9 Types of Videos to Use for Marketing

In my last post I discussed how long marketing videos should be, this post provides a list of 9 types of videos to help you accomplish your 2011 marketing initiatives. For all marketing videos, the most important issue is identifying the goal of the video. That goal should be one or any combination of: increasing awareness, building credibility as a professional company, adding a personality to your brand, quickly communicating your value, and doing all of the above in a more engaging way than your competitors.

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The two ways we categorize marketing videos are passive and active. Passive marketing videos live on your website and on video sharing sites. They are attention grabbers. Active marketing videos are primarily for email marketing campaigns, your blog, press releases, social media channels, and landing pages. Active marketing videos generate interest and action.

A presenter for Salesforce.com recently suggested that every minute a video about your company is watched is like a minute of a sales person pitching your product. Imagine how effective your marketing would become if you could get the volume of video views about your company up to 8 hours a day.

 

Passive Marketing Videos

 

1. Company overview. A great way to demonstrate how credible and professional your organization, a company overview video introduces what your company is about.

2. Product Demo. If you do a product demo at any point during your sell cycle, it likely makes sense to have one made. If your product is technical or complicated in any way, it absolutely makes sense to have a product demo on your website. Product demo videos are a great way to distill complicated points into simple demonstrations and animations.

Sample Executive Vision Video

3. CEO / Executive Vision Statement. Different than your company overview, an executive vision statement video helps personalize your message. Regardless of how large an organization your are, customers are buying not only your product but your brand – help them feel comfortable about the direction and vision of your company.

4. Customer Testimonials. In the perfect world, you could ask your top customers to visit all of your prospects and convince them that your product is the perfect solution for their needs. That’s hardly reasonable, but a video of them saying the same thing that can be used time and time again is not a bad runner up. Furthermore, a video testimonial carries with it a significant more amount of credibility than a written one.

5. Partner Descriptions / Introductions. Many organizations these days enlist the help of complementary products to further enhance their own value. Partnerships happen in almost every industry from hi-tech to hospitality to recruiting. Similar to your product demo, help communicate the value of your partner by having a video introducing them on your website.

 

Active Marketing Videos

 

6. Lead Nurturing. One of the most effective ways to keep on top of mind and also gauge a prospect’s level of interest, regularly sending out videos in your active marketing campaigns is a powerful form of engagement. Active marketing campaigns include email marketing, social media channels, press releases, and in some cases your blog.  Examples of great lead nurturing videos include micro-webinars (breaking up your webinars into snippits that are more easily digested by your viewers – see explanation video here), expert advice, short thought-leader interviews, and announcements as listed below.

Sample Company Announcement Video

7. Company Announcements. With blogs slowly but surely replacing the press release, it is easier and easier to communicate via multi-media with your customers. Add a video to your announcements and if you spend the time creating a video, make sure you actively market it to your customers, contacts, and even leads. As with all announcements, make sure the content is valuable to your viewer (e.g. a startup partnering with another startup does not excite anybody – but a major product update or a partnership with a “gorilla” partner / investor / customer is in line with your goals).

8. Event Announcements. Whether you are hosting an in-person event or a webinar, including video as part of your event marketing will absolutely help you stand out, add personality to your brand, and build credibility (if the video is done right). Introduce your event and hold a “carrot” out to motivate your invitees to attend.

9. Customer Appreciation. Many small to medium businesses find it tough to balance their limited resources and consistently stay in front of their customers. From time to time, sending out a seasonal update or even a simple thank you can help ensure the stickiness of your customer base.

Hopefully this is a good start to developing video assets to help you reach your marketing goals for 2011. Best of luck!

According to The Economist: Companies Adapt to the Video Age

A good friend recently sent me this article from The Economist, “Words fail them; companies adapt to the video age.”

After experiencing a few years of slow economic growth combined with growing adoption of online media, the convergence of video and the corporate world will happen in a big way in 2011, according to The Economist. All changes will experience their speed bumps and Lucy Kelleway suggests this new medium will force organizations to simplify their story, adopt a more emotional message, and think harder about their true value proposition.

The article is a great read providing an interesting perspective about how video will change many facets within the workplace – from management styles to changes in human communication behaviors.

Click here to read the article.