Video marketing is insanely effective.
That’s something I can say with confidence since I have the numbers to back it up.
That being said, harnessing videos’ amazing potential to engage your audience and deliver your message effectively isn’t something that “just happens”. It isn’t a happy accident.
Instead, it is the result of a careful study of a company’s specific goals for a piece of content, and a deep understanding of the audience it is intended for. Tailoring the qualities of one to meet the demands of the other, improving the chances it will perform appropriately.
The thing is that this is easier said than done. Especially if you are new to video marketing and lack the experience about which formats work best to which ends.
Today, I want to take a look at a handful of the most popular types of videos being used right now for marketing to great success. Viewed from the lens of three of the most common goals you want to accomplish with your marketing strategy: Effective communication of features, showcasing brand values and building consumer confidence, as well as addressing consumer concerns and insecurities.
Videos That Effectively Communicate Products and Services’ Features:
Let’s start by talking about videos you can use for effective communication, which is one of the most common reasons marketers and companies turn to video.
When done right, marketing videos have a unique ability to take thoroughly complex subjects and make them approachable. And to do so in the span of a minute or two, which is often all the time you have to hold a viewer’s attention online. In this regard, two types of videos outclass all others: explainer videos, and product videos.
Explainer videos are short, simple, and highly targeted pieces of content that aim to describe a business’ product or services in a clear and entertaining way. They take many forms, such as educational videos, animated explainers, or whiteboard animation. And they work wonderfully in marketing because they immediately provide value to viewers while enabling you to engage in effective marketing and branding strategies.
Product videos work similarly, but while explainer videos’ topics can vary wildly, these types of videos focus exclusively on a single product or service features that your company wants to relate to their audience. These are ideal for complex products, and very common in the tech sector where there’s usually a need to convey very complex technical processes in an accessible way for a regular joe to get it and buy into it.
Videos That Showcase Your Company’s Values and Nurture Consumer Confidence
Another big deal in marketing today, even more so after the advent of social media, is making sure that your brand comes across as relatable. Users engage more with companies they feel they know on a personal level, and the ones whose core values they feel reflect their own.
Video marketing is uniquely equipped to be an asset in this regard. Not just because people online prefer video to other types of content, but also because in an environment where you can communicate with viewers using sounds as well as text and images, you have many avenues to get your message across and approach your audience effectively. And in that camp, there are two types of videos that work exceptionally well to accomplish it: Company story videos, and Testimonial videos.
Company story videos are those where your brand, and the people behind it, are the stars. You get to portray your company’s human side, its values, and the people who work hard – and most likely behind the scenes – to bring your products or services to people. These types of videos are a powerful boon to any marketing campaign, and doubly so when you are actively pushing for a strong social media presence.
Testimonial videos are a fantastic tool to build consumer trust in your brand and your products. Having an impartial third party – a satisfied customer – talking about how pleased they are with your services or singing praises about your products can go a long way towards winning over those customers who are on the fence about trying out you out.
Videos That Deal with Consumer’s Concerns and Overcoming Hesitation
Being able to anticipate, and deal with consumer concerns before they even become an issue is an essential part of doing business online. By the same token, having a tool capable of taking potential customers on the fence, and giving them that little push they need is beyond valuable. And can make all the difference for the overall strength of your marketing push.
Thanks to its many avenues to communicate effectively with your viewers, videos are the ideal format to tackle these two regards. Having a person, instead of just a wall of text, directly addressing potential questions and concerns has way more chances to turn people to your side. And I have two key video types that can accomplish that brilliantly: FAQ Videos, and Educational Videos.
As their name implies, FAQs videos are an ideal way to anticipate your potential customers’ concerns and address them in the best possible light. By creating interesting and easy to consume FAQ videos, you can get ahead of common issues or questions your clients have about what you are offering and resolve them in the act before they become bigger impediments to move them further down your convention funnel.
Educational videos, on the other hand, are probably one of the most underused and useful types of marketing video content out there. A well-executed educational video can be an amazing piece of inbound marketing content. One that makes the rounds placing your company as an authority n a topic related to your industry, and when combined with subtle marketing techniques, can even help you generate more leads by directing people to further interact with your brand.
Using video content to the fullest in marketing is a matter of which type, as much as it is about what is it for. As long as you keep these two main guiding principles in mind at the early stages of your content planning phase, you can rest assured you’ll end up with a sharp piece of content that actually accomplishes whatever it is you need it to do.
As the new year springs along its merry way, take a closer look at these six amazing types of marketing videos. And begin planning which one suits your company best for the coming year’s strategy.