Online video business content, especially, has been taking the marketing world by storm, with sites like Youtube and Vimeo having millions of unique visitors every month.
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Introduction
Gone are the days when businesses could make do with traditional marketing means– online marketing is now a necessity for any self-respecting business.
While TV advertisements and other traditional marketing means are still reliable, creating your own videos helps promote your business faster and for a more affordable cost.
However, it is not as easy as just producing a video – it is the crafting of your content, whichhttps://www.mattchedit.com/next-level-affiliate-marketing is key to your video being a hit.
If you are unsure of how to do this, not to worry -below, we have compiled 15 ways for you to use videos to market your business.
Get ahead of your competitors by having more focused, interesting videos that showcase your business and build its online presence.
1. Create an explainer video for your business
What’s an explainer video, you might ask?
Think of it as a means to welcome your guest and give them a broad overview of your business.
An explainer video usually sits on a website’s homepage or landing page.
When someone visits your website, they want quick information on your business which they loath to scrounge around for.
Start off by welcoming them to your website and head on to giving them a brief background on your business.
Some key things to highlight are who you are, what you do, how long you’ve been doing it, and why your business is better than the rest.
One main consideration for explainer videos is the length or duration of the video.
While some people believe in “the less you say, the more likely people are to remember”, you also don’t want to sacrifice content and quality.
Traditionally, 60 seconds to 90 seconds is a good target.
However, this can change based on the size of your business.
Remember to also keep your videos simple – for explainer videos, you don’t need lots of fancy graphics and After Effects embellishments.
Yes, professional-looking visuals are important but a polished voiceover and well-crafted script do a lot more for you.
In fact, too many visual effects can over-clutter your video and distract you from the main message.
With that being said, there’s no harm in having a fully animated explainer video.
In fact, these animated videos work best for explaining intangible products like software, which don’t translate well into live-action videos or if you want to create a visual story.
However, we’d recommend sticking to live-action videos if your business is people-oriented like a restaurant or sells physical products like gadgets because for these products, who you are, or how they see you, rather, will significantly influent your sales.
2. About Me Video
Personal branding is extremely important in any business.
While an explainer video focuses more on the company’s identity, an About Me video is one that focuses more on you as an individual.
This is the opportunity for you to introduce yourself to the audience and to build their trust.
About Me videos are great for startups and are even better for one-man teams.
Kick off your video by introducing yourself; your name and where you’re from.
Talk to them about how you started out and why you started your current business.
Be sure to also talk about your areas of expertise, what you’re good at, and your passions.
Don’t be afraid to get a little personal, too – tell them about your goals, ambitions, and hopes.
Do not only talk about your business and your knowledge; you do not want your audience to feel like they are watching a sales pitch.
Depending on how you choose to produce your video, feel free to incorporate photos of yourself throughout the years, your dog, your hometown – anything that can endear yourself to your visitors.
Try to keep your About Me video to no more than 90 seconds – you don’t want to meander on too long and lose your viewer’s interest.
What the viewers would really be annoyed by is watching videos of speakers who celebrate themselves.
According to ReelSEO, over 50% of viewers click away from a video after the first minute.
Hence, you need to go straight to the point so that before their attention sways, you get your message across.
3. Behind-The-Scenes Videos
Behind-the-scenes videos can be a big part of your marketing strategy.
In terms of businesses, behind-the-scenes videos work best for giving people an inside look into your workplace culture and, primarily, events.
People love to see the preparation that goes into making an event successful, especially if the event has a WOW factor like pyrotechnics or a flashmob.
The first step to a successful behind-the-scenes video is identifying your audience.
Generally, there are three types of audiences; rival companies, clients, and general audiences.
Depending on which demographic you are trying to reach, tailor your video to suit their tastes.
Be sure to also introduce your events team and conduct interviews.
Let the team speak for themselves; what their individual job scope is, what they enjoy most about working on the event and what they’re looking forward to most in terms of what the event has to offer – these are some starting questions which you can consider.
The beauty of behind-the-scenes videos is that you can publish them either before the event or after.
Publishing one before an event can create hype and draw in more attendees.
Publishing a behind-the-scenes video after the event can draw more traffic to your website and act as a means to promote your future projects.
4. Product Demonstration Videos
Product demonstration videos are also a great marketing tool for savvy Internet marketers.
The main perk of having this sort of videos is you get to show instead of telling and we all know that actions speak louder than words.
Avoid telling the customer, “Our product has great features” – instead, show off these features during your demonstration.
In addition to displaying your product and its various functions, try incorporating visuals of your product being used, images of happy customers, and close-ups of the product as well.
Be sure to also highlight key features and benefits, as these are the main things people want to see in action when they watch a product demonstration video.
Remember that a product demonstration should be just that so avoid training the viewers on how the product operates – that’s what a user manual is for.
The purpose of the demonstration should be to show your viewers how functional and handy your product can be for them.
You won’t be able to show them how easy your product is to use if you make it look complicated.
5. Video Interviews
What better way to conduct an interview than on video?
It saves you the hassle of transcribing audio and video interviews have a much larger market than print interviews.
Conducting interviews with your own staff is a great way to get viewers to “get to know” the company.
However, those videos might not bring in the traffic you need.
Try getting industry celebrities and professionals – interview them about their success and how they made it a reality.
You could also look into interviewing people from affiliate businesses – they get to promote their own business, while still driving traffic to your own brand.
They can also talk about the industry and how your collaboration has helped them solidify their place in the market.
It’ll help you strengthen your partnership and also put you in their good books.
You can also conduct testimonial interviews with your previous clients.
Video testimonials are a great way for your clients to vouch for your business and share their success stories.
It’ll show real people who have had their lives improved by your service or product, which is a definite win when it comes to marketing and building your brand image.
6. Case Study
Building off the idea of video testimonials, why not expand into a case study – a 15- minute video depicting the problems faced by a customer and how your business managed to strategically provide solutions.
Think of it as a mini-documentary of one of your past successful campaigns.
Case study videos work best when you’re offering a company that offers a service, such as legal consultancy or advertising and marketing solutions.
With case studies, you can decide if you want to have it live-action or even maybe retold in animation.
Depending on the problems faced by your client, some case studies might work best if they’re depicted in animation – this is especially so if there are graphic elements involved.
Again, having a real-life client affirm your services and your success is a great way to win the trust of your viewers and get new customers.
7. Vlog Series
Video blogging or vlogging is, in essence, blogging through videos instead of text.
You can either host your videos on your own website or use a free site like YouTube or Vimeo.
Vlogs are great for businesses because it gives the company a chance to build their online presence and garner a community of followers.
From that following, people can learn more about your business from a less formal avenue.
It helps to create a more personal connection between brand and consumer.
When it comes to vlogs, people often look for video reviews, walkthroughs and tutorials.
They’re much easier to absorb as videos, with someone talking to them virtually face to face, compared to reading paragraphs of text.
We find that tip series or a vlog focusing on How-To tutorials is a great way to keep people coming back for more.
You can vlog about almost anything. You can flex your industry knowledge and start a dialogue with viewers regarding industry issues.
The information which you get from them will be helpful for you to further refine your marketing strategies.
Don’t forget to also cover human interest stories that are trending – show your audience that you are in the know of the latest news.
You could even hire a professional vlogger to handle the company vlog.
The more popular the vlogger, the better, as they likely already have a following that you can tap into.
Be sure not to oversell your brand in the vlogs though or it will result in a nasty backlash and you’ll lose followers instead of gaining them.
LEARN MORE: MODERN VLOGGING: CREATING A SUCCESSFUL VIDEO BLOG FOR PROFIT
8. Market or Highlight of an Event
Videos of events are great for marketing.
If you’re organizing an event, get it documented!
Videos of your events can be used to hype up your upcoming events – if viewers see how fun and awesome your last event was, they’re very likely to be excited to attend your new one.
These videos are also great to build up your corporate portfolio, especially if your business organizes events on a regular basis.
If your business is one that doesn’t often organize events, no problem – record videos of other events that your team attends oris a part of.
Whether you’re giving a talk at a conference or just an attendee at an industry expo, these videos can help showcase a few things:
One, your passion for the industry you’re in.
Two, your commitment to learning and improving your craft and skills.
And three, your super-duper, unmistakably awesome personality!
Don’t underestimate this last one – the more taken viewers are to you, the more they’ll see your business as one that’s not just a cold-hearted, money-making machine.
If you’re planning a product launch, why not draw in an audience earlier on with the use of teaser videos?
Use teaser videos to drop hints about your upcoming product launch – it’s a great way to build curiosity and anticipation.
Just a quick video announcement hinting at great things to happen can build up hype before your launch even happens.
You can have any number of teaser videos, as well.
Maybe two really comprehensive teaser videos with an interconnected plot or five 30 second teaser videos which drop clues regarding the upcoming?
Go as subtle or obvious as you want because the possibilities are endless.
Be sure to get creative with it; the goal is to pique your viewers’ curiosity and interest!
Another perk of using teaser videos is the opportunity it gives you to create a dialogue with your target audience.
For example, you could post a teaser video on your company’s Facebook fan page and start a guessing game with your followers.
Offer a prize for the person who leaves the right answer in the comments, sit back, and watch the comments come in.
It’s a great way to actively engage your viewers.
10. User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) is a very popular marketing strategy for businesses as it engages their followers to build up hype for them.
It’s cost-effective and has the potential to have a snowball effect – imagine 100 random people on the Internet posting up videos with your brand name and broadcasting it to their friends, who may also be interested in then create their own videos.
However, getting UGC done right is not easy. In the past, many businesses have tried paying people on the internet to create content for them, and as explained in point 7, overselling can backfire and do more damage than good.
Instead of hiring a “promoter”, try using other ways to generate true UGC, that is unbiased.
One option is to have an open contest, offering a prize as a reward for the best video.
You can get people to post up parody videos of your latest ad or maybe ask them to record a video of them using your latest product in quirky or unexpected scenarios.
The idea here is to pick fun themes that stimulate your viewers’ creativity, while indirectly promoting your brand or product.
We also recommend that you use apps like Vine and Instagram which cap video duration at 6 and 15 seconds respectively.
It makes it very easy for users to record videos without much hassle and it also saves you the hassle of shuffling through hours and hours of user-generated footage.
11. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
FAQ videos are presentations of the frequent questions that your consumers ask about your brand or product.
These videos can be 30-60 seconds long, so they are excellent in keeping it short, sharp, and to the point.
Think about maybe turning it into an FAQ video series, with each video addressing groups of related concerns.
FAQ videos are a great way to dish out information on your product while (hopefully) putting to rest the common concerns and queries your customer service team has to deal with.
You can always, later on, include a video link to the FAQ if a customer emails you with questions, which are already comprehensively answered in your video.
These FAQ videos work better than just an FAQ copy on your website because people prefer to be told about something rather than having to read about it.
This is especially so for more complex gadgets and technologies.
It’s much easier having a teacher explain to you how to do something, than having to figure it out all by yourself.
12. Product Reviews
You can also use videos to compare and review products from other companies in your industry.
Show your viewers that you are not that different from them; while you might be running a business, you are also at the end of the day a consumer, just like them.
Try approaching this from a non-biased position and use it as an opportunity to display your expertise and knowledge.
But do keep in mind though that people are tuning into your video to find out if the products you’re reviewing are worth their money, not to hear you ramble.
Keep the self-promoting at a minimum and also keep the video short – between 2 to 3 minutes at most.
Show the pros and cons of each product and feel free to also include snippets of your own personal opinions on it.
Also, consider offering other alternatives to your viewers.
While you can mention one of your products as a better alternative, don’t offer it as the only alternative, or the whole video will come off as just another gimmick on your part to increase your sales.
13. CSR Videos
All companies endorse humanitarian causes and even natural or animals welfare.
This is all done out of goodwill but what matters is that the company endorses the cause and supports it publicly so that the charity movement would have more strength and publicity.
There are various ways you can endorse and publicly support a cause, like posting on your website or social media accounts and even release a press statement.
But, isn’t it better to take it further and make a video instead?
A video is worth much more than social media posts or a banner on your website.
It shows that you truly support a certain cause with full commitment.
What kind of videos can you post?
Well, it could be anything from a mini-documentary or animated infographics to raise awareness.
You can also participate in viral awareness campaigns like the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’ in 2014 where participants dump a bucket of ice over themselves to raise awareness on the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL) disease.
The idea is that if you don’t donate to an ALS foundation, you have to instead raise awareness by doing the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’.
However, most of the participants donated and did the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ for fun.
Various celebrities and public figures participated in this campaign.
Should there be more charity campaigns like this, it’ll help your branding and image by joining.
14. Use Video as a Free Report
A free report, for those who are not familiar with it, is free downloadable content for a product.
The idea is that the free report is a sample of the main product. It can be in any form including an ebook, interview, or, of course, a video.
With a video, the audience and prospects are saved from having to peruse through lengthy text.
A few years ago, an excerpt or a short manuscript would be enough to convince the audience to download but now, things have changed and a new approach is needed.
The content of the video free report. as of all other free reports, should be closely related to the main product.
The difference here is just the medium of the content.
You can post various kinds of videos as a free report like an interview, tutorial, or demonstration of the product.
A demonstration video of a product is not only for physical products.
Software programs such as a designing tool should also have a video walkthrough to show the audience how the program works.
However, this demonstration should be more of a tutorial instead of just a promotional video.
For the content of a free report in video form, you can just refer to this list.
Among the contents that would make good free content are product demonstration videos, vlog series, or interviews.
Remember, the free report should be something that the audience would really want.
It has to be convincing enough content to make the audience download.
Even though they are free, the audience needs to give their email address in order to have access to the free report.
For that, they would want something of value in return.
15. Video Sales Letter
A full copy sales letter doesn’t really cut it anymore nowadays.
We are seeing less and less of a full copy sales letter and more sales letters with embedded videos.
The idea is revolutionary in the Internet marketing industry.
For those who are not familiar with a video sales letter, it is a sales letter with a video that usually auto-plays when the page is loaded.
It can be anything from an animated video to a presentation video where the vendor appears in person to promote the product.
There are two types of video sales letters: The first one is a Pure Video Sales Letter (VSL) and Hybrid Video Sales Letter (VSL).
A Pure VSL is where the sales letter contains only a video and an opt-in button.
There’s no copy or a very minimal amount of it.
This kind of sales letter is very modern and it can also make big conversions and close sales.
A Hybrid VSL is a sales letter that contains both video and a long-form copy.
This kind of VSL is very popular nowadays as it allows the audience to watch the video instead of reading the long copy and also read the copy without watching the video.
It is among the highest converting because it provides the comfort of choice for the audience and also, it looks modern and more legit.
Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages.
A simple and obvious drawback for a Pure VSL is that the sales letter would be heavy to load and people might skip the video.
For a Hybrid VSL, you will be required to do twice as much work as the former.
You will need to seriously consider before making a decision and deciding on which kind of sales letter that suits you best.
You need to think about your resources, accessibility, and, ultimately, audience.
The fact is, you need to always know about online marketing trends to stay ahead of your competitors.
By having a coach, you will always stay ahead and make money online consistently.
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