For a long time now, videos have been a crucial part of successful marketing strategies. According to a survey by Wyzowl, 87% of marketers use them as an invaluable tool.
The question is – what kind of videos perform the best?
While there’s a broad spectrum of video content you can create, there are three types of videos that you should focus on. Let’s see what they are and why they’re so important.
1. Branded Videos
As the name implies, branded videos aim at maximizing your brand’s awareness. But this doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily promotional. In fact, the very opposite is true in many cases.
Instead of directly advertising your business or products, branded videos rely on a positive association with your brand through engaging content. These videos should educate and entertain your audience so that they want to watch more of your content and learn more about your business as a result.
This isn’t to say that branded videos won’t talk about your products or contribute to your sales. On the contrary, they can be a powerful marketing and sales weapon, they’re just more subtle than typical promotional videos. Rather than being salesy, branded videos will evoke positive emotions about your business and products through valuable content, which can make people want to buy from you.
The best part is, creating branded videos can be much easier than it seems. There’s a wealth of tools that can ensure premium video quality without much effort. As long as you focus on what your audience wants to see, your branded videos can drive outstanding results.
2. How-to Videos
How-to videos, also known as tutorials, are among the most popular types of video content out there. No matter what you want to do, there’s bound to be a tutorial for it out there.
But how do tutorials help your business?
Well, they’re a perfect blend of education and promotion. How-to videos don’t aim at selling, but they can still showcase your products in the best light.
This is especially true if what you’re selling requires detailed instructions. Videos always trump text and images, and they’re much easier to follow. Tutorials can ensure that your customers have a positive experience with your product from the get-go.
There are many types of tutorials you can create, and some of them don’t even have to involve your products. How-to videos can be a type of branded videos where you teach your audience how to do something they’re interested in.
For instance, if you sell phone equipment, you can create a branded tutorial on how to DIY or personalize a phone case. You wouldn’t necessarily try to promote your products, but rather provide information and entertainment, which will make people want to connect with your business.
So if you want to create videos that contribute to your business in many ways at the same time, how-to videos can be an excellent choice.
3. Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are a popular type of short-form video content. They’re usually not longer than a few minutes, and their goal is to promote your brand and product.
At first glance, explainer videos and tutorials might seem like the same thing. But they actually have a few crucial differences.
Firstly, explainer videos are much more sales-driven than tutorials. While they also have educational value, these videos have sales as the primary goal. You’re giving people insight into your business or product so that they’ll familiarize themselves with it and buy from you.
Also, explainer videos rely more heavily on storytelling. The goal is to inspire and evoke positive emotions in your audience to motivate them to take the next step and reach out. At the same time, tutorials simply teach your audience how to do something based on cold information and steps.
Explainer videos can be massively successful, as they help you build trust with your audience. And as every marketer knows, trust is the cornerstone of sales and brand reputation.
Inform, Amuse, and Sell
As you can see, video marketing fulfills many crucial goals. If your videos are well-made, they can keep your audience engaged, broaden your reach, and make your sales process much more effective.
When creating videos, always keep in mind your audience’s needs. Know your market’s interest, and identify the most important information that they’re looking for. Give your audience the knowledge that they need through high-quality videos, and you’ll build a community of loyal customers.