The Power of Video Storytelling: How to Maximize It
As AI shapes the world, it becomes even more important to connect with humans. Video is a great way to do that. Why? Because it can share stories, evoke emotions, engage and inspire audiences. One more reason why many B2B marketers use video, as recent B2B research shows.
For its third annual video and visual storytelling survey, the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) surveyed 382 marketers, mostly from North America, in August 2023. According to the results, 67% of marketers say video has become more important to their business over the last year. Yet, only 7% say they use it to its full potential. 63% say not yet, but they’re getting there. So, is it a surprise that most marketers say they get average results from the format?
Want to start using video to its full potential? Let’s explore key takeaways from this important survey and some additional insights on the subject:
- Video production – the basis for success. According to the survey report, most marketers (69%) produce videos in-house. 21% mainly outsource, 8% rely primarily on employee-generated videos, and 2% rely on user- or customer-generated videos.
Producing your videos in-house presents a huge opportunity for achieving the best possible outcome, in line with the targets set. According to industry leaders like Neurons, a company specialized in consumer neuromarketing and neuroscience, predicting the performance of every campaign, image and video, as well as the attention they could grab, is a game-changer. Some thought-provoking insights as to why this is essential nowadays are derived from their studies shared during a recent webinar:
- 94.4% of content is forgotten,
- 82% of content is ignored,
- 47% of content is seen as irrelevant or annoying – and
- 2 seconds is all we have, if we are lucky, to grab the audience’s attention in a (social) media context.
Does the above mean that it would be pure luck if your video ads manage to stand out and contribute to your branding and content strategy? Not necessarily. Think high-attention! Invest in such media channels for distribution as well as use specific methods for prediction of the attention a video or static image campaign could harness, including with the help of AI and specialized software. This could significantly elevate the potential of your ad campaign in terms of viewing time, audience reach and brand performance.
- Enhance your video content with AI. Actually, according to the above CMI survey, only 18% of marketers use AI to assist with video creation. Another recent research on B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024 confirms that nearly three-quarters (72%) say they use generative AI, but 61% say their organization lacks guidelines for its use. However, one in three marketers who don’t use AI for video now plan to do so in the next year. (37% say they have no plans, while 30% say they’re unsure.)

Among marketers who use AI, most use it to create video scripts (69%), followed by video editing (34%) and generating videos from existing scripts/text (26%). Other uses include adding motion graphics (23%), generating new content from existing videos (20%), localization (10%), and other (17%).
Marketers most often cite time savings as a benefit of using AI for video creation, but only 17% say it resulted in higher-quality content. This suggests AI isn’t quite there yet when it comes to delivering the video products marketers want.
Among the other cited benefits are: an easier video creation process (59%), cost savings (47%), more content variety (41%), fewer human resources needed (33%), and improved ability to maintain multiple digital channels (19%).
- Video – a human connection creation tool. We marketers cannot afford to underestimate the power of human-to-human communication, even at the age of AI. Which stage do you most often use your video content for? As research shows, marketers most often create videos for the brand awareness stage (48%). 22% produce them for the consideration stage, while 15% create for the buying stage and 15% develop videos for post-purchase. 43% of surveyed marketers say video can create a human connection by sharing stories, struggles, and triumphs. One-third (35%) say videos can inform by showcasing products and services, while 20% see video as a help to educate audiences.
How to ensure the effectiveness of this process? Displayed at the right moment, defined with the help of attention metrics, paired with a powerful creative and memorable message, video content can reach consumers’ hearts and stick with them, thus bringing brand recall and engagement to a whole new level.

- Get your video strategy ready. What do marketers think they need most to get better results? 60% say they need a video strategy (same as in 2022). “It’s alarming to see so few marketers reporting above-average results. This, along with CMI’s finding that 60% of marketers say an improved strategy would help, suggests an issue of execution rather than the content medium itself,” says Amy Balliett, author and senior fellow for visual strategy at Material.
Most marketers (57%) cite creating the right content for their audience as a challenge. This is a change from many years when “creating enough content” was the most frequently cited challenge. One respondent points out why understanding what audiences want is more important than ever: “We were never only competing with other B2B content. We’ve always been competing for attention.”
How about the budget for your strategy? 40% say their 2023 video budget was more than their 2022 budget, 34% say it stayed the same, 12% saw a drop, and 9% didn’t have a video budget in 2022. 5% are unsure. For 2024, 64% expect the budget will increase (27% expect a more than 9% jump, while 37% plan for a 1% to 9% increase). Still, 75% of those surveyed say their organization needs to invest more in video. One-fourth (24%) say they invest the right amount, and 1% say they need to invest less.

Source: Marketing Week
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