Turn it Up to 11

Every business serious about marketing itself
needs to be serious about video.

Video is unique in its ability to artfully combine powerful imagery with well-chosen words, moving music, and impactful editing. Done well, it can capture a viewer's full attention. And, as someone once said, if you capture someone's complete attention, you are their world until you let them go.

With the right team and approach, top-quality video production can be affordable even for small- and medium-sized businesses and organizations.

But where do you start?

Right here. Explore the Eleven Types of Video Every Business Needs, then set up a call to chat about the options that are the best fit for your business where it is right now.

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Explainer

This foundational video, sometimes called a Brand Anthem video, conveys your core story or mission statement. It lays out who or what your business is, a bit of your history, your “why,” and, most importantly, what problems you solve for your customers. Think of it as controlling the first impression people have of your business before they meet you in person. It can be done in a sort of narrative documentary style, or just with b-roll and title cards. Generally speaking, it is best for businesses to start by crafting this type of video.

Culture

This can be for both internal and external consumption. The point is to convey the business or organization’s “why,” to show what your tribe is about, what defines you. This can be a single, longer 3-minute video, or a series of lightly-branded videos that tell stories of people who use your product, or the people who make your product and are the backbone of your company. Videos that show a company or organization’s community involvement also fall into this category and can be a great way to define and express your culture by showing how you walk the talk. For a nonprofit, we often will call this an Impact Video.

Product

Explains the features and benefits of new or existing products. Ideal for launches, but also for products that may require a bit of explanation. Use video to do the explaining and your live human customer service folk spend less time doing it again and again and again…

Testimonial

In which we get users and fans to talk about how your product/service/company/organization transformed their life or business. Think of these as the video equivalent of 100+ 5-star reviews. Video testimonials are extremely important (92% of people in one survey said they check testimonials before making a purchase) and influential (70% of those polled said positive video testimonials significantly increased the trust they have in a business). The format can have the person speaking straight into camera, to connect with the viewer’s heartstrings, or be a more “objective” and documentary style, looking off-camera, or talking and walking, etc.

Case Study

This video is like the love child of a Product video and a Testimonial video. It focuses on the end-user and what happened to them when your product or service came into their life. It’s very much oriented around the “people like us do things like this” mantra, showing the viewers a person they can identify with using or talking about your product or service in a less obvious way. Most effective when done as a series. Case Studies like to travel in packs.

Onboarding & Training

Get new staff up to speed with an orientation on company values and standards, or reinforce these ideals among existing employees. Or create a video course for customers. Policies and practices (or exercise and diet routines) will be understood and retained far better if communicated via video versus a crumpled, laser-printed info sheet. People remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, but 80% of what they see and do. It’s why all the cool airlines now use very creative videos for their safety announcements.

Call to Action

The purpose here is to get people to act, to sign on to a cause, or to purchase a new product. These are best kept short and sweet, and to use direct-to-camera appeals with our teleprompter. Less is more. Culture and Mission focused videos can also step over into this realm or may have a Cut-Down based on this style. This is usually where we'd place a "sizzle reel," the intent of which is to enthrall viewers and get them to become fans.

Documentary

Have a story or an event/issue/idea that you feel can capture your viewers’ attention and hold it for more than just 90 seconds? The best approach could be to make a mini-documentary, where you give the backstory of a company or event, slowly reveal a story like an episode of 48 Hours, or recount your history a la Ken Burns. If a story is compelling and complex enough, there is no better way to capture and tell it than through a documentary-style video.  

FAQ / How-To

Here is where the clouds open and a beam of light shines down on you to make you feel truly enlightened and liberated. Because a well-crafted FAQ video strategy can save you time, lots of time. We begin with you making a list of the 10 or 15 questions you or your customer service people are answering again and again and again. Then we script up the best answers and film them professionally around your business, spoken by staff, leaders, or whoever makes most sense. That way the videos have a dual purpose: they also show a bit of who you are and what you are like.

DERIVATIVES

Clip-Down / Teaser

This is a special breed of video harvested from Testimonial, Culture, Product, or really any video. Think of it like a trailer that contains the best quote or clip from a longer video. It is meant to reel people in from social media channels, driving them to the top of your marketing funnel or to your YouTube channel. Normally 15 seconds or less, these need to be punchy and eyeball-grabbing.

Web Roll

This is a carefully chosen selection of b-roll video that lives on your website landing page, taking the place of that static banner photo. It captures and expresses a bit of the energy and activity of your firm and its people. Quite often it is a byproduct of other, more in-depth video work among the 10 types noted above.