02 Choosing the Right Video Production Types for Your Business

A Guide to Everything You Need to Know to Get the Most From Your Video Marketing

So you’ve decided you want to get video created for your business but what type of video?

If things didn’t seem complicated enough getting a video made now there’s all these terms for types of video that are thrown around..
So what are the right video production types for your business and where is the best place to use them?

In this chapter of Video Production For Clients, you’ll find answers to these questions as well as find out a way to make sure you are not wasting your money on getting the wrong videos created in the first place.

Part 01: Table of Contents:

Each part of the guide has it’s own table of contents so you can get the info you want quickly and easily!

Video Production Types – You Say Tomaydo I Say  Tomardo:
Comparing Lemons with Oranges.

Part of the reason there is so much confusion out there regarding video styles comes down to how videos are being labelled.
For example see if you can answer this simple question.

“What’s the difference between a Corporate Video, a Promotional Video and a Web Video?”

The Answer?

Well it’s kind of a trick question..
…because short answer – they could all be the same or all be different.

Whaaaat??!

You see the way Video’s get labelled are due to different criteria.
So if a corporation were to get a video done – it’s traditionally called a Corporate Video – As opposed to a video which was created to air on television or a film.
But what if this corporation created a video to promote one of its products?
Well that would be classified as a promotional video – and if they wanted to mainly use it on the web?
Yep you guessed it – it’s a web video. So the one video could really be classified as a Corporate Promotional Web Video.

I know pretty silly stuff.

“But wait a second” – I hear you ask,
“Don’t you have those exact categories on your site with examples?”

– Ahh well spotted! Yes we do and here’s the honest truth why…
…Traffic.

You see when it comes to getting visitors via Google – these are the terms that people like your self are searching for the most and therefore these are the most lucrative search terms to rank for on Google and so we name these pages after these terms so we can get our share of visitors too.

But if you actually read further on the page we talk about what type of videos we mean when we talk about these terms, this is because we much prefer video category’s that describe the purpose of what the video does.
So when we talk about Corporate Videos we’re talking about Branding or Company Overview videos.
And when we talk about web videos – we quickly change the discussion to be about Promotional Videos.

So for the rest of this chapter let’s forget about the terms Corporate Video and Web Video ‘kay?
Ok great!- Now we can move on right?
…errrr not quite.

Now we need to speak about Genre’s or Styles of Videos -These are different again.
This is when people refer to how the video is put together – the way the video is crafted.
Another way to think about it is the convention or format that the video uses to communicate its message.

Is it in a documentary style?
Does it tell a movie like a film? What sort of film? (Narrative style – there are many narrative styles Scifi , Western, Cop, drama, horror, sit com etc.)
Is it like a music video clip or a News report or a car salesman commercial or as if you are seeing directly the point of View of through someone’s eyes (P.O.V)
Is it a mixture of all of these?

Phew! Ok now that we’ve covered generic terms as well as video styles we can move on to video uses.

The Right Tool for the Job.

It’s pretty easy to work out what video is best for you by just asking the right questions.
Just ask “what am I trying to achieve with this video?”
Are you trying to raise your company profile or get more people thinking about your brand?
Are you trying to get them to purchase one of your products or services?
Are you trying to get them to go to your website for more information, or share on Social Media?
Are you wanting to add value in your market place?
Are you providing quick and easy instruction on how to best use a webpage, product or service?
The list can go on and on.

In Part 7 we’re going to look at the best ways to get the most use out of your videos, so we won’t cover too much of this in this chapter, but it must be said that it is vital that once you’ve asked yourself or your team these questions, before you create your videos, you then think about where you should have your videos show that will help you achieve your objective – you can be hurting your brand and your sales by having your wonderful new video/s playing in the wrong place.

If you are reading this before creating your next video, please make sure that you read Part 7 How To Leverage Your Completed Videos & Avoid The Big Mistake That 90% Of Companies Are Currently Making.

Ok – Let’s look at the most common various types of videos, what they are commonly used for and where best to use them.

Branding Videos.

Description / Purpose: Branding Videos have very few if any call to actions, they tend to invoke broader emotions and feelings – think Nike commercials or the GoPro experience videos, they tend to be highly captivating or entertaining to watch.

The main purpose of Branding videos is to become top of mind, so that when you are in an environment where a purchase behavior is called for – your first choice is that brand product.
As the videos build familiarity they are also designed to build an emotional connection between the brand and something that their target market deeply believes in and/or aspire to.
Branding Videos don’t promote the product so much as ideals and or feelings that they want to associate with the product.

E.g. Luxury Car Commercials don’t promote the Car as much as they promote the ideas of Success, Financial Freedom and Sex appeal.
Where are Branding Videos most commonly used?
Prime Time Television Commercial Spots (think – Superbowl) Youtube, Social Media. Specific Micro sites that are designed to make use of the traffic and leverage the opportunity to get a follow up action or message across.

Company Overview Videos.

Description/ Purpose: Company Overview videos traditionally are the public face or message that company’s want to promote about themselves – unlike a branding video, specific messages are used and conveyed – they can be used to convey the overall company or even just a certain department, initiative or single individual. Variations of this type of video include Profile Videos of key members of staff or who are most likely to connect with their target audience.
Another variation of this would be end of year corporate review or board room report videos – these would most likely be used internally.

Where are Company Overview videos most commonly used?
The best place to use these types of videos are on the company website or its affiliated websites. The Home page in particular is a great way to engage with your audience and let them know your key messages instead of having your visitor read it on your site. A strong call to action at the end telling the viewer what action to take next often works well.

Event Video.

Description / Purpose: Event videos can be classified as those videos that are created to show specifically at events and also those that are recorded at live events to capture what happened.

Pre-created (Played At Events): Those videos played at events are often used in trade shows to help impart information and promote a particular service or product for people to watch at their leisure, giving the Staff time to talk in further detail to those interested in the what they have to promote after being exposed to messages in the videos.

Another purpose would be to show during a keynote speech or presentation to increase engagement and get across complex ideas quickly, easily and entertainingly – these videos can also be used as an intro before a speaker or live segment takes place.

Recorded at Events: It’s a real shame that so much time, effort and cost goes into live events and then all of a sudden they are over and so is the effect of that effort.
By recording event videos you can capture the energy, the promotional messages and any key messages that you want to be able to convey and use afterward. Ideal for summarising corporate conferences and retreats, as a promotion for the next event or broken into segments for ongoing content.

Where are Event videos most commonly used?
Pre Created: Played at events, conferences, retreats, product launches.
Recorded at Events: These can be played at other events, used as part end of year review videos, boardroom reports, staff functions or broken up into informational content and placed on websites and social media and YouTube.

Training & Educational Videos.

Description / Purpose: Video as a format to train and educate is very powerful, in fact studies show that video is much more effective as a medium for students to retain information given to them, than reading or speaking to them.

Training Videos are a very powerful tool for companies to make sure that the quality and message or your training remains consistent. They are a very time and cost effective way of getting your best trainer in front of your staff, as the training can take place whenever and wherever is needed and they can be in multiple places at the same time.
Training Videos can also be used to help train customers to properly use or get the most out of their products and services; in fact it can cut costs in ongoing product support and reduce refunds dramatically.

Educational Videos tend to be used for more general educational purposes – aiming more toward educational establishments, online info products, and helpful content.
Educational Content can be used to raise your brands authority, as a way for people to take part in distance learning or added into a mix of other teaching materials.

Another growing video format is Product walkthroughs / unboxing.
Whiteboard videos as well as explainer animated videos are other forms of this type of video.

Where are they most commonly used:
Internally as training videos/ health and safety / standards etc.
On Youtube as educational videos to help people and provide value in your market place, whilst creating good will and building brand authority.
Pre-training to get everyone up to speed before practical live training commences.
As the main way to teach via membership sites or information products.
On company websites as training to help people get the most out of their product or service (this can be remarkably effective to reduce the amount of support tickets or dissatisfied customers.)
Given out as a Flash Drive or DVD with the product or service.
Open learning and distance learning for University and Schools.

Promotional Videos.

Description / Purpose: This is one of the biggest video categories as this covers almost every video that is trying to promote a product, service or action.
These are often the least subtle of the videos and are coupled with strong calls to actions such as “get your copy today” “click the Facebook button”, “Simply click buy now for instant access”.

Their purpose is clear; provide a clear argument / offer of the value the viewer will get in exchange for the call to action.
They can work well as part of a sequence of videos including other promotional videos.

Some varieties of the promotional video include:
Product and Service Videos
Conversion videos / squeeze page videos
PR Videos
Competition Promotion Videos
 Fund Raising Videos.
 Promotion of Upcoming Live Event Videos
Animation / Whiteboard animation and typography videos.

Where are Promotional Video most commonly used?
Everywhere! YouTube, video sharing sites, television, ads before the cinema, on people’s websites, in businesses waiting rooms and show rooms and shop windows – even on the shelves in the super market!

Video Sales Letters (VSL’s).

Description / Purpose: Our last type of video described here has been growing in popularity over recent years.
This type of video normally just consists of a white background with black text, a few words to a few sentences at a time reinforcing exactly what the narrator is saying.
It’s based on the phenomenon that communication is much more powerful if the viewer reads the words at the same time as hears them.

Video Sales Letters (VSL’s) are actually based on a formula that has been created from much testing and tweaking – designed for the express purpose of selling a product or service – and they work – current tests show that they almost always convert better than sales letters without videos, sales letters with promotional videos and just promotional videos – depending on the product, a long form sales letter with a VSL will get even higher conversions than a VSL with limited supporting text on the page.
Variations on the style include; adding images, video testimonials and changing the typography and graphic design style of the video itself.
VSL’s a quite inexpensive to make – take little production value or skill but the copywriting and Voice over narration are incredibly important to the success of the video to convert to sales.

Where are VSL’s most commonly used ?
Almost entirely used for sales pages only. Occasionally found on YouTube (one would wonder how much worse they would fare on a YouTube environment.)

What About Viral Videos?

You may be thinking where’s the viral video category?
Well here’s a word of warning: if a Video Production Company promises to create a “viral Video” for you – BE VERY SUSPICIOUS!! – it’s like promising to record a number 1 music single – especially if the producers have no track record of creating them in the past.

If you want your web video to “go viral” there are tried and true strategies that can maximise both the chances of evoking the response to get your video shared by many different people, and make it as easy as possible for people on social media to share your video – but the truth is while these strategies guarantee the best exposure for your brand or product, based on price – they will never guarantee a viral hit.

Conclusions: What’s are the  Best Video Production Types for You ?

That’s a wrap for this chapter as you can see there are many different categories of video and they all have very specific purposes.
The trick is to choose the right video for the result you want, and yes “the art” lies in using the right combination of styles and genres to make you video engaging and memorable – but far more important is to create a video that is effective.

For example: if the purpose of the video is get as many users to input their email address and watch the next video in the series it doesn’t matter whether it was memorable, as it matters how many email addresses and viewers were taken further down the sales funnel.

Hot Tip!

Try to stick to one single objective per video – that way your chances of success will remain high – Imagine I throw a basket of tennis balls and yell catch! How many do you think you could catch with just your two hands? 1 , 2, 3? or maybe you drop all of them trying to catch too many at once.
But if I throw a basketball at you and say catch- there’s a pretty strong chance that you will catch it 95% of the time. This is what happens with overly complicated videos with no single clear message or call to action.

Don’t Miss Part 3!

In our next lesson we’ll look at how much a video Production can cost – we’ll be open and honest and putting our cards on the table so you can see what costs goes into video productions of different sizes so you can stop from getting ripped off.

Take me to Part 3!

Click here to discover :How Much Does a Professional Video Production Cost?

If you are interested in finding out more about how RCM can help with your Video marketing give us a call or drop us an email.

 Video Production for Clients Guide Table of Contents:

Here’s An Index of Every Chapter:
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