Effective Marketing campaigns that don’t use video content are becoming extinct, and there’s a good reason for that: Video marketing keeps amassing outstanding results! So, it is getting increasingly difficult to make a case about doing marketing otherwise.

The thing is that video’s more appealing and quick-to-process than other forms of content, which translates into campaigns with wider reach and engagement for your brand. Moreover, video can play a decisive role during your client’s decision-making stages — few things build trust and motivate into action like the right video at the right time.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows though.

As some of the best video companies in the business will tell you, to get those kinds of results, a great video idea is just the start. It is a card that you need to know how and when to play it — which is what we are going to talk about today!

In this piece, we’ll go over some of the most popular — and effective — types of marketing videos, and the best way to leverage them.

Commercial Ads

You have undoubtedly seen one of these before. Commercial Ads’ primary focus is to attract potential leads and raise brand awareness, and they don’t go about it subtly either.

The refreshing thing about commercials is that they don’t need to hide the fact they are trying to sell something. Thus, they are among the most directly “salesy” of video styles. After all, they have about 30 seconds (on average) to do so — There’s no time for a long-winded exposition with them.

Now, think about the most memorable commercials you’ve watched. What do they all have in common?

They all make use of quick storytelling and ignite emotions, right? Because entertainment and emotional connection are vital to building up engagement with your audience. So, if you decide to go with an ad for your campaign, those are your central guidelines: Make it short, snappy, and with a story to tell.

Educational Videos

Educational videos, by contrast, are there to sell anything. Not overtly, at least. They teach your audience about a particular topic related to your business, and great ones manage to do it while being entertaining as well!

The idea behind educational videos is to leverage inbound marketing and leave the viewer with the impression that your company is an authority in its field.

As you can imagine, this strengthens your brand’s reputation and awareness. And probably more critical, it fosters consumer’s trust in it. However, the main reason behind educational content effectiveness in marketing is that they make for fantastic first impressions.

Once your prospects are ready to progress down their buyer’s journey, they’ll be far more likely to do business with a brand that has answered their questions in the past.

Customer Testimonials

Customer testimonials are precisely what their name implies. A satisfied client talking to the camera about how your brand and product has helped them to overcome a problem they used to have.

This type of video begins with the customer expressing the pain-point in question. They go on, indicating how they became familiar with your brand and detail how it helped in a loose question-answer format.

A well-made testimonial does a couple of great things. They are great at nurturing consumer’s trust, as they bypass the innate bias the rest of your marketing comes with. You can have a great product, but that statement will sound better coming from an impartial third-party. They are also great for having potential customers put themselves in the shoes of the interviewee and figuring out how your product would help them too!

Explainer Videos

Explainer videos are a fantastic tool to enhance your campaigns’ conversion rates and visibility.

Why? The format streamlines the power of storytelling to quickly and effectively communicate your brand or product’s message in a way that stays with viewers. An unusual mixture of marketing and entertainment, explainers can perform equally well at different stages of sales funnels. Making them desirable not only for their efficiency but their versatility as well.

But what does that formula consist of? Well, explainers tend to be about two minutes or less in length and tackle your target audience’s pain-point through storytelling. Describing how and why the solution your prospect is looking for is –wait for it– in your company’s hand.

Explainers also stand out for putting across even the most complex topics clearly and compellingly. In other words, it makes the viewers engage with your value proposition quickly and clearly.

Social Videos

Social videos are somewhat of a mixture of other types, with a twist. They can usually be categorized as some other type of marketing video, but designed and tweaked to perform better in social media channels.

Naturally, the social platform where you intend to host the piece plays a huge role in the definition of their style and content. A video intended for Facebook or YouTube will usually be very different from one indented for Twitter or Instagram — even if their premise is the same.

For example, social videos on Instagram tend to perform better when kept under the 15-second mark, while Facebook favors longer pieces.

The success of this type of video is measured by the online engagement it triggers. I’m referring to the number of likes, comments, shares… you get the picture. The more you know the target platform, the more you’ll be able to tweak the content just right to perform better.

In short, social videos are particularly convenient for campaigns aimed at amplifying brand awareness.

Product Videos

If you have taken care of everything else, and your immediate marketing goal is to close sales, you can’t go wrong with a product video. In fact, product videos are some of the best additions you can make to late-funnel campaigns.

Online, where people can’t have hands-on experience with your product, a well-made video is the next best thing. More importantly, most people will be more likely to commit to a purchase after having watched a video about it.

These videos revolve around depicting a product’s main benefits in action (or dynamically illustrated) while tying those features to customers’ pain-points. Just remember that your product or service is the star here, and showcasing them will do most of the heavy lifting. Avoid overtly pushing the idea of purchase with them.

Culture Videos

This style of video content is mostly directed to customers looking to form deeper connections with your company or even potential employees.

A culture video -a.k.a. company story- tries to evoke empathy with your brand — which big companies often find to be a tough task. So the intention is to bond with the audience by showing the human side behind the logo.

It can cover a typical day at the office, an origin story, an event, or the point of view of one of its members; there’s a vast range of options.

It’s not about seeing how big your offices are, or how happy your employees appear on camera. It’s about displaying the brand core values, mission, vision, priorities, and culture. It goes without saying that you need to have those sorted out before making the video.

A killer company story can gain you the loyalty of your customers, and help you attract the right people to your team.

Summing Up

I can’t stress this enough; in this day and age, your marketing strategy can’t be complete without video content. But you shouldn’t use it without a plan!

Video marketing’s level of success relies on you establishing firm campaign goals, and matching the right type of content to the stage of the funnel you are aiming to.

Some pieces excel at fostering brand awareness and attracting new leads. Some are better at furthering viewers down the funnel and into conversions. And some are all around geared to increase consumer trust and overcome last-minute resistances.

It’s all about learning to play this puzzle game and choosing the right tool for the job!

Originally posted at RuhaniRabin.com
Click here to subscribe now. Would You like to write at RuhaniRabin.com?