Is Video the Winning Part of Your Next Business Proposal?

We all pretty much understand by now that video is a desirable component of a marketing strategy. Such content is highly engaging, with viewers retaining 95% of a message on video versus 10% when reading text. That’s huge.

While companies distribute video via their websites 85% of the time, there’s another rising trend marketers should be paying attention to: the use of video as part of RFPs and business proposals.

What Do These Videos Do?

Whether you’re a commercial-only business or on the GSA schedule and vying for public-sector opportunities, you likely already know what’s required to throw your hat in the new-business ring. Text-based proposals are usually your first requirement, but as you make the cut and move to higher levels of competition, more is needed—typically a Zoom or in-person presentation—often done with the aid of PowerPoint-type slides.

Increasingly, though, another option is the addition of video to sell your organization. Such videos promote your company by giving an overarching, visual explanation of:

• The ways in which your company creates value for its customers
• What capabilities and specialties it offers
• How it stands out from competitors

Such videos of course do not replace the RFP or new-business-proposal process and its many requirements, but serve to augment it in an engaging, memorable way. Even when video is not overtly requested by a prospect, almost always, when a company asks if video is allowable, the answer is “yes.”

Video as Part of the Bid Process: Example

One video I recently produced was for call center solutions company Engaging Solutions, for use as part of an RFP presentation to a large healthcare provider. As you can see below, the video speaks to the challenges of staffing and operating call centers, and how Engaging Solutions resolves typical pain points by personalizing services and better engaging customers using state-of-the-art technology and top call center talent:

Evergreen and Multipurpose? You Bet.

While videos can make your proposal or presentation stand out, their use isn’t limited to just the one proposal or RFP. In most cases, these videos can be repurposed bid after bid—either as is or with just a little inexpensive editing to tailor them to each situation at hand.

Nor is new business the only usage. Videos like these can be used:

• On your website, to give visitors a visual explanation of who you are
• In trade show booths
• As social content—in their entirety or edited into smaller snippets for multiple posts

Importantly, such videos—especially shorter-form videos—don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. While they can certainly be highly produced (as our example shows), they can also simply be an elevated version of a PowerPoint-style deck. For instance, instead of using original footage and interviews with company customers, employees, and others, the video can simply rely on stock footage and music, a voiceover, and basic visual effects.

Regardless, the objective is for such videos to be both engaging and professionally done. The ability to choose video sophistication and length means that some form of video is available for almost every budget.

Video Is What You Need to Stand Out

I get excited about video proposals and presentations of this type because I’ve seen them work firsthand. They also tend to take a lot of pressure off the presenting team.

Video visually pushes forward your company’s unique value proposition while distilling exactly why prospects would want to choose it in an attention-getting way. I think we’ll be seeing more organizations including the option for video in RFPs and proposals as its accessibility and popularity continue to rise. In fact, 69% of marketers expect the top content-marketing-related area of investment for 2022 to be video.

If you’re curious about creating video to help market your organization and product (even if you’re still just kicking the tires), contact us today. We’re happy to discuss your budget and crystalize for you what’s possible.