One of the most common questions we get asked by people starting their video marketing journey is, “What do I make videos about?”. At Make Your Own Video Training Academy we have a solution: we have created templates for different types of videos. We call them our Storyboards. These are simple 5-step guides that can be adapted to suit any type of business and any message. In our handbook you’ll find five storyboards for the most popular types of promotional videos. We are also constantly creating more templates, which are available to purchase from our website (www.myovdo.com/storyboards). We thought it would be useful to put together a list of more types of videos you might want to make as a business owner or employee. As a suggestion of when and how you might use them, we’ve categorised them into the five stages of a customer’s journey: Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action, Retention.
AWARENESS – videos to make prospective customers aware of your brand, product, service or offer
1. Overview Video
A short video giving the headlines of what you can offer. Keep it simple – don’t be tempted to cram too much information into one video, and stay away from the finer details at this stage. Focus on the benefits rather than the features of your offering.
2. Commercial
A 30 second commercial might be all you need to raise awareness in your product or service. There are plenty of opportunities to screen your commercial online – through YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn advertising.
3. Trailer/ Highlights Video
As with a film trailer, you can get a lot of information across in a short video. A trailer can be useful for promoting an event or an experience such as a book or performance.
4. Culture Video
Every organisation has a culture, and often it’s the culture rather than the products that your customers identify with. Talk about your brand values and ethics and make sure you include the office dog!r performance.
5. Tour Video
Take your audience on a video tour. You might want to show off your office and introduce your team, or you might want to showcase a property you’re selling. A Tour video is the next best thing to being there.
6. Showreel
A Showreel video is usually set to music and captures the very best aspects of your offering. This could be short clips of your organisation in action, sound bites from happy customers, and clips of your products or services.
INTEREST – videos to give interested prospects more information about your brand, products or services
7. Explainer Video
Make individual videos that go into more details about your products or services. Remember that a customer of one product might not be a customer of another, so it’s important to make separate explainer videos and place them where your interested viewers are most likely to see them. Explain the features of your product/ service, and how users will benefit from them.
8. How-to Video
‘How To… is one of the most common YouTube search terms. If viewers are searching for a solution to a problem, help them out. Showing your prospective customers how to do something can establish you as an authority on your subject whilst making people more aware of your brand.
9. Expert Video
Establish yourself as the ‘go to’ expert in your field by explaining subjects, issues or concepts through video. Keep it short and avoid too much detail or jargon. A short video is more engaging than pages of text.
10. Process Video
Customers are usually interested in how things are made or how they work, so take them behind the scenes and show them your processes. Depending on what you do, it can sometimes be difficult for customers to see the value in your product or service, so a process video demonstrates how much time and effort you put in.
11. Hints & Tips Video
Demonstrate your knowledge of a particular subject or product by offering short ‘top tips’ videos. Free advice like this can increase your profile and encourage viewers to share on social media.
12. Product Demo Video
If you make or sell products, a short video explaining the features or a particular item can increase the chances of your viewer buying it. According to a recent survey by Google, 50% of internet users look for a video related to a product or service before visiting a store.
13. Team Introduction Video
As your prospects gain interest in your organisation, it may help them to learn more about the people behind the brand; after all, people buy from people as they say. Use video to introduce members of your team and throw in some quirky facts for authenticity. These are also useful for Email signatures and LinkedIn profiles.
14. Company History Video
Again, as your prospect dig deeper for information, they might be interested in how your organisation came about, especially if your story is unusual if you’ve overcome some major hurdles or you’ve experienced some noteworthy achievements.
15. Day In The Life Video
Follow a team member or even a client through a typical day, showing what they get up to, what it’s like to work in your organisation or how your product/ service makes a client’s working day more productive.
16. Behind The Scenes Video
Everyone wants to feel like they’re wearing that ‘Access All Areas’ badge. You can offer exclusive access by taking viewers behind the scenes of your brand, event or project.
DESIRE – you’ve won them over, now use these videos to show customers more details and provide useful information
17. Case Study Video
Tell the story of how your customers use your products or services, and the benefits they gain from it. Your customers will probably want to use the video on their website and social channels too, giving you more exposure.
18. Review Video
Review a product or service on behalf of someone else if you want to align yourself with another brand. For an impartial review of your own products or services, ask a customer or third party to do this on your behalf.
19. Testimonial Video
Soundbites from your customers about how great your brand, product or service is. Ask them to tell the story of what problem they faced before using your product/service, and how your product/service has now solved their problem and improved their life.
20. Vox Pop Video
These are usually spontaneous interviews with members of the public. They can be used to gather public opinions about certain subjects, or run quick polls.
21. Endorsement Video
These are filmed interviews or presented clips with carefully selected people who may influence the buying behaviour of your prospects. They could be partners, experts, service users, celebrities – anyone whose opinion is respected by your target audience.
ACTION – your prospects have become your customers, so use videos to give them useful support and information
22. FAQ Video
Turn the answers to your frequently asked questions into videos. It’s more personal than text on a web page and the next best thing to answering questions in person.
23. Instructional Video
If your product or service comes with specific instructions, make a video showing your customers how to use it.
24. Post-sale Support Video
Make videos that help your customers with maintenance and troubleshooting of your products or services.
25. Thank You Video
Add a personal touch by emailing a short ‘thank you for the business’ video, including details on how they can access further information and support, and news about other products or services that might interest them.
26. Special Message Video
Send seasonal greetings or other personalised messages in video form to make your customers feel valued.
RETENTION – use videos to nurture your client relationships, keeping them informed and feeling valued
27. Video Newsletter
Once you have an email address from either a prospect or a customer you can keep them up to date with your latest good news in video form via a mailshot. You can also tell them about other products or services you offer, or upcoming events.
28. Offers/ Competitions
Keep customers engaged by offering them exclusive deals, offers and competitions, emailed as a video link.
29. Showcase Video
Offer your latest products and services exclusively to your customers before anyone else sees them. A video is more personal than a plain text email.
30. Invitation Video
If you’re planning an event, send the invitation as a video instead of an image or text. If you have footage or images of previous similar events, include those to provide a flavour of what guests can expect.
We hope this list gives you some ideas of types of videos you can use at different stages of your customer’s journey. The order is just a suggestion – it’s up to you to experiment and see what works for your business. If you’d like a storyboard for any of these videos and you can’t find it on our website, drop us a line to info@myovdo.com and we’ll create one for you.