Firing Up Manufacturing Sales and Marketing With Video

Most manufacturing deals don't get decided in a room you're in. Josh Fidi, CEO of SalesReach, pointed out that complex purchases can involve as many as 14 decision makers. Most of them will never meet your sales rep. Video is one of the few tools that puts your best explanation in front of every one of them.

In this session from Lake One's Manufacturing Learning Series, Rachel Seiko, VP of Client Delivery at Lake One, talked with three people who use video every day:

• Joe Kessler, owner of Kessler Productions
• Josh Fedie, CEO and founder of SalesReach
• Nikolas Kouzes, creative director at American Polywater

Why does video work for manufacturers?

The panel landed on three reasons.

Video removes guesswork. Written communication strips out tone. On video, people can tell whether you're serious, joking, or concerned. That matters when you're explaining a technical product to a buyer who has to defend the decision internally.

Video travels. Joe described a commercial real estate client that published a 20 to 30 page PDF recap every year. Nobody forwarded it. A short video version of the same content gets shared. When your main contact can hand a video to the other stakeholders, you're present in conversations you'd otherwise miss.

Video matches how people learn. Some buyers read. Some watch. Josh's advice: deliver both. Explain the deal in writing, explain it visually, and explain it on video.

Is video a thought leadership strategy on its own?

No, and Nicholas was direct about this. Video amplifies a positioning strategy. It doesn't replace one. He compared it to a Fender Stratocaster: it doesn't play itself. You need someone to write the song, someone to play it, and an amplifier loud enough to be heard.

That means doing the foundation work first. Know what unique problem you solve and how your audience actually sees you. Then decide where video fits.

The panel offered three "A" words for video content that builds authority:

1. Authority. Have you earned the right to talk about this topic?
2. Authenticity. Data-driven, funny, or technical, be the version of yourself that's true.
3. Awareness. Where is this viewer in their journey with you? Someone who has never heard of you needs a different video than a current customer.

What mistakes should manufacturers avoid?

• Packing everything into one video. Joe recommends treating video as a long race. Cut one 90-second piece into a dozen shorter clips. If a message doesn't fit, put it in the email that carries the video.
• Waiting for perfect. In sales and customer success video, speed wins. Buyers want answers, not polish. Josh tells people their first 20 videos will be the garbage ones, so get through them.
• Going it alone. Nicholas's video team has three seats: one technical person, one customer-facing person (usually sales), and one creative. Every video gets all three perspectives.
• Hitting record without a plan. Most people freeze because they don't know what they're going to say. Write a script. After about 30 days of using it, you won't need it.
• Quitting too early. Joe once published 52 straight days of phone-shot videos. Responses picked up around day 30. Teams that try video for two months and stop never find out what was working.
• Forcing it. If a rep has practiced and is still uncomfortable on camera, have someone else on the team deliver the message.

What tools do you need to get started?

Start with what you have: a phone and a light. Basic editors like iMovie handle cuts and text overlays.

Don't spend money until you know two things: whether you can get good at video, and whether you'll keep doing it.

When you do invest, use a delivery platform. Nobody opens a .MOV attachment from a stranger. Vidyard and SalesReach both offer free versions. Check with leadership before you adopt a tool, because some manufacturers have confidentiality rules about what can be shared.

For marketing video, publish on YouTube. It's the second-largest search engine, so build SEO into your messaging from the start.

Key takeaways

• Video lets your message reach stakeholders you'll never meet.
• Build video on top of a positioning strategy, not instead of one.
• In sales, speed beats polish. In brand video, invest in quality.
• Script it, get feedback from a peer, and commit for longer than feels comfortable.

Want help building video into your HubSpot sales and marketing process? Talk to Lake One.