10 Different Types of Video to Create for Your Business

Content marketing is the art of creating customized content aimed to satisfy the needs of your target audience. Not only should the content be valuable, it should captivate, engage and convert your site visitors.

What better way to do this than through video marketing? These videos allows you and the audience/buyer to be part of each other’s journey, allows them to trust your brand , helps educate them and move them to make a purchasing decision faster.

However, despite its immense potential to improve your brand and consequently sales, most scale-ups and start-ups are yet to capitalize on video marketing. We have assembled ten types of video marketing contents you can try and hopefully you can identify with some which can really turn how you do business and for the good.

1. Event Videos

An event video often covers the proceedings of a corporate event in a refined and very sharable manner. Done the traditional way, they cost a lot more than other types of videos since they involve a whole crew and multiple cameras if the coverage is to be done any justice.

However, with 15-second Instagram videos becoming popular, a lot of companies are opting to capture snippets of their events in montage form. These videos let in your audiences to the party, especially to those who could not make it thus expanding the reach of the event exponentially. A great event video magnifies a brand’s online presence.

2. Education/ Education/How-to Videos

Explainer, also known as Educational or How-to videos walks your viewers through a process or gives problem solving information to the audience. The problem you are teaching them to solve could be about your product or it could be audience how to solve a problem. That problem could be related to using your product, or it could be unrelated.

A how-to video can also be used to answers common questions and are great for building brand credibility. To nail an explainer video, you can come up with a list of questions your viewers often ask; to avoid being vague, pick on one or two and shoot a short video explaining it.

By the end of watching an explainer video, your audience should be equipped to successfully take action based on the tutorials given. A great aspect about education videos is that they have a capacity to provide value for years to come. It is important that content be engaging as well as dynamic. If a certain part is watched repeatedly, take note for you might need to make another explainer video to explain the specific part further.

3. Testimonial Videos

People are easily influenced by the sentiments and opinions of other people and that is the power of testimonials in business. People influence people. Honest reviews including Facebook comments can change a customer’s opinion about a brand and convince them to purchase it.

Testimonial videos are so valuable and are often an indication of the impact that your product has on people. A potential client seeing and hearing from another customer or watching the product use in action sounds more engaging and convincing than reading about it.

4. Promotional Videos

Thanks to fast Internet and powerful smartphones, promotional videos are becoming extremely popular amongst businesses. This is because the businesses have realized the power of video as a marketing strategy and that one does not have to sell and arm and a leg to make one. Promotional videos have played to the needs, style and wants of modern viewers who thirst for short videos that still relay relevant information in an enthralling style. When the content is engaging, the viewers would easily share with their social networks!

It is very important that you do not mistake promotional videos with the commercial ads you see on TV. This is because while viewers are not asked if they wish to watch an ad, with a promotional video, the choice to watch is with the viewer. That is why you must cut the chase with such videos or the viewer might stop viewing if after seconds, they hear or see nothing that gives them value.

Promotional videos are also different from explainer videos in that they are tailored to meet the needs of specific target viewers and often end with a ‘call to action.’ Examples include:

• Advertising Videos
• Comparison Videos
• Giveaway Videos
• Destination Videos
• Talking-head Videos
• Corporate Videos
• Human Resources Videos
• Real Estate Tour Videos
• Keynote Slideshow Presentation Videos

5. Webinar

Use of Webinar is tied to Google+ which is very much relevant by the way despite what you hear. Google+ has around 212 million active profiles. Google+ is increasingly popular owing to its Google Hangouts functionality, which allows multiple people to see each other in real time all at the same time.

This means that it is an impressive and user-friendly way to host webinars which are free live events that offer valuable and handy insights to attendees. They are low-cost yet high-value videos that need no actors or scripts. All you need are some Google Calendar invites and you get to host Q&A sessions with clients, roundtable interviews with thought leaders in the industry, do product demos, etc.

6. Company culture videos

A company’s culture is its soul and identity. The culture behind a brand is the secret sauce that whets employee appetites and perks up bored, disenchanted consumers. Your culture does not have to be a fairytale for you to share with the views; company culture videos make your brand relatable and alive.

They are a unique way to show what makes your company different from competitions and this you do by showcasing your personality as opposed to techniques. For example- the behind the scenes, slice-of-life employee interviews, office pranks, employee’s birthday celebration and everything in between. The aim of company culture videos is humane and has a personality. Often, they go hand in hand with the HR and can also act as a strong way to draw top notch job candidates.

7. Announcement video

Merging; moving offices, launching an amazing product? Whatever big news you have to share with your audience, a video would be perfect! An announcement video helps you get you the message across and build excitement.

Your announcement video doesn’t have to be ‘I’ll have you reeling on the floor funny’, but it should be attention-grabbing.

8. Video voicemails

Video voicemails are a great way in which your employees can connect with leads and customers. They are low-costs but at the same time, high-reward. Video emails can also be used by salespersons. More sales and support teams are inserting friendly video thumbnails into their emails much to the delight of recipients.

An effective sales email video is around one minute long. Introduce yourself, explain why you’re reaching out, and ask for a quick call to “talk about their goals.’ If you don’t want to create a brand-new video for every prospect, consider making a few you can reuse again and again. Separate them by customer type, e.g. those about social media for community managers, videos on branded content for advertisers, etc.

9. Interview Videos

Vlogging for instance is a way to show you are a thought leader. And what better way to show you are an authority in a given area than inviting and interviewing other thought leaders?

Interview videos help build relationships with potential referral partners which in the long run can help your brand. The interviewee should be an authority and if possible, someone your audience already knows- perhaps a known influencer, author, etc.

They are also a great way of aligning yourself with the authority, inspiring person as well as sharing your company’s values. It should not feel scripted; your subject should do most of the talking and not the other way round. Their knowledge can be an impeccable source of content for you.

Since the interviewee also has an audience, they will be drawn to the video and this can help you increase number of email subscribers, backlinks, and overall brand in the industry.

10. Social videos

Regardless of your brand’s favorite social media tool- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram; either, all or a combination of a few, you can host videos there which can help drive traffic to your website. Also, social media videos can be teasers for longer videos that you can post on YouTube or on your site. You can do this by cutting down a longer video to shorter length; then make the teaser interesting enough for the viewers to click on the link that will lead them to the full video.

Since most people access these social media tools via smartphones, they will be scrolling through and to attract their attention, short and sweet is the trick. Take note of the number of likes, shares, comments and views of the videos on each platform.

Conclusion

From the above article, we hope you have noted that videos can play a valuable role during every stage of your marketing strategy, from building a brand, attracting new leads and successfully turning them into paying customers

Bottom line is, as a business, you should either be filming events, hosting Webinars or vlogging. If you are not, then you are committing a marketing blunder. We hope this guide to the different types of video inspires you to start and if you have already, which of the mentioned do you use and what is the impact so far? Feel free to ask questions and let us in, in the comments.