Top 5 Videos for Your Business

Video marketing has become a powerful tool in the modern-day marketplace, and you’ll be hard placed to find any business that doesn’t incorporate visual aid into its advertisements.

A recent Wyzowl study puts that figure at 63% for the number of establishments who have turned to videography from the entirety of global cake with 82% of that population further feeling that conventional techniques don’t hold a candle to video marketing.

To substantiate the above statement, you need only look to the Diode Digital survey, which brought to light just how far behind direct mail and print really are in the marketing tool race.

The findings revealed video to be six times more effective than the latter pair, and that was down to not only its efficiency and convenience but also the infectious shareability it assures when done right, which is, in fact, the most essential aspect of any ad.  

In a nutshell, video marketing has clawed its way to the top of the marketing hierarchy over the years, and it has become a vital aspect for businesses everywhere.

If you’d like to put together successful video campaigns to tap into this viral trend that doesn’t seem to be fading anytime soon, here are five of the very best videos to keep in mind:

Brand videos

In the not-too-distant past, a cool logo and a fancy slogan was more than sufficient branding, but right now, these are but only the beginning.

Proper present-age branding incorporates video usage to create a trademark that’ll resonate with masses around the world.

A well-put-together video entails aesthetic titles and thumbnails, which become your signature design that audiences can sniff out in an instance. Another aspect of a good brand video is that it tends to a particular type of audience with the highest purchasing intent. 

Additionally, to be successful, you’ll also need to factor in what you hope to achieve. The objective will help you create the perfect tone for your brand video, which will likely appeal to your viewers.

For example, if spreading awareness is the main agenda, you’ll need to make it inspirational. Alternatively, you could take the educational approach, putting together industrial facts or stats to create entertaining and share-worthy videos.

A professional video production company is perfect for showing you the ropes.

Concerning what they have to offer, brand videos, most importantly, personify your business.

While a lot has changed in the digital world, not much has changed in terms of what pushes a prospective buyer to move from thinking of purchasing to buying, and that’s the human factor.

It remains vitally important that buyers see who they are actually buying from as opposed to an anonymous name.

Placing a face to a company does just that for your business, offering a face that people can genuinely trust.

What’s more, Google loves videos!

Did you know that the most popular video-sharing platform- and the second most popular search engine- in the world, YouTube, was bought by the search engine giant in 2006?

Well, that serves up proof of how seriously Google takes videos, and what incentive they have to ensure the success of this form of media.

Their algorithms have been heavily tweaked since the acquisition with text now playing second-fiddle to video content.

Testimonial Videos

Just as its name suggests, a testimonial video offers actual experiences on a product or service from the customer’s perspective.

While companies telling people how great what they have to offer is, an independent, third-party opinion makes a lot more of a difference in comparison.

It can help your business soar to new levels of trust and be that crucial stepping stone between indecisiveness and the desired outcome. Aside from cementing your credibility, such videos have been shown to increase referrals significantly.

When people feel genuine trust and value, it follows they’ll have the confidence to share it within their social networks.

Testimonials drive conversions

What’s more, testimonials have been shown to have one of the highest conversion rates in comparison not just to other videos but also marketing tools in general.

It is believed that that is mostly down to its ability to create the emotional connection that even the best copywriters can’t just quite capture. And the key to any advertising undoubtedly lies in being able to bond with audiences on such levels.

A video is truly worth a thousand words, but these testimonials deliver more than just words, inspiring positive feelings through the mirror neuron effect (i.e. how others feel, as evident from facial expressions and body language, triggers an emotional transference that reflects that emotional state in ourselves).

To make excellent testimonials, there are a few things to consider.

First, while animations are a nice visual touch, testimonial videos need to be real videos with actual human presence.

You may choose to use cartoons if you like, but they shouldn’t dominate screen time, and preferably come toward the end. Secondly, a geographical and historical background is important for viewers, so as to establish the context.

Finally, a good testimonial video should answer the most-pressing questions among buyers.

It’s important to picture yourself in the client’s shoes and envision what concerns would be at the top of their mind, especially for maiden customers.   

Explainer Videos

So you have a great product, but how will you tell everyone it’s great?

Here’s an explainer video we produced for the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation, and how they are helping athletes play soccer in crutches:

How do you quickly, yet effectively, communicate its value in a way that will make viewers think, “I could use some of that?”

That’s where explainer videos come in; they help point out what your product has to offer while outlining essential details like price, goals, and, most importantly, how simple it is to use the said product.

Show off your expertise

An explainer video is similar to a branding video only that it focuses more on the sale item, service or concept rather than the company.

It also doubles up as a visual product manual that allows the audience to envision themselves using the product, which is a crucial step in creating actionable purchasing intent.

Some of the benefits of explainer videos include an increase in conversions, with statistics indicating an expected spike in the region of 15 to 50%, excellent shareability, an irresistible call to action if done right, and generous adaptability.

These kinds of videos allow you to explain how you positively stand apart from the competition, and why someone should not look elsewhere for a similar solution. 

The key to the perfect explainer videos lies in keeping them short and sweet. If such a video exceeds one and a half minutes in length, you’ve already gone too far.

Additionally, pack your main message with the first 30 seconds as leading viewers on without really communicating can prove a turn-off and impact your retention ability.

You should also incorporate a second-person approach, summoning inclusive phrases encompassing words like “you” and “your” so that those on the other side of the screen feel like they’re part of the conversation and not just bystanders.

Moreover, don’t be too serious, adopt a casual and breezy tone, and incorporate some subtle laughs with humor. Steer clear of technical terms and use simple everyday language that everyone can understand, leaving the rocket science language for the PowerPoint presentations in the office. Funny live action explainer videos seem to be the order of the day, highly successful ads from PooPourri and the Dollar Shave Club are examples why, so consider something in a similar direction. Let a renowned videographer help shape your explainer videos.

Sizzle Reel

Sizzle reels go by many other familiarities, namely promo videos, video pitches, show reels, and demo reels, to name a few.

Here is the sizzle reel we made for Klarna:

They are a combination of audio and visual communication compressed into typically fast-paced series of highlights about a brand, initiative, service or product.

They are most implored for marketing and sales, and they have proved the most effective fishing tool for small businesses looking to reel in high-profile investors to fuel everyday proceedings or expensive, new concepts. Sizzle reels offer the perfect elevator picture if done to satisfaction.

Showcase your business

These videos are a reflection of what clients can expect from your business, and that goes hand in hand with quality.

A glamorous sizzle reel speaks volumes about your company and what it has to offer. A good one is generally under three minutes long, slowly works up to a compelling visual call-to-action, and channels the power of mood-setting music to amplify the mental imprint it leaves on the mind.

Moreover, they can juggle a variety of purposes, and wouldn’t look out of place in any marketing setting.

Sizzle reels have excellent reusability too, and you can rework them to add a different spark by tweaking minor aspects such as voice-overs, and they’ll seem refreshingly new, offering a marketing solution that you can rely on time and again.

You can’t afford to go wrong with sizzle videos, as poor edits taint your image in the eyes of prospective clients.

If you choose to take the hard path and go it alone, the good news is that there’s plenty of free software out on the interwebs, Animoto.com comes to mind, that you can use.

The bad news is that it’ll take you months to hone your skills to produce market-worthy sizzle reels.

If you don’t have that kind of time on your hands or prefer to tend to the needs of your business, an expert is the better option.

Social Media Videos

At a time when people spend more time on their phones than they do with loved ones, it’s almost criminal not to be tapping into one of the largest avenues of marketing: social media.

Here is a social media video for a beauty company:

Reports indicate that the average person spends upwards of 2 hours a day on social media, with videos having gained preference over text and other post formats in the last decade.

Studies say that videos can bolster the effectiveness of a social media ad by up to 97% by encouraging a similar increase in purchasing intent.

What’s more, videos tend to be great at creating a buzz on the social sphere, realizing better levels of online engagement in reference to traditional means.

Videos lead to better engagement

They also offer better sharing appeal and exposure, with Twitter alone noticing 700 shared videos every 60 seconds!

Such videos also bode well for your SEO endeavors, with frequency and proper tagging, aiding a great deal in placing your ads on the first page of SERPs.

Additionally, they offer measurable analytics to guide your next step while providing an immortal endorsement, forever traversing the digital space.

Social media video success depends on several things, and one aspect at the top of the list is to avoid using links in place of actual videos.

Ushering people to a third-party website, even your own, will win you few fans with videos doing 186% better than links.

You also need to nail your thumbnail, because it offers that first impression that could make someone stop and take notice or scroll quickly past.

Luckily, you can upload customized, attention-grabbing thumbnails across most platforms to guarantee the former scenario.

Embrace video marketing!

Further evidence of the power of video content comes in the form of YouTube, which was deemed by the Pew Research Center in 2018 to be more popular in the US than Facebook.

The video-sharing platform garnered 85% of survey votes to top a social media compilation, which featured Instagram and Snapchat in second and third place with Facebook a distance fourth with 51%.

The tide has certainly shifted over the years. The old 60s commercials have set precedence for what has proven to be the most convenient and popular form of media today.

Videos are no longer the future. They are the critical present.

They’ve become the heart and soul of any business, and these five herein are the ones that have proven most successful.

Internet DIYs may come in handy, but it’s prudent to seek the assistance of an experienced videographer, as you might not be quite familiar with the ins and outs that separate success from failure.

There are a lot of little grey areas in video marketing that could usher you in either direction! So let the pros handle the heavy lifting!