Video Marketing for Business: An Introductory Guide

Video marketing is no longer an optional way of attracting customers — it’s the norm. According to Wyzowl, 41% more businesses are using video today compared to 2016. And Magisto reports that “60% of businesses spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on video.”

“60% of businesses spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on video.”

With more marketers embracing and investing in this medium, mindless video publishing won’t fly. For videos that stand out, you’ll need a clear strategy around which types of content to create and how to tailor your videos for different distribution platforms.

We’re here to help with this introductory guide on video marketing for business purposes. We’ll give you the info you need to create videos that stand out from the competition. By the time we’re done, you’ll understand the different video marketing types and how to build a plan around creating this content.

What is video marketing?

First, let’s make sure we’re on the same page with what video marketing actually means.

“Video marketing refers to incorporating video on marketing channels to attract new customers and seek higher engagement.”

Video marketing refers to incorporating video on marketing channels to attract new customers and seek higher engagement. Marketers often distribute video content on their business’s website, social media, and through traditional commercials. Videos can be marketed organically or through paid advertising to audiences both new and established.

With today’s tools, video marketing is accessible on any budget. However, it’s important to understand the types of video content you can create before diving in.

5 high-impact marketing videos

Fifty years ago, video marketing came primarily in one form — the television commercial. But today, video marketing takes place on a wide range of platforms, from TikTok to YouTube, and is used for a variety of purposes.

Here are some common and impactful types of marketing videos you may have seen:

1. Instructional

Instructional videos teach the viewer how to complete a common task in the brand’s target sector. For example, a video aimed at bookkeepers might cover how to process expense reports.

These types of videos are ideal for attracting customers because they provide value to a customer rather than push your product, which helps people warm to you. Consider this example from Hubspot:

This video teaches people how to use PowerPoint, a skill important for HubSpot’s target market of business owners and salespeople. Instructional videos like this allow HubSpot to reach out to new customers and offer something to help them grow, establishing the brand as helpful before even coming close to asking for a sale.

2. Informational

Informational videos tell the reader facts or opinions about an industry topic. The main difference between an informational video and an instructional video is that the latter explains more concrete tips on how to do something, while informational videos are helpful in a different way.

For example, in this informational video, Envato, a creative asset marketplace, lists current marketing trends and showcases examples of them:

This video imparts valuable information on the viewer and shows that Envato can be trusted in the marketing industry, which is important for the sales of its marketing products. However, you’ll note they don’t teach the viewer how to implement these trends, as an educational video would.

3. Product

A product video talks about a product or service and functions like a traditional advertisement. It shows what features the product has to offer and how those would help a potential customer. In many cases, it’s treated as an introduction to the brand, like in our video about using Wistia for marketing.

This video starts with a welcome message before diving into what we offer and why potential customers should trust our product. Structuring the video in this way teaches potential customers about us, the product we offer, and how it will solve their pain points.

Often, product videos are ideal for paid marketing because they show a relevant audience why your product is the solution for their specific pain points.

4. Brand awareness

Brand awareness videos showcase a company’s culture and values. These videos often have similar messaging to a company’s “About” page or its mission statement.

For example, Nike shows that they aren’t just for professional athletes, but for anyone, in this video.

They took this stance in an effort to showcase their inclusivity and make their brand more appealing to customers who care about diversity.

5. Testimonial

A testimonial video features a customer explaining why they use and love your product or service. This content can be recorded and posted by the company or uploaded as user-generated content (UGC).

Take a look at this example from a Wistia customer to see one way that UGC is created:

As you can see, our customer talks about why they like Wistia and even goes into the specific features. Other potential (and even current) customers are likely to find these stories relatable and interesting, and it can go farther than company-created content because people trust their peers.

One note about UGC: Not all this content is positive. As you’re looking through customer testimonials, you may encounter negative reviews. Use these cases as an opportunity to comment on the video and ask to resolve the problems they’ve had. Give them contact information so they can follow up with you to get their issues worked through. Then, troubleshoot and see if the same experience can be prevented in the future.

That particular customer might not change their review; however, future customers will see that you take action to respond and iterate based on feedback.

How to create a video marketing strategy

You might think your video marketing depends on creating content that is generally entertaining — something that has a chance of going viral. However, while popular videos certainly don’t hurt, that isn’t going to be your end goal.

Instead, you’ll want to strategically craft and distribute videos based on your specific marketing goals. Here are the steps to walk through in order to accomplish that.

1. Identify your video’s purpose

The first step is identifying how your video will help with your larger marketing objectives, so you can choose the appropriate video type based on that goal. If your brand is hoping to boost exposure, you might create top-of-funnel educational videos that build trust. On the other hand, if your goal is to increase conversions, look at creating a product video you can run as an ad on Facebook or YouTube.

To start, write down two main types of videos you would like to create. You can always add more video types later.

2. Determine where your video should live

Next, choose a platform where you’ll publish your video, whether that’s Facebook, YouTube, or your company site. Pick a platform based on how its typical audience and video restrictions align with your content goals. You might note the platform’s video length guidelines and whether its core audience prefers casual or formal content.

If possible, pull analytics on your already-published content from the platform you’ll be posting videos on. Even if top-performing content is not video, this should give you a basic image of your audience’s preferences. Look at information like what content got the most views, reactions, and comments. Likewise, see what content performed the poorest. With that information, create guidelines about what content seems to perform best.

3. Create a plan to produce your videos

You’ve brainstormed about the purpose of your video and where to place it. Now, it’s time to figure out the logistics of actually creating it.

Write out a complete video plan that answers each of these questions: What resources will be necessary to create this video? Consider what employees will need to be involved and whether you’ll need props, sets, actors, and filming equipment. What is the overall budget? Use the first question’s answers to determine how much money you expect the video to cost. Don’t underestimate — expenses may pop up, so you want to give yourself wiggle room. If you need to keep your budget small, look at ways to cost-effectively produce and promote your videos. When will each video be made? Consider when props or time to film will be available and the date by which you’ll need to publish the video. When will each video be published? Make sure that you account for time to edit and for stakeholders to review the video before the publishing date.

Now that you have a rough draft put together, it’s time to bring other people in the mix and get their input as well.

4. Share the plan with others

First, ask co-workers for ideas and suggestions about improving the plan and whether they could help create the videos. See if they have any production items you need, whether that’s film equipment or props. This can help reduce the budget you need to spend or identify things you’ve overlooked in your planning process.

Once your plan is more finalized, it’s time to show upper management the details and present them the budget. Make sure to bring proof (like statistics or competitor videos) that will help make the case that this video will meet company goals.

Once you’ve got senior-level buy-in, you can start producing and publishing your video.

5. Constantly adjust your plan

The process isn’t over once you begin making videos. With each video produced, monitor the results and analytics to see what you can do to improve future videos.

“Concept or change future video ideas by analyzing which active videos have the highest number of likes or views.”

Concept or change future video ideas by analyzing which active videos have the highest number of likes or views. For example, if you have several videos in the queue that are similar to one that’s not performing well right now, consider nixing those and putting your energy into a different type of video.

Website vs. Social: Tips for tailoring your marketing videos

The main difference between website videos and social media videos is their focus. Generally speaking, the former tends to be product videos, while the latter is brand awareness videos.

Website videos: Add videos that answer pain points

When adding a video to your website, think about the location of the video. The goal for each video should be to answer the main pain point that would have led the customer to that page. So, a video that covers your brand as a whole might go on your homepage, while a video about different product features would naturally go on the product’s page.

Potential customers convert when they see that your product will solve their problems. As such, showcasing a solution to their problems in each video could increase the chances of converting customers.

However, don’t fall prey to the temptation to add too many videos to your site. Not only could this slow down your website, it could also overwhelm the viewer and have the opposite effect of what you intended, decreasing the chance that they convert. It’s better to have a small, select number of high-quality, valuable videos than to get caught up in the numbers game.

Social videos: Boost brand awareness

Videos on social generally get followers and their friends excited about your brand and eager to explore more on your site.

When creating social videos, keep viewers engaged by paying attention to each platform’s tone and video requirements. Over time, you’ll learn each social network’s nuances. For example, LinkedIn is a more professional platform that allows for longer videos, while TikTok is a trendy and casual platform that only allows short videos.

Don’t forget to experiment to keep up with the ever-changing algorithms and viewer needs. If the algorithm starts prioritizing a longer-style video than the ones you’ve been publishing, change it up. If your audience starts asking different or new questions, create content to provide those answers. Keeping track of current trends and consumer demands helps you continue to grow your audience through social media video.

Improve your video marketing with analytics and data

You now know five awesome types of videos you can create and the steps you should walk through to get going on each video project you undertake. Whether you’re tailoring for your website or social media platforms, you have what you need to succeed.

As we said earlier, once you start making videos, the work isn’t done after you upload. Regularly look at your uploaded videos’ performance metrics to see how you can further improve your marketing.

At the same time, watch out for changing trends in video creation marketing so that you can stay ahead of the competition and continue to create high-performing videos.