10 Types of Videos Your Brand Should Be Using
Cliché Alert: A picture is worth a thousand words.
The origin of that phrase dates to the 1920s when it was used to promote the use of graphics in print ads because they helped the reader understand more quickly than reading a thousand words.
So that means a video is worth millions of words.
Video is the perfect marketing storyteller because it quickly and effectively explains something; be that an idea, complex concept, or product. It also communicates on an emotional level that other media just can’t equal. A video can show emotions like fun, or happiness, or tug at the heartstrings, or show your culture.
Not all video types are appropriate for all brands so this guide is meant to show the benefits of each type so you can choose which video types you should be using to make the largest impact possible. It’s also important to mention that even though every smartphone can record video, it takes an expert to create video that tells the story you want it to tell.
Now, the obligatory stats about video: 91.8% of internet users worldwide watch online videos each week and the average user spends 6 hours and 48 minutes watching online videos per week. Yeah, we’re obsessed with online video!
Videos are everywhere, and can be used everywhere, and there are 10 types that your brand should consider using, depending on what you do, of course. So, roll the film, er, video – here we go!
1 – Founder Story, or Origin Story Video
A Founder or Origin Story video focuses on WHY your brand was started. It tells your audience what you’re all about, what drives you, and creates a connection because when they understand WHY you exist, it makes it easier for them to engage with your brand. A Founder video is told by the person that started your brand while an Origin video might use historical photos, old interviews with the founders, or other clever storytelling techniques.
Why it works: Marketing is storytelling and creating a personal connection gives your brand a personality, character, and plot – because your brand tells a story!
2 – Culture Video
Every company’s most popular webpage is typically the “About Us” page because people are interested in what your company is like. A Culture video has two jobs: 1) to explain the spirit and philosophy of your company, and 2) to attract talent who want to know what you are all about before they decide they want to work there or not.
Why it works: Culture videos show how the company treats its associates, its customers, and the community. A Culture video should answer the question: “What is this place all about?”
3 – Product Video
As online shopping grows, there are fewer opportunities for consumers to view your product on a shelf and experience it for themselves. Product videos take shoppers on a visual tour through the features and benefits of your product and helps them feel more comfortable buying it.
Why it works: Product videos let you focus on anything about your product that will help sell it, like a feature, or how it is made, or why it is better than alternative solutions. If you can eliminate the risk for the buyer, your video has done its job.
4 – Explainer Video
Explainer videos are perfect if your product or service is complex. Many times, people call these “whiteboard” videos because they are animated as if someone were drawing on a whiteboard, visually explaining a complex idea in simple terms.
Why it works: Explainer videos use attention grabbing graphics and feature clear concise storytelling, so they are engaging and informative.
5 – Testimonials Video
Your prospects are very interested in your customers’ experiences with you and Testimonial videos provide powerful social proof when your potential customers are making their purchase decision.
Why it works: Testimonial videos ooze genuineness because they use real people that consume your products or services. Testimonial videos help your customers connect to your brand in ways that static testimonial text on webpage just can’t.
6 – Case Study Video
Case studies are proof that your brand does exactly what it promises, and you can use video to tell the story of your successes helping other clients achieve their goals. If you have case studies written, use the text on-screen to tell the story from Problem to Solution to Results.
Why it works: If you already have written case studies, it’s relatively easy to repurpose them and turn them into engaging videos! Text overlay or kinetic typography videos are far more easily consumed than a static case study on a webpage. Make your case studies come alive!
7 – Behind the Scenes Video
Like a Culture video, Behind the Scenes videos show things that your customers are curious about. Topics can includes providing a video tour of your bright and clean warehouse, or your research and development lab, or products being tested, or just a tour of your offices.
Why it works: If you’re doing it, document it! Behind the Scenes videos create a connection with your prospect or customer because you’re taking them “behind the curtain” to see parts of your brand not normally seen.
8 – User Generated Content Video
Videos created by your users or customers are the hardest to control but can have the greatest impact. User Generated Content can be an unboxing video of your product, or video review, or even using your product in new and novel ways (think Mentos tossed in 2-liter soda bottles and the resulting chemical reaction).
Why it works: It’s real people creating real video and that means it’s genuine. But, as mentioned, UGC can be almost impossible to control so use it carefully.
9 – Panel, or Roundtable Video
A video that showcases your team sitting at a table, discussing a topic, can help show that your subject matter experts have different ways of solving your challenges. A casual, collegial back-and-forth conversation can help explain how your experts bring their individual skillsets together and put it to work for you.
Why it works: People want to work with genuine people, and a roundtable video shows the chemistry that your team can bring to the viewer’s team – and that’s incredibly powerful! One warning, though: only consider this type of video if your team has real conversational chemistry because if they don’t, the resulting video will be awkward to watch.
10 – Hype Video
Having an all-company meeting? Bringing partners together for a much anticipated product launch? A hype video rouses enthusiasm and excitement for your organization and is the perfect way to kick off your event. Remember how pumped up you felt the last time you went to a sporting event and the opening hype video played? Yep, you can make that happen for your team, too!
There are more video types, but remember at the beginning of this post when we talked about a thousand words? Well, we just passed 1,000 words, so here’s a picture to help explain one of the main points of this post:
A bad video about your brand tells a story you don’t want it to tell which is why working with an expert in marketing video creation is the best route to take.
Not sure which video types are right for your brand or how to get your video message “out there?” DRM has the equipment and tools (and most importantly, the experience) to shoot, edit, and produce top-notch videos for your brand in any of the styles we’ve outlined here, and get it in front of the right audience.
We’re collaborative, smart, and efficient in planning your video projects and we’ll provide many different ways you can repurpose or reorganize your video content for multiple uses and touch points. We’ll create clever video vignettes for your social media channels; use atmospheric shots for your website backgrounds; or reuse your existing copy and image assets in exciting kinetic text videos. The possibilities are almost endless, and one video shoot can produce a year’s worth of content!
Bottom line: To DRM, video isn’t a one-and-done project – it ties into your entire marketing strategy and weaves your brand messaging into all customer touchpoints.
DRM is a full-service marketing agency that uses creativity to connect your brand to your audience and help your business grow. We were founded to do what we are passionate about: Putting creativity to work and connecting brands to their audience, connecting audiences to your company goals, and connecting your business to the success it deserves.
