Video Marketing: The Complete Guide

Nowadays, there are lots of platforms that not only allow but also encourage the creation of video marketing.

The internet and accessible smartphones make the consumption of videos as easy as ever and the popularization of streaming platforms such as Netflix also contributed to our current video fever. 

Consumer behavior has also changed and clients already expect video content from their favorite brands.

This type of content makes information easy to process and can be consumed in all sorts of types — from funny videos to educational pieces.

In other words, if your company is not thinking about video marketing, you will be left behind. Keep on reading and get to know more about it!

What is Video Marketing?

Video marketing refers to any marketing campaign that relies on video content.

That said, videos can be included in a variety of strategies that include (but are not limited to): advertisement, inbound marketing, digital marketing, sales funnel, and even email marketing.

They all can benefit from the addition of videos.

Creating a video is a process with many steps: from planning to editing, and from working on actual footage to publishing it in the best channel possible.

And even so, it’s not all there is to it. A video strategy is part of a bigger picture: it needs to fit your company’s values, speak your audience’s language, and portray your product in the best way possible.

Take for example this campaign from Morton Salt, produced by us here at Visually. It features all the colors, characters, and feel that are immediately related to the brand.

Different tactics are needed but before we get to that we will discuss what are the main benefits that a well-designed video marketing strategy can bring to your business. 

What are the Benefits of Video Marketing?

In case you are still not convinced that video marketing is something worth investing in, we lined up four very straight-up reasons for you to start changing your mind.

Check them out!

1. Helps to tell a story

Storytelling is a gold strategy when it comes to forming bonds with your audience — and nothing makes it easier to tell a story than to do it in a video format.

When you design the appropriate structure, create a strong arc, and make your characters relatable, you can either depict your brand, a product, or even your company’s value. 

Beyond being the recipe to straighten the relationship with your public, it also helps to spread your word. Videos are not only extremely shareable online but are still a great tool to further word-of-mouth conversation about your brand.

This video about the history of activism, created by Visually for Causes, the world’s leading grassroots campaign platform, is one of the best examples of how good videos are to tell a story.

2. Increases retention

If you are looking for ways to engage and retain your audience you should start investing in video marketing strategies.

When compared to text or image-based content, videos usually perform better in both metrics.

It happens because this format makes information more palatable. Also, since it demands both audio and visual attention, it leaves less room for dispersion.  

Of course, some best practices need to be followed for your audience to go through with your video until the very last second.

Enhancing SEO, having a killing first few seconds, and including a relevant call-to-action are means of doing so. We will get back to that further on. 

3. Facilitates decision-making

If you are an eCommerce owner, you should start to take notes right now: product videos increase conversion rates.

Either if you selling clothes, shoes, a piece of decoration, or even a car, it all goes better if your audience can see your product in real action. 

When it comes to decision-making — when your consumer is minutes away from deciding between your brand or the competition —, showcasing tutorials on how to use a specific product undoubtedly will perform better than an unemotional and unexpressive photoshoot.

If we were to bet, this may even be why the unboxing fever was such a big trend among digital influencers and their followers for a while.

4. Allows you to rank higher

Much is said about online presence and how to improve brand authority by creating profiles on every social channel and hacking into search engines by all possible means.

However, many people still forget that videos are SEO-friendly. 

This means you can get much more relevant only by optimizing videos you already have online on YouTube, for example.

Read into all the accounts for a better ranking on YouTube — from designing a catchy thumbnail to adding other videos to the end screen — and let your content naturally attract your audience over time. 

10 Types of Marketing Videos

Next, check out some popular types of video marketing.

1. Explainer videos

The explainer videos are very useful in the persona’s education. Versatile, they can be adapted to different phases of the funnel.

For example, if the leads are still in the discovery phase the content should provide general information to help them recognize their own needs.

On the other hand, if you are dealing with leads at the bottom of the funnel, an explainer video may be the key to their conversion. When talking to an educated audience, the content can go deeper into a product and make its benefits clear.

That’s what American Express has accomplished in this campaign produced by Visually, introducing the Plenti Credit Card.

2. Brand videos

The main objective of brand videos is to build awareness around your brand, increasing its reach potential. This content is usually part of a more extensive branding campaign and should highlight your visual identity.

Brand videos must be able to communicate the company’s mission, vision, and values to the audience.

This effort is critical to meet the demands of the modern consumer, who considers transparency an important factor in the buying decision.

3. Demo Videos

Demo videos are designed to show viewers how something about your business works. 

Some demos show potential customers how to use a product and let them in on the kind of results they can expect. 

Demos can also be tutorials for software suites, unboxing videos that show viewers what it would be like to receive and unpack the product, and more. 

Demos make great potential content options for customers at any stage of their personal buyer’s journey, too. The below demo of the iPhone 15 from Apple is a great example.

4. Event videos

Corporate events are key to building a positive organizational culture. They can also serve as qualified content sources.

If your company is hosting a lecture, for example, it’s an interesting idea to gather the highlights in a video event. The same applies to interviews, fundraisers, celebrations, and so on.

For example, Google uploads YouTube lectures that take place in its headquarters, generating high engagement rates.

5. Interviews

Interviews with key experts in your industry are incredible ways to add credibility and authority to your video marketing content. 

They also offer lots of educational value to your viewership, whether they’re peers, customers, or simply people interested in what you do.

For example, the video below from HubSpot is more than just a marketing video. It doubles as an in-depth masterclass on video marketing and viral content production, topics very relevant to HubSpot’s target audience.

6. Live videos

Live videos are outstanding engagement generators.

They can take several formats, such as webinars, interviews, and event broadcasts. Specialized platforms feature tools that motivate the interaction of viewers, such as quizzes and Q&As.

Live videos provide experiences that attract the audience. The fact that they happen in real-time generates a sense of exclusivity.

They can also serve to supply your marketing channels, such as social media, with content. Save your live videos, edit the highlights, and create more engaging material.

7. Animated Videos

Has there ever been a topic you’ve wanted to address via your content, but that didn’t seem a good fit for a standard vlog or a written blog post? 

Think subjects that are tough to grasp without strong illustrative visuals — like abstract concepts or unusually complicated services.

The video below is a great example of how animation can be a great way to address complicated topics through video marketing. 

Not only does the animation help simplify the topic at hand, but it makes the content more entertaining, as well.

8. Testimonial Videos

When a consumer is on a mission to find the right solution to a pressing problem or need, they need to know that the option they’re considering will do the job before finalizing a purchase. 

A well-made testimonial video is one video marketing option that accomplishes this very well.

Modern consumers are social animals, so social proof is an extremely powerful motivator. 

Seeing and hearing your satisfied customers on video swearing by your products and talking about how they’ve changed their lives for the better could be just the push a lead needs to pull the trigger on a purchase.

9. AR and VR Videos

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have been gaining popularity for a while now. 

Although some of the tech people might use to access VR, in particular — like Oculus, to name just one option — may not yet be accessible to everyone, alternative options like Google Cardboard are helping to bridge the gap. 

And many AR interfaces can already be accessed via the camera apps on most smartphones.

AR and VR are both terrific fits for video marketing, so savvy brands are jumping on the bandwagon now with options like AR-assisted shopping apps or virtual events accessible through VR.

10. How-To Videos

Video is an incredible medium for teaching an audience something new, as it shows people how to go about things instead of simply telling them. 

In fact, the desire to learn something specific is one of the most common reasons a content consumer will head to a platform like YouTube or TikTok.

What you choose to teach your audience is up to you. It can be something brand-specific designed to nudge a consumer toward purchasing one of your products. 

But it can also simply be something foundational that helps a potential customer better understand what you do.

How to Create a Video Marketing Strategy? 11 Steps to Follow

As you will see, there is a lot of work involved in the production of a video. But with the right strategy (and partners to help), you will have no trouble following the steps below. Check them out!

1. Know your audience

The primary benefit that a video marketing strategy can bring is audience engagement.

However, people will only watch and interact with the content if you develop it properly. The target audience’s characteristics should be at the heart of the strategy.

So, it’s not enough to deeply know the subjects covered in the video or to have a qualified editing team. If you don’t understand your audience, you’ll fail to deliver the message clearly.

Check this video made by Visually for LinkedIn. They clearly identify their audience as job seekers and recruiters and deliver a message directly to them. This is a great example of knowing your audience

Therefore, it’s mandatory to conduct a study to better identify the specifics of the people you want to reach.

For example, you need to understand which channels your audience prefers in order to optimize your strategy and improve your ROI.

There are many ways to get to know your consumers better. You can send specific questionnaires or consult existing data.

If your Digital Marketing strategy is complete you should already be gathering and storing information about your customers.

One very efficient method of generating this kind of data is the production of interactive content.

Through resources such as quizzes and calculators, you gather the information that users spontaneously generate.

The more information, the better. Remember, however, that the most important thing is to know how to keep so much data organized in a way that makes its interpretation easier. That’s why data visualization is so important.

2. Set up a buyer persona

After you gather enough information about your audience, you can start building a buyer persona. For that process to be successful, your company must rely on high standards of data literacy.

The persona is a semi-fictional character, created to represent your ideal consumer. It sounds like the idea of a target audience but the persona is much more effective.

In addition to the demographic data that is standard in the target-audience idea, you should add more specific elements to your persona. You need to get as close as possible to a real individual, making it a reference for your marketing and client communication efforts.

Remember we talked about the need to know the channels in which your audience is present?

That is the kind of information that should give life to your persona: personal preferences include the most used social networks, preferred subjects, and even the most appropriate level of formality.

With these details as a reference, your team can develop a Content Marketing strategy to take your videos to users who fit the persona. Thus, the potential for engagement is much greater.

The persona must also have other relevant characteristics, such as motivations, needs, pains, and desires. With all this in hand, you can define how, where, and when to convey the message you want.

3. Understand the types of video content

Just like the best marketing strategies, your video production of videos should be segmented according to your objectives.

This should include, of course, an understanding of the sales funnel stage you want to reach.

For each purpose, there is a more appropriate type of video marketing (as you saw in the list above).

Knowing them and how to use them is critical for diversifying your approach and making positive impacts on your audience.

4. Plan all of your actions

Every detail of your video marketing strategy should be carefully planned, starting with the schedule.

Based on your knowledge of the persona’s preferences, determine the release dates and the accurate times.

A marketing automation tool can assist you in this part of your planning, avoiding flaws. It’s also vital to work with well-established deadlines for all stages of video production.

Make sure your timeline is realistic so that you have enough time to produce and promote your videos and analyze their performance.

Monitoring campaign results is the only way to create increasingly better content. To do so, set your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). 

5. Follow your KPIs

KPIs are the metrics you’ll use to assess your strategy’s progress. You must define them in advance, choosing the most relevant to the campaign’s success.

Your KPIs may vary according to the approach’s objectives. In Digital Marketing, you can classify these goals into three groups: awareness, consideration, and action.

Once you’ve defined your KPIs, you need to track them. Collecting data regarding the performance of your videos, as well as feedback from users, is essential to improve your strategy.

Once again, interactive content can be an interesting solution.

6. Plan your video budget

Every marketer’s heard a video marketing success story or two that found some lucky content creator scoring a viral hit on TikTok or YouTube and seeing their business become a household name nearly overnight as a result. 

But while occasional successes like that are fine to shoot for, it’s important to understand they’re not the norm.

Successful video marketing campaigns take patience, commitment, and ongoing investment. 

Planning a realistic budget is a big part of that. And while you should definitely consider the potential ROI when allotting funds to video marketing, the actual amount you’ll be spending depends on how you’ll create your content.

Are you in charge of coordinating a sleek, glossy video marketing campaign for a major brand or other large company? 

You’ll likely have a large budget to work with and should consider outsourcing to a seasoned professional. 

But if you’re a small business owner, a sole proprietor, or an independent content creator, you can keep your budget in check by getting creative with the smartphone you already have, investing in some key pieces of additional equipment, and using an affordable video-making software suite to generate your content.

7. Create your video script

Although you may not necessarily think of the video marketing content you’re planning for your YouTube channel or blog as having much in common with a Hollywood movie, there are actually quite a few similarities there. 

Both are looking to not only capture and hold an audience’s attention but stay with them long after the viewing is over.

And both a movie and a piece of video marketing content also seek to do this through the power of storytelling. 

The idea is to make that story so compelling that the audience leaves the experience believing in something on a level they didn’t before. 

Although impromptu marketing videos aren’t unheard of, a well-planned script is the best way to keep your production on track.

Start with a rough brief and get together with your marketing team to develop an outline. 

Great marketing videos often follow a specific structure that begins with a brief introduction, proceeds section-by-section through a series of key points, and concludes with a quick wrap-up and call-to-action.

Although it’s essential to be thorough, you also want to be as concise as possible. 

Remember, today’s consumers have shorter attention spans than goldfish, especially when viewing content on social media.

8. Master the technical aspects of shooting

Although anyone with a smartphone and access to simple video production software has what it takes to start producing professional video marketing content, delivering quality isn’t all about having the right equipment. 

As with professional still photography, great video is also about nailing the technical aspects of shooting.

Composition

How your subjects are positioned on camera matters. Use the rule of thirds to divide your visual field into nine sections and choose eye-pleasing compositions that look professional.

Lighting

If you’ve ever sat through a marketing video, vlog post, or movie where the lighting wasn’t good, you already know how distracting that can be. 

Take advantage of natural light when you can, but understand how to work with good-quality artificial light when you need to, as well.

Acoustics

As with lighting, sound quality is a crucial concern when shooting video content. Always check the acoustics of a shooting location before definitively deciding to shoot there. 

And although your smartphone or laptop mic may work fine, you should consider investing in a standalone microphone to make sure your subject can be properly heard.

Multiple Takes

Even the best, most experienced content creators occasionally make mistakes or dislike something about a particular take after the fact. 

So always shoot multiple takes, whether you think you’ll need them or not. It’s better to have choices and not need them than need choices and not have them.

9. Keep the editing process in mind during shooting

Although editing isn’t necessarily any content creator’s favorite part of creating video marketing content, the process will go a lot more smoothly if you keep it in mind as you’re actually shooting. 

Again, you may not actually be shooting a Hollywood movie here, but so many of the same principles apply regardless.

Coverage

Even simple vlogs, tutorials, and demo videos are a lot more interesting when they include coverage of the scene from multiple angles. 

With two or three different angles to choose from, the editor (whether that’s you or someone else on your team) has more options to choose from and more ways to make a scene work.

Be sure to leave buffers before and after each shot, as well. This will prevent the editor from having to cut scenes too close to any key footage.

Continuity

Continuity is so important to the overall quality of a finished video, but it’s very easy to get wrong if you don’t shoot for the editing process.

Even if you’re only shooting something simple, it’s crucial to make sure objects remain in the same place, lighting is consistent, and people who move out of frame reappear in the right place from shot to shot.

Even high-budget Hollywood films aren’t immune to mistakes like these, but they’re largely preventable by simply not forgetting that anything you shoot will need to be edited.

10. Edit your video content

If the process of editing your video marketing content seems daunting at first, you’re not alone. 

When you’ve never done it before, the idea of editing can seem really intimidating, especially if you have lots of footage to sort through. 

But the process gets easier with the right tools in your corner.

A great video editing program is your best friend when it comes to creating great video marketing content. 

If you can spring for something more advanced like Adobe Premiere Pro or even an intermediate options like Apple iMovie, that’s great. 

But if you’re working with a shoestring budget, there are low-cost and even free programs, mobile apps, and more you can try.

Don’t forget your music and voiceovers, either. Even simple footage is drastically improved by adding background music that sets the tone and mood. 

Just be sure you have the proper permission to use anything you choose. 

Voiceovers can help add flow and emotion to your video marketing, as well. But remember to apply the same quality standards to your voiceover production as you have the rest of your content.

11. Outsource your video production

As you saw, establishing a video marketing strategy is not the simplest of tasks.

Besides all the planning we’ve already discussed, it’s essential to rely on professionals capable of creating high-quality videos.

The quality of your content is, in essence, what will determine the strategy’s success. After all, more than attracting consumers, your content needs to be good enough to retain their attention and enable their conversion.

Because of that, consider outsourcing your video production.

How to Promote Your Video

Of course, successfully producing your video marketing content is only part of the challenge of meeting your goals. 

The rest of the equation is all about getting the right eyes on your content so it can be appreciated by your target audience and get you results. 

Here are some quick video marketing tips for doing exactly that.

Optimize for your platform

Always consider where and how your audience will be viewing your content. 

Optimizing content for YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram is going to be a lot different than preparing long-form videos for a masterclass or e-course. 

And no matter where your content will appear, you’ll always want to optimize it for mobile devices, as well as standard desktop systems.

Prioritize SEO

Search engine optimization is a key concern when marketing any type of content, so keep it in mind always. 

Choose SEO-friendly titles, tags, and metadata to improve your content’s chances of showing up in relevant searches. 

Use terrific thumbnails to help catch people’s attention while they’re browsing or scrolling.

Leverage social media

It’s crucial to know your target audience when promoting video marketing content so you can meet them where they live when it comes to social media. 

Facebook is still the go-to platform for older demographics, while Twitter is a better fit for younger crowds. And, of course, LinkedIn is a must for B2B content. 

Don’t forget to encourage your followers to share and interact with your videos.

Wrap Up

Producing original videos requires the presence of professionals with excellent creative thinking skills. More than that, the process involves the application of the best techniques and tools available.

We know that not every company can rely on these assets, so what to do?

The simple and efficient solution is to outsource your video production. Hiring specialized companies to develop your project is a way to ensure quality videos and avoid overloading your teams.

Are you ready to dive into the wonders of video production for your brand? Get in touch with us right away and see how we can help your business thrive!