Many businesses have implemented video to great effect and some organisations are just considering how they can use video to their advantage, but for lot’s of organisations they don’t realise that there are a number of different types of video that you can create to enhance your marketing, educate customers, increase sales, reduce costs or all of the above! Here are twelve different types of video that any business can and should give some thought to.
Animated Video
With motion graphics or animation you have the ability to create scenes, environments or situations that might be difficult or costly to set up in ‘real life’. For many businesses they can feel that animated video is only quirky characters bouncing around the screen, but there are so many different ways to use motion graphics and animated video to fit your brand, not just character animations. Animated video is especially useful for software explainers or showing a process that your customers will go through to educate them before buying. It is also great for businesses that want a video that stands out from competitors, but don’t have anything particularly visual to showcase – for instance some offices can be a little dull. With animation you can get your message across in a much more engaging way.
One thing to bear in mind with animation is that to do it well and professionally it takes more time than might be expected and there are a number of steps to go through to ensure the video is as you need it to be, as making changes after the animation stage is not impossible but time consuming and complex. There is the scripting phase to go through, creating the visual concept and then any graphics you see being animated on screen need to be designed and layered for motion. You then need to actually animate the sequences and do any audio adjustments to the soundtrack and voiceover. We have a robust process in place to make sure that no time or budget is wasted
The great thing about animation is that it is not restricted by what you can see, film or travel to, it is only restricted by imagination or budget. If you’re in the market for a video, consider animated video as a viable alternative no matter what industry you are in.
Explainer Videos
These do exactly what they say on the tin. If you have a product or service these can be highly effective in ensuring that customers know exactly what you can offer them and how it will benefit their lives. Often companies try to do too much with a video, talking about their history, values, background, etc instead of just focusing on what the consumer wants. If you offer a single product or service, just stick to explaining what it is, how to use it, the benefits that it brings and any testimonials of people that are better off having used it. Explainers can also be animated as well as filmed so if you have software or a offer a service that isn’t visual, think about using an animated explainer video.
Product Videos
These can make the world of difference between someone buying your product or not. If you have a couple of images and a few paragraphs of text it might encourage people to make a purchase, but if you show your product in all its glory, in use with real people, now your audience can really imagine how it can help them. If you can integrate graphics or on screen text on the video as well it can really enhance customer understanding even further. There are also ways that product videos can help save you money too. If you have a product that has an instruction manual or printed assembly or setup instructions think about three things:
1 – how long it takes you to write and design the documents
2 – how much it costs to print them out and update them when something changes
3 – whether an analogue way of communicating still works for your customers.
Think about filming the instructions or setup process and sticking a simple QR code sticker on the side for easy access, after all for many people, YouTube is the first port of call when trying to assemble, fix or or use some new equipment. If you create a professional video you also build much greater brand loyalty because of removing barriers to use.
Promotional Videos
With many customers, you want to build some brand affinity and trust so that people feel that your business is one that they can trust. Think about financial services, children’s products or healthcare – these are just some examples of products and services that people need to have trust in before they buy. A promo video is a great way to explain why your company is better than your competitors on a deeper level than just price or product. Instead, you can highlight your mission, values and credibility as well as why your products or services are superior.
Training Videos
Your workforce are your biggest asset and keeping them well trained is really important. There is absolutely a place for in-person training, but to achieve economies of scale and make training more efficient, consistent and quicker to access, you can consider filming it and making it available to your teams.
One area where you can really impact the experience of new employees is through the creation of an induction video for new starters, so on their first day they receive an engaging introduction to the organisation, with input from senior staff as well as case studies and testimonials from employees at every level. It allows you to communicate all facets of the business in a thorough, cost effective and innovative manner. With health and safety, you can ensure that the right instruction is given to every employee as soon as they start their new role, ensuring you are not only compliant but keep your team safe. For a single initial outlay, you could save hundreds of hours of staff instruction time in training.
Pitch Videos
More entrepreneurs than ever are looking to develop, create, design and launch new products and services, and to do that they often need investment. Investment can come from crowdfunding platforms or directly from venture capital funds or angels, but one thing is for sure, they get alot of business plans sent to them. So how do you and your pitch stand out? Create a high value, professional video to explain what it is, where it sits in the market, what the opportunity is and how the investor will benefit from being involved. Some people think it is not a good use of precious funds pre-investment, but what if the quality of that video was the difference between receiving thousands or pounds or not? A great pitch video is the best investment that you can make.
Talent Acquisition Videos
If you ask any business owner to name their top three issues, you can almost guarantee that one of them will be that they just cannot seem to recruit quality talent. One reason is that very little is done to make the business appealing to potential recruits! Putting together a professional, inspiring and engaging recruitment video to push out on social media, filming a series of employee case studies who have seen their career blossom at the organisation, or creating an animation on benefits and progression routes, can put your company well ahead of the competition. And if you house it all on a compelling and well thought out ‘careers microsite’, branching out from your website, you will see that the best and the brightest want to come and work for you. Working with a video recruitment agency to help you create a video outreach programme will likely see you yield a massive return on investment through better employees, that are a better fit who deliver more productivity. In addition, you will get more candidates directly saving you thousands in recruitment fees.
Event Videos
A professional and well delivered event can be the best marketing tool you have for your next event so ensuring you capture it is essential. But getting someone with a phone or an amateur that just bought a camera won’t cut the mustard. You want to have a professional team at your event using modern equipment like gimbal mounted cameras and quality audio recording equipment, so that you get amazing footage and crisp sound. But it isn’t just the filming, it’s how the footage is edited afterwards – how the story of the event is told. Don’t scrimp on the video for your event, it could be your most effective marketing tool for next year!
Time Lapse Video
There are occasions where a large scale project, like a big development or renovation, takes place over a long period of time and as such the only practical way to visually capture the series of events is using time lapse videography. Setting up cameras that take still shots at set time intervals, which are then stitched together to create a rapid sequence of events. The cameras used can have long life batteries or even be solar powered for very long periods of time, but nowadays deliver the highest resolution images. Time lapse can also be used for shorter sequences as part of a simple promo edit, for instance at an event showing the flow of people.
Process Videos
These are so useful for many businesses who want to explain to customers the process they will go through with them. Think of a web development agency explaining the steps they go through as part of a new build, an estate agency explaining to buyers and sellers what happens with their house transaction or an IVF clinic explaining the steps to a successful pregnancy. Process videos can also be animated, filmed or a mixture of both, but graphics are a really powerful way of visually showing a staged approach.
Stop Frame Animation
This type of video isn’t seen so much but it is a wonderful way of standing out from the crowd with a video production. It is the process of moving objects or graphics a tiny amount and then taking an image, then moving a tiny bit more and taking another image, and so on until you stitch them all together and you get a moving sequence. Think Wallace and Gromit! Well you don’t see too many companies using stop frame animation as a way to communicate to their clients so that means there is a real gap in the market to stand out from the crowd. If you have a consumer product this kind of approach could be amazing at generating sales or creating a ground-swell of interest across social media.
Corporate, Social Responsibility (CSR) / Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Videos
There is a massive focus right now on companies that ‘do the right thing’, and while the focus up to now has been on large multinationals, there is a desire to work with smaller businesses that are conscious about being a positive force in their communities. The thing is, many businesses are already doing so much to reduce waste and emissions, support local schools and charities and working harder than ever to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace…but not telling anyone! By creating video content that highlights the positive impact you are having you will be able to reach more people with these messages, build more brand affinity and without a doubt, pick up a whole raft of socially conscious consumers who want to spend money with businesses that share their values. If you are doing great things, invest in creating content to make people aware of it, the ROI will be enormous!
As mentioned at the top of the post, many businesses when they consider video content immediately reach for what they know or what they believe can be delivered. But speaking with a professional agency that can deliver both filmed, animated and other styles of video might open their eyes to approaches that they hadn’t considered which could be much more effective. If you’re putting together a brief before speaking with an agency, agree on your objectives and what it is that you want to achieve with your investment, and then think laterally about some ‘less traditional’ ways of communicating with your target audience or give an agency the freedom to pitch their ideas. Video is everywhere, so unless you stand out with messaging and visuals, invest in professional production and deploy your video assets as part of an intelligent strategy, you may as well do that brochure you’ve always done. But don’t worry, we’ve been doing this for well over 11 years now so we can walk you through everything!
Call us for a conversation around your goals, and we’ll be happy to guide you through some possibilities, budgets and the process.
