Video killed the cold calling star
Video is transforming sales and marketing, offering personalized and memorable messaging for segmented audiences.
When using video to improve performance and increase conversions – whether that’s sales, downloads, subscriptions, or something else – it’s important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of different types of videos.
Different marketing videos will be better or worse suited to inspire actions by viewers under different circumstances. Knowing when an audience would respond better to a whiteboard animation rather than a straight-up product video can dramatically impact the results.
To help you choose the right tool for the job, let’s review popular types of marketing videos for boosting a platform’s conversions, as well as some of the tactics that help make these videos work.
Driving conversions: Types of marketing videos
There are many kinds of video production styles: slide presentations, a live-action short, or even a piece of animation. Beyond style, the following types are the most versatile and effective in terms of audience engagement and conversions.
- Explainer videos are all about informing viewers of a product or service so they know how it works, and most importantly, how it will help them with their problem. The explainer video formula has become a popular tool among video marketing agencies since it works wonders when you need to simplify complex services or products that most audiences could have a hard time wrapping their heads around.
- Product demos are somewhat opposite to explainer videos in the sense that instead of informing and describing, they’re about showing a product or service in action. They’re usually straight to the point and impactful, with meaningful imagery and a matching aesthetic.
- FAQ videos are a great way to interact with customers directly by answering questions and clearing any doubts they might have about products and services.
- Testimonials nurture brand identity and customer confidence, focusing on interviews with satisfied customers, field experts, and sometimes influencers.
Conversion rates are often influenced by many factors, some of which are difficult to estimate in general terms. However, some simple steps can go a long way in persuading visitors to take action and should always be included in marketing videos in some form or another.
Use social media to boost conversions
Social media channels are extremely flexible platforms for video marketing purposes, and using them to increase video visibility will often lead to more conversions.
The first step is finding a way for content to be accessible through social media. Uploading videos to a hosting platform like YouTube will allow you to share your video freely while also having it embedded on your own page. This way, the video will be accessible from different places while also not cannibalizing its own views by being uploaded multiple times.
Naturally, different social media platforms will have varying lengths and supported formats, so the content’s shareability will depend on which ones you use and editing the piece to match each platform.
What’s most important, though, is to use the conversion tools each platform provides (like surveys, pop-up forms, etc.) to start converting viewers who are engaged.
Define the ideal buyer persona
An ideal buyer persona is, in short, a semi-fictional stand-in for your ideal client. Videos are an effective way to engage them directly and talk them into a conversion.
Define a buyer persona from an extension of the market research that helps determine the target audience. However, these two things don’t represent your client base in the same way.
A target audience is determined by demographic segmentation, which helps identify the kinds of content that are positively received by people of different characteristics, such as background, gender, age, or ethnicity. Social platforms like Facebook have great monitoring tools that can provide a wealth of information in this regard.
On the other hand, the ideal buyer persona is a more precise narrative, which often includes traits such as a name, age, working job, hobbies, and goals.
These personas can help marketers tailor content and provide direct incentives and customized opportunities to make conversions much more appealing to a specific demographic or subsection of a general audience.
Video content strategy: 5 ways to boost customer experience
Customers today expect rich media experiences from the brands they do business with, and video content is at the top of most people’s lists. Here are five types of videos to incorporate into your CX strategy.
Include calls to action
CTAs are one of the most direct ways to prompt a user to convert, and no video marketing piece is complete without them. Regardless of the style, a video’s script should include a strong, clear prompt for a viewer to take their to the next step and complete the desired action.
Moreover, CTAs should never be vague. In a few words, they should drive potential buyers to convert into clients.
An unclear or vague CTA can have negative effects, not to mention the wasted time and resources spent working on a video that isn’t producing results.
Suggesting the viewer click on a pop-up to watch a related video or filling a form are among the most common CTAs on e-commerce websites. In addition, implementing QR codes into a CTA can elevate its effectiveness, providing a direct link to your online resources with a simple scan.
Having said all that, different types of videos will benefit more or less from different approaches to calls to action.
For example, a whiteboard video could plant curiosity in a viewer’s head and persuade them to find out more about said product, while a FAQs video may incentivize consumers to engage more actively with a brand and feel more comfortable providing feedback.
Add context with complementary content
Don’t neglect other content in favor of video. Videos are more engaging, but even the best productions are elevated by complementary content.
Text, images, and branding design elements provide a complementary medium to provide even more context to your videos and build on their content to make it that much more likely for a viewer to convert.
While videos should work by themselves, a brand can improve conversion rates by synergizing them with their surroundings by using elements like in-depth text descriptions (when relevant) or eye-catching conversion buttons.
In this way, a brand can create synergies between their videos and the landing or product page where it’s placed and end up with a higher conversion rate.
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The difference maker
While it may be hard to tell at first, videos are consistently proven to increase conversion rates for all kinds of e-commerce website pages.
Knowing how to use the proper resources and helping your content be widely available online will go a long way in helping increase the attention you receive and improve the chances of having those who find you take action.
