must be well-defined in order to ensure you capture every lead possible. Include a call-to-action within the video that points users toward the steps you want them to take.

You put a lot of time and effort into your video. Don’t let a lack clear of next steps cause you to lose potential leads at the finish line. For more information about video marketing, take a look at our blogs on video goals, trends for 2016 and videos for conversions. You can read about how we increased user time on site by 93 percent and reached 100+ quarterly video conversions here.

Timothy Griffin is a Marist College graduate who serves as the Video Production Manager for Brafton. When he's not at work, you can usually find him watching sports or reading a good mystery novel.