So you’ve decided that pictures just don’t allow you to show what your company is capable of. Video Marketing is the logical next step in any campaign aimed at using visual media to attract customers. They are incredibly versatile, can be assembled quickly with the right team, and sometimes manage to make a business look great.
Recent surveys suggest that 87% of online marketers will use video (outbrain.com). Here are seven types of video which your company can use to avoid being in that unlucky 13%.
1. The Basic Advert
Basic adverts are similar to what you might watch on TV. They introduce a product or service and try to sell it by following a narrative. They usually feature in places where people have to watch them (for example the ads on YouTube). They are a great way to introduce your company, and if used creatively, they can be very effective.
2. Culture Videos
Culture videos aim to make the culture behind your company clear. They are less about the product or service you provide and more about you as a company. Culture videos can involve activities your company provides for employees, the average work day of your employees or even the employee relationships in the company. With Human resources and quality of life having become an important factor in recent years for determining public trust in a company, this is a great way of ensuring your business is seen as kind and fair.
3. Tutorial
Unfortunately, tutorials don’t work for all businesses. In order for them to work, you need something you can practically demonstrate to consumers. But they are great for advertising how effective a product is. If people have a range of products to choose between, they are more likely to pick the one they have seen definitely works.
4. Webinar
Tutorials are great for teaching, but they are very one sided. Users are not able to voice their own opinions. The Webinar allows for this. Have you heard of Google Hangouts? It’s a service which allows for multiple people to see and chat with each other in real time (similar to Skype). This means companies can host Q&A sessions with customers. This two-way communication can help to develop users trust in your company. Moreover, because contributors can all be in different locations, this method is incredibly versatile when it comes to co-ordination.
5. Event
Events are webinars on a bigger scale. They can involve hundreds of people if your customer base is large enough, and they allow for you to show both your product and your business. Events also feel much more ‘real’ to most people. Whilst other videos, including webinars and testimonials, can be easily faked, it’s not as easy to put together a fake event.
6. Testimonial
The testimonial is another great way to let customers see what people actually think about your product. There are services which offer actors, but viewers can usually tell they are fake when confronted with one such actor. If you want an effective and genuine testimonial, you should try interviewing people who have actually used your product or service.
7. Animation
Animations can work in a similar fashion to an infographic; in that they can tell a lot of information in a short period of time. Whilst it might cost you a bit more to hire a design team to put together an animation, they are much more flexible. These are great if you have a more complex or hard to explain product or service.
Whatever video type you chose to use, make sure that you know what will interest your customers the most, first. Putting a video online in a format which your potential customers don’t care about means you are not going to generate new leads. Videos are effective is you use them carefully.
At New Window Marketing, our experts can help you with all things video – from strategy and planning to shooting, editing and publishing.
