In our last blog post, we looked at reasons why 2017 is the year of video marketing. The evidence is clear – video is crucial in building your brand’s content marketing strategy! However, many businesses don’t know where to start when developing a video marketing plan. To get the ball rolling, let’s look at 12 video marketing ideas to boost your business:
Marketing videos: Marketing videos are a great way to introduce your brand and what you offer to consumers. There is a wide variety of options here, from informative website videos to glossy commercials. The choices you make will depend on your target audience, intended message and budget. Regardless of what format you choose to pursue, they make a fantastic starting point in a video marketing campaign.
Branding videos: These are similar to marketing videos, with many people in the industry using the terms interchangeably. However, we like to differentiate the two by considering branding videos as a particular opportunity to make the business more personable to customers. Whereas marketing videos often focus on ‘what’ the business offers, branding videos help paint a picture of ‘who’ is offering it. Highlighting the brand’s story, culture and values assists consumers in making an emotional and lasting connection to the company.
Product/Service videos: These videos let your products and services come to life for consumers, allowing them to actually see what is on offer, rather than having to read unengaging text or viewing static images that don’t capture the experience in full. In most instances, if you offer multiple products or services it is better to deliver a series of short videos detailing each, rather than combining them into a longer video.
Explainer videos: These are one of the biggest trends in online video marketing at the moment. Demonstrating the use of a product is a great way to improve customer satisfaction. These videos can range from straightforward depictions outlining the steps involved in using a product to more creative demonstrations (e.g. ‘5 ways to use X that you never would have thought of!’).
Educational videos: If you want to provide comprehensive customer care and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, educational videos are the way to go. For example, if you sell gardening tools, releasing seasonal videos showing consumers how to best care for their gardens is a great way to create content that will attract and engage your target audience. Despite the name, educational videos don’t necessarily have to be solely focused on informing viewers – there is an opportunity to be creative while still demonstrating knowledge in your industry.
Testimonial videos: Chances are that you think your own business is fantastic! While your enthusiasm is important to attracting customers, it is far more persuasive to have other people highlight the benefits associated with your brand. Selecting some of your key customers to be interviewed for a testimonial video is a great way to leverage brand evangelists and build brand trust.
Case Study videos: Case study videos are an opportunity to move beyond general insights into the business and present a more in-depth look at how your brand has assisted customers. These can take on many forms but often incorporate interview content, motion graphics/animation to display statistical evidence, and overlay footage of your team in action. If you want a clear cut way of demonstrating how your brand can resolve a client’s pain point, case study videos are an excellent tool.
Employee Story videos: Employee story videos are another chance to personalise your business for customers, letting the personality of the brand and team shine through. There are a few options for doing this, including conducting interviews or following the employee in a ‘day in the life of X’ perspective.
Video business cards: Similar to traditional business cards but with more information and personal connection, video business cards allow an employee to present important details about themselves and the company. Generally running for 30-90 seconds, business video cards typically focus on the employee’s role, credentials, specialties and contact details. They are particularly important for service-based companies where consumers must trust and feel a connection with their provider (e.g. in healthcare, fitness, trades, financial, real estate etc. industries).
Virtual tours: If your location, venue or fit-out is an important part of your business, a virtual tour is an excellent way to capture customer interest. Allowing viewers the chance to ‘walk though’ the venue and experience the atmosphere/facilities, the opportunities for virtual tours is not just limited to those in the accommodation or real estate industries. Gyms, salons, restaurants, entertainment venues, tourist attractions, function spaces and more typically benefit from using virtual tours as part of their marketing content.
Event videos: Given the costs, time and planning that often goes into an event, it seems short-sighted to overlook how documenting the event can extend the longevity of these efforts. Depending on the nature of the event, event footage can be used to create social traction, form a marketing campaign for any call-to-actions from the event, promote future events or even generate a branded product (e.g. footage from a seminar could be cut together as an educational video).
Expert videos: Expert videos are a great way of addressing FAQ that customers may have about your products, services or brand. There are two key ways of doing this – letting your employees demonstrate their expertise in a Q & A style video, or by recruiting key influencers in your industry to review your products/services to better inform your customers about their benefits.
Hopefully this list of video marketing ideas starts your creative juices flowing for your next marketing campaign! There are many variations on the above videos, as well as other video products that benefit businesses (e.g. training videos, pitch videos etc.) but these will be explored in future posts.
Have we missed any key types of business marketing video? Let us know below.
We will be looking at planning strategies to make the most of your video marketing in our next blog post, so stay tuned.