Introduction
Business Video Content is quickly becoming the norm, taking long form written content and replacing it with shorter, focused video content. The Content Marketing Institute has repeatedly discussed how business video content is thriving and online video is on a projected pathway to increase in viewership. You already know that video can deliver great returns-on-investment because you read our article on Video Content Basics. In the broad categories we have the following:
• A company overview
• Interviews
• Social media videos (Customer engagement, loyalty programs, or special offers
)
• Product demos and showcases
• Sales & marketing videos, testimonials
• Commercial advertising for TV & Web
• CEO addresses to shareholders or employees
• Public addresses for PR
• Brand awareness messages
- Social media videos for customer engagement, loyalty programs, or special offers
These videos can really can be anything your team thinks will drive engagement on your social media channels. Are your customers young, using the mobile web, socially engaged? Try a contest where customers submit user-generated video content like Fibron’s Who will Win the $20,000 Deck Givaway? Are your customers Moms with kids? Announce a loyalty program like Amazon did with a video that explains the perks of their program. In a specific market? Try something you think connects with YOUR users specifically - like this Vine video from Simon & Schuster, where they managed to fit a whole month’s bestseller catalog into a 6-second flipbook. -
A Company Overview
Amphenol at the New York Stock Exchange Photo credit: Miceli Productions The company overview can be a cornerstone piece for creating video content for your business. Whether you’re a small mom-and-pop-shop or a Fortune 500 giant, the company overview gives customers and clients an up-close introduction to your company and its leaders and staff. Overviews can vary widely from being a simple interview of the business owner with a getting-to-know-you feeling, to full scale TV-episode type videos where we see company facilities, headquarters, meet the CEO, senior staff and get an ‘insider-look’ into the corporate culture. Most importantly, they let your customers, clients, fans and followers know WHO you are without their having to read a stuffy bio or About Us page. A solid and well produced company overview film can deliver your company image in a fraction of the time it would take to read the same information. AND, the impression it makes is not left up to the reader’s interpretation. YOU control your image on screen. If you want to seem cutting-edge and techie, Main-Street or Wall-Street, the design elements and the clips you showcase can put your company personality in front of your audience the way you intend it to be perceived.
- Interviews
Interviews are a staple for videos that engage and there are many possibilities. Recruitment videos for HR can offer slice-of-life views that entice new talent. Lead designers can offer insights
Real Estate Agent Darcy Sledge Photo credit: Miceli Productions into new projects. Interviews with a panel of experts in your industry can offer in-depth discussions. The list goes on. The common thread among these? Interviews let you meet people. They showcase your employees’ values, how they hang-out, what their family time is like. Recruitment videos have multiple viewers - from talented people looking for employment to customers wanting that inside-look at how your company makes the products they love. Meeting the people inside the company give people a better understanding of your company, its products, and what you stand for.
- Product Demos and Showcases
The product demo or showcase is exactly what its titles says - a video that demonstrates your product or products. These can be beneficial when you are launching a new product, targeting a new market for an existing product or showcasing a family of products. These too can take many forms - from a live show host asking someone to demonstrate use (think vacuum cleaner) or 3D graphic video showing the many parts of your product (think jet engine). The key take-away here is that video connects your products with new audiences. It’s also easily consumed and you can tailor the message to be accessible. This is especially important if you are looking for product adoption on a new release. Tailor your script to a clear message, couple with a good delivery method and drive viewer response.
Product Photography, Photo credit: Miceli Productions
5. Promotional, sales & marketing videos, testimonials
Promotional videos, sales videos, marketing videos and presentations - more food for the video content marketing machine. Give customers clear reasons to choose your company’s products and services. Basically all the videos we discuss here can be used for promotional, sales and marketing - depending on the delivery and placement. Other types of video that fall into this category? Influencer interviews that promote your product and discuss best practices, trends and experiences in the industry can be extremely valuable. An informal interview can get picked up and syndicated by industry publications and reach more of your target audience. Keynote speakers and presentations - think SALES presentations from days of old - get a new make-over in today’s video world. These presentations can move through the newest product features (think Apple) or discuss the latest industry trends. The sales video no longer has to be a stuffy, boring sales pitch. Spruce it up with comments from company designers, product managers and others who drive your team successes.
Customer stories and testimonials fall into this category as well. Nothing endorses a product or services better than a super satisfied customer. Get those stories on video, in good light, and use them to promote your company.Another way to market your company with video? Show them Behind-the-Scenes! Show them your factory. Your data center. Your employees at work. Your products being built. Your designs coming to life. There are MANY ways to do this - from animating blue prints and CAD drawings to tours of your facility or the set move(in our case!) Brainstorm the best way to capture your company and get it on film.
6. Commercials - Advertising for TV & Web
The traditional :15 or :30 TV commercial is still going strong. Both on cable, network AND internet channels. Products can still connect with their potential audience by using demographic viewing information to reach target audiences. Local TV spots are viewed regionally, during news programs or popular shows and generate audience response. And these commercials don’t have to break the bank.
Simply filmed TV commercials can be enhanced with stock video footage, animated print materials, professional voice overs and studio produced graphics. Or they can be multi-scene, highly produced spots that gain following for your brand. See our favorite commercial of all time, Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.Got milk? No, really. One of the most successful branded video campaigns to date. Since 1993, they have run video ads with content that is engaging and entertaining. All over YouTube you can find Got Milk? video content - copycats and originals. They have built on their successes and gone into story-telling with their newest spot ‘Brave’. Their brand has attained the mythical unicorn of ad success and become part of our culture.
7. CEO addresses to shareholders or employees
This is a specific type of interview, but worth calling out individually. These videos are usually made monthly or quarterly to update people with the latest information. For shareholders, it can be a regular update to chart stock performance and company performance. Usually this type of video is delivered directly to someone via inbox or intraweb so there is a direct connection to the viewer. Since the CEO (or CFO or other copany leader) is directly addressing shareholders, they can announce changes, news or other items of direct interest to those viewers. For employee addresses, a message by company leadership can connect employees across far-reaching geography or make information more accessible in larger companies. As with other types of video, the main point again is gaining that face-to-face time. Video takes you directly to your audience and allows you to “speak” to them - bringing them into a conversation dialog, making them feel a part of the company.
8. PR Videos (including Event Videos)
Show them, don’t tell them. Event videos tap into the experience of BEING there. These are usually videos that show genuine customers or enthusiasts using company products leading the life the products help them lead. Think Harley. REI. LL Bean. Jeep. These are brands that have loyal followers and there are many events that these audiences attend. Creating an unscripted event video is a power marketing tool and can directly reach other like-minded customers without seeming like a “sales” message. The depth of information that an event video can convey about your company, products and culture is unrivaled. Panels, keynotes, presentations and speaking engagements offer other unscripted but video-friendly events that capture what your audience wants to see - namely discussions of industry trends, cutting-edge technology and your company’s forward-thinking initiatives. Target the keywords that your audience is searching for. Think TED Talk. Or Steve Jobs product discussions on the newest Apple product.
Don’t underestimate other PR videos as well. Reaching your clients and customers with video of your company’s charity fundraiser, company-wide cause, anniversary celebration or special announcement can drive engagement, add to your social following and resonate with outsiders likely to adopt your products, services or brand.
Conclusion
These are the types of business video that we see most companies adding to their visual content marking initiatives. They are by no means the only types. A company has to have a good understanding of how their customers and clients consume video - if you have a traditional audience, traditional types may be for you. If your audience is better reached by marketing creativity, you may also want to try Vlogs (Video Blogs), Vine videos, contests that use consumer video submissions or something else entirely!
Your team should discuss the following relevant questions:
• What are the needs of your organization?
• What are your goals for your video?
• What is your video's target market?
• Who are you trying to reach?
• What do you want your video to say?
• What level of production value are you striving for?
• How should you present your company?
• How will you promote your video?
The answers to these questions will direct and inform your company’s path for creating great video content that can reach your target audience. Now what? Download our USING VIDEO FOR BUSINESS Success Kit for a more in-depth discussions of the process.
Using Video for Business topics discussed include:
Chapter 1: Video Content Basics.
Chapter 2: Types of Videos to Use for Business.
Chapter 3: A discussion of where and how and to use different types of video.
Chapter 4: I want to market using video… Now what?
Chapter 5: Finding and choosing a great production company.
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