There are so many video content types that you can use to promote your brand and connect with your audience, how do you choose the right one? Amir Shahzeidi, from UScreen, will guide you.
Did you know that B2B marketers spent more of their budget on video in 2018 than the year before? But don’t forget about video if you’re a B2C marketer: 68 percent of consumers would rather learn about a product or service with a short video, making it more popular than text, infographics, presentations and pitches and ebooks and manuals.
It’s clear that video is critical to your content marketing efforts. Releasing a timely and helpful video can grow your online community, position your brand and product perfectly and could lead to a surge in traffic and sales.
But what video content types are worth spending the time and money to produce? Start with your funnel. Video, like other forms of content, has a place in the funnel. In fact, it’s versatile enough to be used at each stage.
You can create videos for:
- Awareness (Top-of-Funnel)
- Education (Middle-of-Funnel)
- Conversion (Bottom-of-Funnel)
Knowing this, start by figuring out where video can be most impactful in your funnel. Then focus on producing video that connects with those potential customers. Here’s a breakdown of eight types of video content and where they fit in your funnel.
Video Content Types to Build awareness
Advertisement
Ads are a quick and effective way to get in front of your audience. While they can be long in duration, they should be built to quickly grab attention. You do this by:
Highlighting a problem and then offering a solution.
Take QTIS’s ad. In 48-seconds, they identify challenges that their ideal customer experiences and illustrate how they help businesses overcome those challenges by streamlining IT and become efficient.
Video Content Tip: Take Advantage of Animation
Most videos in this category are blends between ads and explainers. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s a good idea to consider leaning into explainer video content territory. Animation is perfect for illustrating complex concepts in easy-to-grasp formats. Unless you’re selling a product like fitness programs, which is likely best represented with actual people, animation is more affordable than hiring a crew and actors to film your ad.
Interview a specialist or expert
Building awareness for your brand and product is two-fold. It involves identifying challenges your audience has on their path to finding your solution and feeding them the right information to move them to the next stage in your funnel.
Interviews are perfect videos for prospects. They can be recorded on broadcast. as a live stream (think: YouTube Live, Facebook Live or Instagram Live), but must draw attention to issues your prospects may not have considered, while offering unbiased advice from an expert or specialist. Alternatively, an executive member of your team could be the expert sharing information on the state of your industry and issues prospects should be aware of.
For example, Data Theorem shares what they find to be current trends in the cybersecurity space at RSA conference 2019. Learning what’s happening now and how the industry is developing is valuable information for their target audience.
Video Content Tip: Offer Knowledge Not Easily Acquired
Give your audience information they would find highly valuable. This could be an industry trend not yet published or insights on a new way to solve or identify a problem. Providing a gem will elevate your brand and solution in the eye of the buyer, and could lead to more interest in your solution.
Behind the Scenes/Culture
People want to work with brands they love and that’s why culture and behind the scenes videos have become important. This type of video showcases the faces of the people behind the scenes and gives customers a connection that spans beyond a contract.
HubSpot gets this and dedicated an entire YouTube channel called HubSpot Life to share their culture.
Video Content Tip: Be Personable
You can create videos that showcase staff, your offices, company events or how your team connects to solve problems or form strong bonds.
Video Content Types to Educate
How-To/Explainer
Explainer videos are a must-have for all businesses. They are the quickest and simplest way to demystify products and services, especially for complex solutions.
For example, Expercity connects brands with influencers to help share their solutions with the world. Their solution also includes in-depth profile analysis that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. This quick, 36-second explainer video shows how valuable it is to know who your star salespeople are, but also how Experticity helps you identify them.
Video Content Tip: Keep it Simple
When you create your explainer video, ensure that the messaging is as clear as possible. Your potential customers may just be learning about your industry or what you have to offer, so steer away from jargon. Instead, focus on how your solution solves a major problem.
Product Review
B2B buyers are tasked with more than just finding a solution. Their reputations are on the line and picking the best product or service is crucial. Enter product reviews, which are also valuable for B2C companies. This type of video content is important because it addresses the finer details of a solution and how it works.
As an authorized partner, Lior Izik created a product review video that almost any Zoho prospect will appreciate. In it, he explains how Zoho’s suite of 40 apps work together to help businesses thrive.
Video Content Tip: Connect the Dots
Product reviews can get complex and quickly raise red flags for prospects. To make a strong, positive impression, highlight the need for the solution by identifying a problem. Then, connect the product offering (think: features and benefits). This way, your review offers more context for viewers.
Listicle
Listicles are relatively straightforward and appealing because the viewer knows it will be easy to understand and provide quick and simple information that’s easy to digest.
As chartered accountants, Turner Moore knows that their ideal customers need good reasons to opt for their service. By creating a short 1-minute video, the firm was able to highlight 5 reasons for business owners to appoint an accountant.
Video Content Tip: Be Compelling
Listicles are all about building a case for the viewer to take action. When creating yours, focus on strong value points associated with your solution, but ensure that you tie them back to inherent risks or challenges. Connecting risk or challenge to a positive outcome will reinforce your buyer’s interest in the benefits of working with you.
Video Content Types to Convert
Product Tours and Demos
Like product reviews, product tours are equally valuable video content types. Considering that only 36% of B2B buyers feel as though they received a complete and honest take on a vendor’s solution, showing what your product can do matters.
Product reviews are a chance to wow customers by showing them what’s under the hood.
For example, everyone knows that project management can be a nightmare, but every business needs a solution. To help their buyers see how easy project management can be, Asana created a helpful product tour. It covers the creation of projects, tasks and assigning team members, dates and more.
Video Content Tip: Introduce a Use Case
Product tours are an opportunity to showcase how your solution will work for in real life. The best way to show what your solution can do is to introduce a case that allows you to showcase as much functionality as possible.
Case Study/Testimonial
Social proof is vital for generating revenue. It shows stories of people with similar challenges and how your solution helped. Your video testimonials can be long or short, as long as you get to the core message about how your solution helped solve a problem as soon as possible.
Because it’s video, you have the added benefit of creating a strong bond with your audience using the right background music, shots and customers to tell strong and convincing stories about how effective your solution is, like this example video from Epic Productions, LLC.
Video Content Tip: Highlight Pain Points
Identify the customer’s pain points is essential. But don’t stop there. Show how the pain continued to affect their business and the potential outcome before introducing your solution. Highlighting a pain point helps draw a clearer connection between the problem and your solution.
Choose the Best Video Content Types for Your Brand
Video is a must for brands, it’s the tool that will strengthen your position and content strategy. But to make video work for your brand, you’ll need to broaden your view of video content types and how to best utilize them. Buyers are on a journey to discover new ideas, challenges, and solutions. For your brand to win more customers, be strategic. Create videos for each stage of the marketing funnel. This way, you’ll help buyers along their journeys to discovering your solution.
