Ten Types of Marketing Videos

So, you want a video. Or somebody has told you that you want a video, but you aren’t sure what type of video? Let’s have a look at the most common types of marketing videos that are used today.

Most Common Types of Marketing Videos

1. Brand Videos

The first type of marketing video is the brand video. A brand video is used to raise awareness—of the organisation, its products or services. A company may have more than one brand video. Production values tend to be higher and it is typically part of a wider campaign. As this type of content is designed to create awareness, it typically sits at the top of the ‘funnel’ to attract your audience and give sufficient reason to engage further with your brand.

Five Past Seven Tailoring and Alterations showcases its brand by creating an emotional connection with its audience. Another great example is R&M Lighting telling the story of the customers who benefit from their commercial lighting.

2. Demo Videos

A demo video illustrates how your product works by showing it in action. A demo video can be as simple as unboxing a physical product and demonstrating how it works. In fact, all your demo needs to be is simple, informative and concise. Ring’s door view cam is a great example that conveys the features and benefits of the product succinctly and creatively.

3. Event Videos

Another type of common marketing video are event videos. Event videos are a great way to increase the mileage you get from hosting an event. It could be a conference, presentation or product launch. With careful consideration, any event can be a great source for content. A wrap video is a type of event video that features highlights of the function, a recording of an engaging presentation or discussion, or the presentation of awards.

Check out an example of an event wrap film we created for Morgan Innovation.

Events also offer an opportunity to obtain quick testimonials and ‘vox pop’ style soundbites that can be great for social media engagement.

4. Thought leadership Videos

Interviews, webinars and keynote speeches featuring industry thought leaders represent an excellent way to establish credibility with your audience and are often called together, thought leadership videos. Thought leadership videos are excellent for marketing and so are our fourth common type of marketing video. They can also help profile building, by helping to establish the individual or organisation as an authority on a particular topic. Thought leaders could be people within your organisation or external experts who help add validity by association. I’ve included an example here of Aura Technology announcing the appointment of Sir Clive Woodward to the board.

5. How-to Videos

Unsurprisingly, how-to searches are extremely popular, with nearly three-quarters of viewers preferring to learn about a product or service through video, according to WyzOwl. While YouTube is the primary platform on which viewers search, social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook are increasingly popular places for customers to discover more about brands and their products. In a business context, this type of instructional video can be particularly beneficial to sales and service teams, even allowing the viewer to self-serve content.

6. Animated Videos

Animated videos are an extremely popular type of marketing video especially when you need to get across concepts that are more difficult to understand or explain. They are particularly useful if the concepts are quite abstract and would benefit from some form of graphic representation. Don’t be bound by thinking that animation means simple and childlike—motion graphics, 3D animation and photo-realistic visualisation are all effective tools that can be used to communicate a complex message.

7. Testimonial Videos

If the essence of business is to recognise and offer a solution to somebody else’s problem, a testimonial video is an effective way to demonstrate what you have achieved. Turning satisfied customers into advocates for your brand is an invaluable way to convey social proof to your prospects. A great example of this is the Morgan client testimonial video created to showcase their support for innovation.

Testimonial videos can be used as stand-alone content or as part of a wider case study. Their importance can’t be underestimated—having got this far, the viewer has probably already decided to buy, they just need to know why to buy from you and the validation of a testimonial is invaluable in helping to achieve this.

8. Live Videos

Live video is another type of marketing video and one that can often be seen as daunting. But they needn’t be. Simple and cost-effective, it gives customers a level of authentic, personal; engagement with your brand along with higher engagement rates than video-on-demand. Running a live-stream may take planning, but can be a great way to engage your audience with an event, presentation or interview.

9. VR and AR Videos

Virtual reality (VR) allows the viewer to explore their environment and usually to control the experience to some degree. Google Cardboard and other inexpensive headsets have allowed users to access this content readily, using their mobile phone as the viewer.

Augmented reality (AR) videos are a type of marketing video that take a direct view of a real world environment and enhance it with a computer-generated element such as an animation, 3D model, or graphics. For example, by using the camera on your smartphone, you can point it at a wall and change its colour. The Dulux visualiser app is a great example of a B2C application of AR.

10. Personalised Video

Personalised videos are one of our favourite types of marketing videos. They’re a great way to engage your audience as personalised video adds elements such as the viewer’s name, organisation or photo to increase engagement and conversions by making the nurture phase of the customer journey more personal. Rather than laboriously creating separate videos for each viewer, there are platforms that allow a single video to have designated fields for personalisation elements to be inserted.

The result can be surprising, delightful and certainly memorable. Cadbury’s Glow campaign is a great example of how effective a well-crafted personalised video can be.

To find out more about what type of marketing video you may need, get in contact today!