Should all marketing videos need to be professional productions to convert consumers? Or does a sneak peek at a new product in a series of social media stories fit the bill?
When it comes to video marketing, as long as your videos offer your target audience value, education, or entertainment, they’re all contributing to your marketing and conversion efforts.
But what kind of videos are suitable for each section of the marketing funnel?
The truth is some video types overlap different areas of the sales funnel. A branding video might lead directly to a sale if the customer is engaged enough.
So what types of videos are suitable for different business goals?
Brand Awareness And Promotion
At the top of the marketing funnel, the awareness stage is the first step towards guiding your prospect towards a sale.
Any videos in this stage need to grab attention, hook potential customers in, and persuade them to find out more.
Brand Videos
Any new customer coming to your website wants to know if you align with their needs and values. Brand videos help highlight the culture and values of your business.
Authenticity is high on the must-have list of consumers, so humanizing your brands has never been more important.
You can show authenticity and humanize your brand with content like behind-the-scenes footage, employee highlights, or short spots about company culture. Short introductory videos on your home page, along with stories and short videos on social media, help customers get to know you and increase brand awareness.
Pro tip: Don’t produce videos for the sake of it. Have an end goal in mind. Viewers will tell straight away if you aren’t being sincere.
Explainer Videos
When a potential customer lands on your website, they have a specific problem and look to you to solve it.
Explainer videos are great because website user attention spans are short. So by grabbing attention with a video that highlights the solution to their pain point, it keeps users on the page longer.
Furthermore, research shows that brand videos convince 84% of people to buy after watching—excellent news for awareness, promotion, and conversion goals.
Pro tip: Focus on one or two points to hold your audience’s attention and place the video on your home page for maximum visibility.
Product Videos
Educational and instructional videos improve the user experience of the consumer. Better still, they tell the viewer all the benefits of your product.
Using product videos is a chance to show off and differentiate your product from others on the market. It’s a golden opportunity to catch buyers in the awareness stage and show them why your brand is the solution they’re seeking.
Pro tip: Product videos shouldn’t be longer than 30 seconds to hold attention.
Customer-Focused Videos To Increase Conversions
Once you have your potential customers engaged, it’s time to shift them further along the sales funnel and aim to convert to a sale.
And the best way to do that?
Use social proof.
Customer Testimonials
One of the best ways to get a conversion is through customer testimonials.
Authentically sharing a customer’s opinions can increase trust in your brand. In fact, 88% of consumers say that video testimonials make them more likely to buy.
However, a word of caution.
Customer testimonials should never be fiction. Consumers can see through staged reviews (think the cheesy customer testimonials you see on TV adverts), which destroys credibility. So only use genuine customer views.
Pro tip: When asking for a testimonial, provide the customer with a structure to guide them. By asking the right questions, you’ll get answers that highlight the benefits of your product.
Case Studies
Video is the perfect medium for case studies. It highlights the emotion of your customer and adds authenticity to the study. Sometimes the written copy isn’t enough to portray customer satisfaction in the effective way a video can.
Pro tip: When creating video case studies, think about:
- What is the end goal for the case study?
- Who is your target audience, and does the case study target their wants and needs
- Does the case study highlight the benefits of your product?
- Have you structured the case study with carefully constructed questions?
Faq Videos
Perfect for answering common customer concerns and questions, FAQ videos are quicker and easier than scrolling through written questions. It also shows your consumers that you care about their needs and want to help them.
Equally, having an FAQ page boosts your SEO and ranking as Google tends to prefer video content.
Pro tip: Points to include in an FAQ video could consist of:
- How to set up and how to use the product
- Information about warranties
- What to avoid when using the product
- How to store the product
- Information about returns and exchanges
Use The Correct Type Of Video For Your Marketing Goals And Watch Your ROI Rise
There are many other video types out there, including corporate expertise, recruitment, and webinar videos. Which video you choose to use depends on your customer research – match your video to where your target audience hangs out online, what content they want to see, and what video style best suits their needs.
Author Bio:
Torrey Tayenaka
Torrey Tayenaka is the co-founder and CEO at Sparkhouse, an Orange County based video marketing production agency. He is often asked to contribute expertise in publications like Entrepreneur, Single Grain and Forbes. Sparkhouse is known for transforming video marketing and advertising into real conversations.Rather than hitting the consumer over the head with blatant ads, Sparkhouse creates interesting, entertaining and useful videos that enrich the lives of his clients’ customers. In addition to Sparkhouse, Torrey has also founded the companies Eva Smart Shower, Litehouse & Forge54.
