Marketing is a constant battle between the chicken and the egg, where we know we need new, targeted content that is going to pay off for us, but we can't know how successful the content will be until it's out in the world. That's not to say that every attempt at marketing is a stab in the dark; if that were the case the advertising industry would crumble and we'd be seeing a lot less content on our newsfeeds each day!
But there is no denying that there is a lot of uncertainty and hesitation out there about what content is right for us, and it's becoming more and more difficult to choose the content that we're willing to step up for.
One thing that will help to create a well-planned content strategy that convinces even the most uncertain marketers among us that it's time to say yes to a project, is having a detailed understanding of WHAT options are available and where the strengths and weaknesses lie in each format. From this point, planning, developing, and creating your content will feel a lot less daunting.
This guide will get you moving in the right direction. It contains some of the most common and effective videos requested by our clients, as well as some real-world examples to help you visualise how this content could be utilised in your own marketing strategy.
Gone are the days when customers care only about the product they're receiving. Nowadays, it’s arguably even more important to put a 'face' to your business that clearly communicates why you exist and why your brand is worthwhile. A story video achieves this by connecting to the heart of your business and creating content with emotion and depth.
Story videos can be incredibly versatile and the narrative, look and tone of the video can be tailored for each business. You could use a story video to express your brand origins, introduce your founder and their motivations, or tell an important story of how your service has been meaningful for a customer. This format is incredibly fluid, however, a uniting factor of every story video should be its emphasis on depth and providing the audience a look 'behind the curtain' at the true heart and impact of your brand.
This video for Australian youth mental health organisation ReachOut tells the story of Sonboy, an Indigenous rapper from Sydney who was falling into a life of crime and poor mental health before he starting working towards a different lifestyle. This story video is gritty and masculine, with a firm message that appeals directly to a hard-to-reach audience for ReachOut.
While this video tells Sonboy's story, it conveys a strong message about self-empowerment and youth mental health, making it the perfect tool to communicate the importance of ReachOut's services. Additionally, because the authenticity and quality of the story is so high, the video was able to be repurposed into many shorter edits for social media platforms.
In contrast, this story video for PhysioGym physiotherapy is an intimate portrait of the founder and lead consultant Matthew, telling the story of his experience with physical limitations and passion for the business.
The goal of this video was to introduce audiences to Matthew and give them an insight into the experience and genuine care that he has poured into the PhysioGym practice.
With a clear focus on Matthew with no other distractions, this story video perfectly captures the extent of his knowledge and love of helping PhysioGym's clients.
While the humble testimonial video is unlikely to win you any marketing innovation awards, you shouldn't discount this style of content just yet. A high-quality testimonial video will showcase your brand or product in a way that is both practical, as it shares real tips and actual experiences of getting the most of your service, and inspirational, showcasing a real person loving what you do.
The key-word here is 'real'. What you're looking for with a testimonial video is authenticity and connection; you want the audience to relate to the person on screen and think to themselves 'if they love this business, then I will too.’ This comes down to the various production elements that surround the actual testimonial - from how and where the testimonial is executed, through to the feel and messaging of the final narrative.
Take this example of a testimonial video for Providence Property, a property buying agency. Purchasing property is a huge investment, there is a great deal of risk involved, and as a result, trust is a key factor in selecting a buyer’s agent. Further to this, many prospective customers may need justification in the actual service itself - what the process involves and why they need a buyer’s agent at all.
Providence Property needed testimonials from clients that went beyond the common sales pitch and instilled confidence and a sense of quality and care, which is exactly what they got from this series of tailored testimonial videos.
The product video is perhaps our most requested format of video. The reason product videos are so popular is that at first glance, introducing your product or service and their capabilities is the most logical way to advertise what you are offering, and really, product videos can work wonderfully for a brand with a strong product to advertise.
But it's important to remember that a great product video is as much about conveying your brand tone and quality as it is showing a physical object or explaining a service. When conceptualising your product video, consider the way you want your audience to feel about your product, as that is what will ultimately entice them to buy. It’s also important to find the balance between showing the functionalities of the product and inviting the audience to have an experience that resonates with them. When executed well, a product video can work across any online platform and pay off for the business time and time again.
This video for high-performance light manufacturer Ultra Vision is an example of a traditional product video, designed to showcase their driving light range and highlight key functionalities of the lights that make them exceptional.
Created to play in stores where Ultra Vision products are displayed, this video had to be practical and informative, while still conveying the luxury standard and brand tone of Ultra Vision.
Premium brand, Milliken Ontera, was looking for an exciting and vivid product video to showcase their new carpet range "Water Yuludarla", which was inspired by the artwork of the talented artist Brentyn Lugnan.
This product video uses vibrant visuals and music to connect the audience with the stories and nature, going beyond the physical carpet product, inspiring designers to imagine building these stories into their spaces by utilising the Milliken Ontera range.
No longer a platform with an exclusive audience of teenagers, social media is an open format store where brands of every shape and size can showcase what they have to offer, generate buzz, and use the power of 'social selling' to their advantage.
While each social media platform has its own preferred formats and demographics, generally what you're looking to create is something that is short and extremely visual. The goal with social media videos is to stop scrolling thumbs and encourage the audience to investigate further through highly impactful and creative content.
After seeing the huge impacts caused by COVID-19, ReachOut Australia recognised the need for fun, positive mental health and safety information that would appeal to a young audience.
By partnering with a charismatic host who was able to film from home, and using Keyy's remote production skills, ReachOut Australia was able to create a vibrant video that really resonated with a social media audience.
The content was also shaped into a suite of shorter edits so that it could be used again and again across all of their online platforms.
In contrast to the ReachOut Australia example, boutique skincare brand Inala Botanics carefully captured their brand tone and values in a series of purely visual bite-sized video clips specifically designed to catch the eye of their potential customers on social media.
Captured over the course of a day, Inala Botanics was provided with a collection of 5-30 second cinematic clips, featuring stunning imagery that aligned closely to the brand, and were as much about establishing a lifestyle as showing a product.
While you may think that your product is self-explanatory, the chances are high that your potential customers still want to see your product or service in action and learn how to get the most from what you offer.
Explainer or Informative videos can take many different forms, from something as simple as a member of your team speaking to camera and showing the features of your product, to a sophisticated production using actors and scripted content to show your product or service is working wonders in the 'real world’. Overall, an explainer video can provide an incredible opportunity to clarify what you do, show your product in the best light possible, and entice your audience.
This eplainer video for national mental health organisation SANE Australia uses real SANE moderators to explain the purpose and function of their online Forums, which are used by thousands of Australian every week who experience complex mental health issues.
The video was designed to be shared with SANE Australia's partner organisations, and the central goals were to convey essential information and provide an authentic insight into the real people behind the Forums who are so passionate about their work.
This practical and visually beautiful video created for Inala Botanics proves that there is no need for your explainer video content to be dull.
Using a simple set-up and high-quality, sophisticated footage, this product application video demonstrates the recommended way of applying the Inala Botanics signature products in order to achieve the best results possible.
If you're all about helping people reach a goal with your service, then you might be looking for an educational video. An educational video is the perfect format to position yourself or your business as an authority in your sector, and appeal to your audience by sharing information that is directly beneficial to them. Educational videos can work very well as standalone content, but they are a particularly great format for creating a series, giving you a chance to give a great deal of value to your customers for free, or sell your series as a highly valuable and educational product.
While there are many things you can do to vary your educational videos, such as using engaging onscreen graphics and backdrops, the two core elements of any educational content are an authoritative, charismatic presenter and quality scripted content.
Psychologist Danielle Buckley was looking for a series of detailed, stylish and engaging videos to make up an online coaching program product "Be Your Best Self”.
This program provided Danielle's clients and online audience with a psychological and scientific starting point to help them make positive changes in their lives. The collection of educational videos created for Danielle were each around 20 minutes long, and incorporated brand-aligned on-screen graphics and text to make the content accessible, engaging and digestible.
While some consider event videos to be a thing of the past, nothing beats an event video to capture your brand looking its absolute best, showcase your company culture and give a rare and authentic snapshot of your business.
There’s a whole range of possibilities when it comes to the specific content of event videos - consider including presentations or speeches, adding photographs and graphics or capturing a few words from your staff during the event. An added bonus is that the content captured during a business event can be repurposed again and again into bite-size advertisements for your brand. Consider using the footage for an upcoming campaign or use it to promote a specific call-to-action for your audience.
This polished event video from CBRE's annual VIP event was all about celebrating what makes their business special and acknowledging all of the happy relationships they have formed over the years.
From just one afternoon event CBRE was provided with a large collection of video content to use on their platforms, from social media edits, to edits which focus on the excellent speeches from throughout the day.
Youth mental health organisation ReachOut Australia used the wildly popular Mighty Car Mods show event to capture unique insights from a demographic of hard to reach young men.
Using relaxed and authentic "vox pop" style filming, ReachOut managed to not only showcase the event but create engaging and candid video content to greatly appeal to, and connect with their online audiences.
Our guide to the video content that you should be making for your business - and it doesn’t have to be as overwhelming or complicated as you think. Engaging a video production company with an end-to-end process will keep things simple and smooth, and will ultimately lead to you being able to create more content for a lower investment.
Creating original video content can feel like a considerable investment when you haven't experienced the enormous returns and brand awareness impacts that can come from great content. Remember that by choosing a video format that is tailored to your business, and multi-purposing the content you create, the impact of video can far outweigh the investment.
As you can see, video is a powerful and highly versatile business tool, and we hope this guide has helped you to understand it in a little more detail and visualise the kind of content that you can create for your business now.
