The first time a company dips its toe into creating a video it’s often a promotional video with the intention that it generates leads.
This is hardly surprising when we read statistics such as:
- 59% of executives say they would rather watch a video than read text. Source: Wordstream
And
- 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. Source: HubSpot
Before you add ‘create a promotional video’ to your marketing to do list, we’d like to you forget about ‘panic buying a video’ in the fear of missing out, and instead think about what video can do for you.
Video is incredibly versatile. So, the question is:
“What are the outcomes you’d like your video to achieve?”
We’ve looked through our catalogue of videos created for clients over the years and have come up with:
8 uses for a video
1. Staff training video
Creating a training video for internal use means that more staff can be trained more quickly. The video can be watched from the desk at a time that is convenient to each staff member. Providing training via video can reduce the cost and carbon foot print associated with a trainer’s travel.
Example: This training video was created to support corporate health and safety training on Display Screen Equipment.
2. Customer training video
Training videos are a great way for helping your customers to get the very best experience from using your products. It adds value and increases the chance of retaining them and their loyalty. If it’s a great experience, they’re sure to talk about it.
Example: Creating a set of training videos can help a service led business to productise their offering. Think Business Consultant who captures decades of experience in a programme of training videos. They’ve now cracked the issue of ‘selling time for money’ and can now ‘sell whilst they sleep’.
3. On-boarding videos
Bringing new customers up to speed, explaining features and functionality can be fast tracked by on-boarding videos. It frees up staff time, so they can be more productive, which in turn saves the business money.
Example: LimbPower, a charity that supports amputees, wanted to create a suite of videos to demonstrate the proper execution of exercises, which increases the positive impact for the participant.
4. Brand awareness videos
More subtle than a promotional video, a brand awareness video encourages engagement on social media with shares and likes, significantly increasing the reach and therefore getting your brand in front of many more people than a traditional promotional video might.
Example: A week in 40 seconds
5. Live stream video
If you’re running an event or conference, you could stream it live. You could choose to put the live stream behind a paid gateway, which would allow you to maximise revenue well beyond the number of seats in the room.
Live streaming video also overcomes some of the challenges of convincing people to take time out of their diary to attend the conference, such as travel time, travel costs and diary clashes.
A live stream video that is free for anyone to watch could form part of your brand awareness strategy.
6. Exhibition videos
To get the most out of an exhibition you want to talk to as many visitors as possible. But, what happens when everyone on the stand is busy?
A video at an exhibition is a great way to hold visitors’ attention until someone’s free to give them their full attention.
An exhibition video needs to be without sound because the visitors to the stand will not be able to hear it. The video needs to visually draw them in and crated in such a way that your message is clear. If the video has done its job, they’ll stick around, leave their card or return to a little later.
Here’s part 1 and part 2 of How to make a great exhibition video
7. Investor video
If you’re trying to raise money for a business venture, having a video that explains your proposition can be more compelling than the traditional PowerPoint presentation and allows potential investors to ‘see it in action’ dramatically increasing the chances of raising funds.
Example: How can a pitch video improve my chances of a positive outcome?
8. Animated video
If the service you provide is complex or process driven, an animated video could be a great way to simplify your message. Chances are you’re not looking to attract customers who simply buy on price, so the animated video help to manage expectations and explain the value that your service adds.
Here’s more about the process to create an animated video.
Calculating the return on investment from videos
When you start at the end, by thinking about what you want the outcome of your video to produce, then the production of your video can be shaped around that objective.
The investment of creating a video in all our 8 examples can be measured against the outcomes you wanted to achieve, whether this be the number of people viewing, generating more enquiries, saving more time, which in turn saves you money. Money that can be reinvested into your next video, perhaps!
