Use video for inbound marketing by matching the right video to the right buyer stage: short clips to attract attention, explainers and demos to educate, testimonials to build trust, and onboarding videos to retain customers. Publish on pages that already get traffic, add transcripts and clear calls-to-action, then measure pipeline impact—not just views.
This post started life as a 2017 London HubSpot User Group talk transcript. The core idea still holds: the right video, at the right moment, on the right channel wins. What’s changed is the landscape around it—short-form dominance, platform formats, tougher attention economics, and AI-powered search.
In Wyzowl’s latest video marketing statistics, 91% of businesses say they use video as a marketing tool and 93% say it’s an important part of their strategy (Video Marketing Statistics 2024). They also report that 90% say video has helped increase brand awareness, and 87% say it helped increase sales. In other words: the “why video” debate is over—now it’s about execution and measurement.
Video works because it compresses understanding: in a few minutes you can show context, tone, proof, and next steps. But inbound teams often make the same mistake—optimising for “views” instead of the buyer journey. A view is not a lead, and a lead is not pipeline.
The smarter approach is to treat each video like a page on your site: it has a job, a target query, and a measurable next step. HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report found 83% of marketers say video is the content format with the highest ROI, and short-form video is the most leveraged format (report published 2024). That’s great—but only if you connect it to conversions.
If you’re building a full-funnel system, start with the fundamentals of inbound marketing (strategy, SEO, content and conversion), then layer video on top where it removes friction and speeds up decisions.
Attract-stage video should behave like a great inbound blog post: it answers a specific question clearly, quickly, and credibly. Think “What is X?”, “How do I do Y?”, “Is Z worth it?”. You’re not trying to sell—you’re trying to be the most useful result on the page (and the most quotable answer in AI summaries).
Distribution matters here. Short-form is a reach multiplier, but don’t ignore YouTube’s role in discovery. BrightEdge data reported YouTube citations in Google AI Overviews grew 25.21% since 1 January 2025 (published 12 Feb 2025), with an additional 36.66% month-over-month growth from January to February—especially for how-to and visual demonstration queries. That’s a strong hint: “answer-first” videos are increasingly relevant to GEO.
Conversion-stage video removes uncertainty. Your job is to help the prospect self-qualify and take the next step without feeling trapped by a sales process. Wyzowl reports 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service (Video Marketing Statistics 2024). That’s exactly the behaviour you want to support on your highest-intent pages.
The biggest win: embed one clear explainer on the page where the decision is happening (service page, comparison page, pricing context, or a focused landing page). If you’re doing this inside HubSpot, link the video to a simple, measurable CTA (book a call, download the guide, request an audit), then track influenced revenue.
If you’re building these assets consistently, it’s worth pairing video with HubSpot onboarding so your forms, workflows, attribution, and lead scoring are actually doing their job (instead of quietly rotting in the background).
Most B2B decisions are “logic first, trust last”. At close stage, buyers want proof: outcomes, credibility, and low risk. This is where testimonials, case study walkthroughs, “day in the life” process videos, and implementation explainers perform best.
HubSpot’s 2024 report also highlights that marketers most often use video on social media (83%) and on websites/blogs (71%), and that social video often produces strong ROI. The close-stage move is different: it’s not about reach; it’s about reassurance. Use video to answer the objections that block signatures: timeline, complexity, integration, and “what happens after we say yes?”
If you need help beyond video production—content creation, campaigns, and the rest of the inbound stack—our other marketing services cover the practical gaps that stop execution.
Inbound doesn’t end at the sale. Retention and expansion are where margin lives. Onboarding videos, feature walkthroughs, “how to get value fast” series, and proactive support clips reduce churn and increase adoption. Wyzowl reports 88% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video (Video Marketing Statistics 2024). Post-sale, that same mechanism reinforces “we made the right choice”.
Practical move: build a short onboarding playlist, embed it in your welcome emails, and keep it in your knowledge base. If video is part of your customer journey, build it into your processes—not as a one-off campaign.
If you want video to support SEO, you need to optimise the “watch page” experience: clear headings, a tight summary, transcripts/captions, and a next step. Google’s Search Central documentation explains that structured data (VideoObject) can help Google understand video details like description, thumbnail URL, upload date and duration (updated December 2025). That’s technical SEO—table stakes.
AEO/GEO is the next layer: make your content easy for answer engines to lift accurately. That means:
If you want the broader playbook (beyond video), see our updated guide on optimising your brand for AI search.
This is the simplest way we’ve found to keep video production strategic (instead of chaotic). One stage at a time, one goal at a time, then scale what works.
For a deeper funnel framework, you can also reference our guide on running video across the marketing funnel and our practical video marketing tips.
Different platforms reward different behaviours. Short-form video (LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube Shorts) is excellent for reach and re-engagement. Longer content (YouTube, webinars, on-page explainers) is better for consideration and closing—especially when paired with a clear next step.
If social is a main distribution channel for your video content, your strategy needs to be intentional—see our social media marketing approach and align it to the same inbound goals (not “posting for the sake of it”).
“Views” are the easiest metric to inflate—and the easiest one to misread. Inbound video should be measured by its job in the funnel. A 300-view demo that generates three qualified calls can be worth more than a 30,000-view clip that does nothing.
If you want the strategy to be measurable end-to-end, you need clean tracking and a reporting rhythm. That’s where HubSpot (and proper onboarding) becomes less “tooling” and more the operating system.
Video for inbound marketing means using video to attract the right audience, convert interest into leads, and nurture customers. The key is matching video formats (short clips, explainers, demos, testimonials, onboarding) to each stage of the buyer journey and measuring outcomes, not vanity metrics.
Most B2B teams do both. YouTube helps discovery and “how-to” visibility, while your website is where you control conversion paths and tracking. Publish on YouTube for reach, embed on high-intent pages for conversion, and keep your CTAs and measurement consistent.
Make the video as long as needed—and no longer. Awareness works well with short-form, while consideration and decision stages often benefit from longer explainers and demos. Structure matters more than length: chapters, clear headings, and a focused next step keep attention and drive action.
Optimise the page: strong title, summary, transcript/captions, and clean headings that match real queries. Add credible sources where you cite numbers and avoid vague claims. If relevant, implement structured data. The aim is to be easy to find, easy to understand, and safe to cite.
Explainers, demos, webinar clips, and testimonial/case-study videos usually perform best because they reduce uncertainty and build trust. The secret is placement: embed these videos on the page where the viewer is closest to taking action and keep the CTA simple and explicit.
Track three layers: attention (retention, completion), intent (CTA clicks, next-page behaviour), and revenue (meetings, pipeline, closed-won influenced). Measure by funnel stage so you don’t “optimise” a conversion asset using awareness metrics—or vice versa.
Start with your highest-value inbound pages and sales objections. Record one 60–90 second “direct answer” video for awareness and one 3–6 minute explainer for consideration. Repurpose into clips for social and embed both on the pages already getting traffic.