Integrating high-quality video marketing into your created website, social media, newsletter, or customer service can increase sales, drive site traffic, and improve brand awareness.
Today, business owners can use video content to grab their audience's attention without fancy equipment or software. A simple smartphone or video maker is all you need to make marketing content that captures and converts customers.
Technology advancements allow business owners to measure the effects of their video marketing strategy and even optimize for a more significant return on investment. 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 60% spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on video content. Because of this, video marketing is a leading marketing trend of 2022.
In this guide we’ll dive into the best video types, how to make a marketing video, and how to track and promote videos for maximum effectiveness.
Why video marketing?
Video should be one of your marketing strategies. These industry video statistics show its marketing power:
Traffic and conversions: Over 70% of marketers claim video produces more conversions and attracts 300% more traffic than any other content.
SEO: Your site is free to rank on the first page of Google if it includes video. Furthermore, video boosts organic search traffic to your website by 157%.
Time on page: People spend on average 2.6x more time on pages with video than without. Add a video to your website or learn how to create a landing page with video to significantly lower your bounce rates.
Social media reach: Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. With booming video-centered platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok, creating video content helps you stay relevant. Check out this guide to LinkedIn marketing for more resources on social media and video.
YouTube marketing: YouTube, the second largest search engine in the world, accounts for 25% of total global mobile traffic. Starting a YouTube channel allows a massive new audience to discover your business, and offers a new engagement tool to your existing one.
The rise of social media marketing has seen an increase in demand for video content - specifically short form content that can be consumed in small bursts.
10 Types of marketing videos (+ examples)
Now that we've established the great value video brings to your content marketing strategy, let's explore the different video types, along with leading examples. Remember: Creating a video for a certain platform's target audience will optimize its performance.
01. Product videos
Product videos highlight features and benefits and demonstrate how your product or service works. (Many commonly refer to them as “demo videos.”) Under this category, you can also find classic commercials. In retail, this can look like an “unboxing” video and in software, this video can briefly overview how the tool works. These, typically, are 30 seconds long.
We created this short 47-second video for the Branded App by Wix showing the value and power of creating a mobile app for your website. It conveys a powerful message using just text and motion, and can easily be shared on social media with no sound on.
02. Brand videos
Unlike a product video about a tangible item, a brand video communicates your company values and mission. These marketing videos drive awareness and help viewers see why they should choose you over a competitor. This brand statement can be your sustainability commitment or female-run business status, anything you want to be known for.
Wix user Coal and Canary Candle Company uses their brand video to explain their passion for candle making and supporting the LGBTQ community.
Tip: Consider designing a logo to appear in your branded videos. You can use a free logo maker to get started. Check out some YouTube logo ideas and Twitch logo ideas for inspiration.
03. Educational and how-to videos
Good marketing videos add value. Your target audience will appreciate educational or instructional content that teaches them something new. This type of video helps you build trust and establish your credibility and expertise. Here you can find something like a tutorial video teaching an audience how to apply make-up or DIY a home project. Ideally, you can tie the topic back to your industry or field.
As part of LinkedIn’s Career Talks video series, they live-streamed a salary negotiations talk. LinkedIn successfully added valuable insight and knowledge for its job-seeking professional audience.
04. Testimonial videos
Often, others’ voices speak louder for your brand than your own. Testimonial videos from past or current customers and employees establish strong social proof.
This video marketing type is especially effective for the consideration stage when the user contemplates purchasing. A glowing testimonial can greatly increase brand trust and the likelihood that a buyer chooses you. So use those 30 seconds to 2 minutes well. After filming, use the appropriate distribution channels for this format to let your brand shine.
The fitness company SoulCycle hosted Oprah Winfrey at one of their studios. In her testimonial video, she excitingly shares, “I just had the best birthday experience ever at SoulCycle! Ride baby, ride!” And if Oprah advocates for a brand, that means a lot.
05. Live videos
If you’re not yet sure how to live stream, you should quickly get familiar with this marketing trend. Rather than pre-record and edit a video, live streams allow you to speak to your audience in real-time via a streaming platform like YouTube Live, Facebook or Twitch.
This video format sparks high engagement rates, as you can encourage people to ask questions or leave comments that you can address in your live stream. To exemplify, live video’s engagement rate stood at 4.3%, while non-live content was at 2.2%.
Look how Wix user and artist Carissa Potter Carlson strategically uses Instagram Live videos: For instance, in this live video stream, she hosts another artist to discuss what motivates her.
06. Product launch videos
Creating a landing page for a new product release is a best practice, and adding a video with a sneak peek of the product’s look and features can generate even more buzz. This marketing video gets people excited to spread the word about your new product.
When Facebook changed its name to Meta and explained the new plans for its product development, it created this informative “Introducing Meta” video. It got over 1.2 million views and alluded to the future in the caption: “Welcome to the next chapter of social connection.”
07. Event videos
Event marketing is a powerful marketing strategy. Capture quality footage from your event and create a highlight reel to spread the joy and let people feel like they were there.
When marketing your next event, use footage from previous events to give people a taste of what’s waiting for them and highly increase registrations.
Tesla, the leading electric car manufacturer, is known for its new model release event videos. Here you can watch Tesla’s Model S Plaid Delivery event highlight video. It received 3.2 million views on YouTube alone, as many want to hear CEO Elon Musk’s announcements.
08. Interviews
We live in a digital age in which thought leaders, entrepreneurs, key opinion leaders and influencers share their messages across social media. As part of your video marketing strategy, you can conduct a meaningful interview with someone in your field.
Choose a person who reaches your target audience. Then, film or live stream the discussion. In an ideal world, your interviewee also shares the content with their audience, providing more reach for your brand.
To demonstrate, Wix-built eCommerce store Spice Suite talks about her learning and success during an episode of Side Hustle Pro.
09. Explainer videos
While educational and how-to videos center around general skill sharing, explainer videos show how your product or service works. The tech and software industry commonly use these videos to address their audience’s pain points and then show how their product or service uniquely fixes that struggle.
Wix user Clever Chefs created this well-produced introductory video highlighting the catering services they offer across weddings and other events.
10. Social media videos
Any marketing video can be shared on social media. In fact, marketers are encouraged to share videos on social platforms, since social media accounts are a strong source of website traffic.
When making social media content, add subtitles to ensure that people can watch the video on mute.
For example, look at an event promotion video Slack created for its Facebook page. The video includes all its important information about the business communication platform with text overlay, so you can watch and understand the video even with the sound turned off.
Other types of social media videos include, reels, videos for stories on both TikTok and Instagram. Youtube videos are also an important form of video marketing with the potential to generate traffic and brand awareness.
With social media videos, video marketing can now tap into the potential of 'going viral.' This is also often known as the 'multiplier effect,' where a video is shared by thousands, if not millions of people, creating content about a product or brand and 'multiplying' its message and image through that sharing.
How to develop a video marketing strategy
So, how do you know which video formats fit your business? That depends on your goals, audience and key performance indicators, or KPIs. To develop a solid video marketing strategy, go through the following steps.
01. Determine your marketing goal
A strong video marketing strategy should align with your broader marketing objectives: Do you want to drive more traffic to your website? Or do you want to increase awareness? Grow sales? Once you know what you hope to achieve with your videos, you can effectively choose which video type to produce.
Your focus should go hand in hand with your marketing funnel, and video content can fit into all purchase journey stages:
Top and middle of the funnel: In this stage, you want to attract new customers and show off your personality. Use brand videos that share your mission and solve pain points, but avoid talking too much about your product.
Bottom of the funnel: To convert more customers, use testimonial videos to show why your products are better than your competitors.
Nurturing post-conversion: Continue to provide value with onboarding videos to educate users. Take Wix Learn as an example, as it provides courses, tutorials, webinars, and even certifications on topics like accessibility and advance feature design.
02. Outline your KPIs
How will you measure success? Understand what results you want to guide video creation. We dive deeper into tracking and success metrics later in this guide, but in this stage, think about what action you want the user to take. For example, your end goal might be the viewer registering for an event, donating to a cause or simply sharing the video with their network.
03. Focus on your video audience
The best video marketing strategy speaks to your core audience, or who, exactly, you want to reach. Write down where they live, their stage in the marketing funnel, how they watch videos, their struggles and pain points, and much more. Consider creating a buyer persona to guide this process.
04. Review your creative assets
To understand what work lies ahead, start with what you already have. See if you can edit any existing video footage into your campaign. Will you need to hire a creative marketing agency or can someone in-house film and produce? Consider which tools can help speed up your process, like a free video maker.
05. Set your timeline
Write a realistic timeline for your launch date. If making videos for a seasonal holiday, event or milestone, give yourself at least two to three months to create the campaign. Remember that many Reel and TikTok trends come and go quickly, so it may make sense to focus on speed over quality and take advantage of timeliness.
06. Choose a budget
Decide how much you want to spend on video marketing. Will you invest in a DSLR camera or shoot on a smartphone? Will you hire voice-over actors or do it yourself? (You can always recruit friends and family to help you with video projects to save costs.) Once you have a plan, set aside a budget to help you stay organized and set expectations with your collaborators.
07. Track, measure and analyze your results
After launching your videos and gathering meaningful results, it’s time to evaluate them. Understand the performance, so you’ll better know which videos to advertise and distribute on more channels.
The industry uses several key metrics to measure success. With A/B testing and tweaking footage where needed, you should set up a solid, optimized video strategy.
Common video marketing metrics:
Views
Impressions
Social engagement (such as likes, comments and shares)
Play rate
Completions
Completion rate
Click-through rate
Conversion rate
Bounce rate
Time on page
Watch time
Return visits
How to create a video for your business
After you’ve set your goals and decided which video marketing type to pursue, now comes the fun part—creating the actual content. These steps walk you through the process of shooting video.
Plan your video: Make a list of what you hope to cover in your video. Brainstorming methods include storyboarding ideas, gathering inspiration and analyzing competitors.
Write a script: Use a two-column script to match what the viewer sees with what they hear, like in this example. Practice reading it aloud and remember that one minute of speaking requires about 150 written words.
Prepare your camera: Whether shooting on a DSLR or smartphone, make sure to adjust your camera settings for frame rate, shutter speed, aperture and color balance. Decide if you’re shooting vertically (great for Instagram Reels and Stories and TikTok) or horizontal (ideal for YouTube or your website’s homepage).
Get a tripod: Prevent shaky video footage and place your camera or smartphone on a tripod for a still professional shot.
Set up a microphone: Ideally, you can mic those talking in your video, just make sure to hide the cords. If your budget allows, buy a microphone that stands over your subject but is not visible in the shot.
Use good lighting: Always try to shoot with natural light. If you can, invest in an additional three lights to cover all angles around your subject.
Bring in your talent: Film a few takes to help the person being filmed feel comfortable in front of the camera. In the end, re-record the first part, where they likely were the most nervous. They can memorize the script or read it off a screen or prompter under the camera.
Create an aesthetic composition: Remember the rule of thirds when creating your composition. Play with different types of shots and follow these other video creation tips. For instance, use some medium shots (example: of the whole room), some establishing shots (example: of the face) and closeups (example: of hand typing) to edit them together in an interesting mix. If possible, use two cameras: one head-on and another at a 45-degree angle. Then you can sync the audio and show a subject from two unique angles.
Organize your footage: Since video files are large, consider using an external hard drive to store your footage. Use a systematic naming system that works for you to remember which file contains what footage.
Edit your video: You can use free video editing software or invest in a tool like Adobe Premiere Pro. In this stage, you can add visuals, sounds and graphic effects. When editing footage for social media, Facebook recommends making your video less than 15 seconds long to increase the likelihood that people watch until the end. Videos less than 15 seconds can be posted on Instagram Stories, too, expanding your distribution options.
Add voice-over: In the editing phase, you might want to include a voice-over, or narration by someone you hear but don’t see. It can add a professional layer to explainer or how-to videos.
Choose your music: The music in your video can make or break a campaign. The right song can help evoke emotion and hold viewers’ attention for longer. Choose a royalty-free song, and check out these free music sites for videos.
Include a call-to-action: At your video’s end, add a clear call-to-action for the viewer. This can be a prompt to visit your website, sign-up or subscribe. Don’t leave this out: CTAs within video get 380% more clicks.
Video marketing examples
01. Wix Things You'd Rather Do Than Watch Another Wix Ad
Call us biased but we love the humor in this example,
02. Pepsi, We Will Rock You
Video marketing doesn't always have to be huge, but when it is it hits with impact. Especially when it brings together some of the major stars of the time.
03. Oatly's, Wow No Cow
This video marketing example presses home that videos can be simple, and short to work.
Choosing the right video marketing tools
Plenty of tools, software and platforms can assist you during your video marketing efforts. However, it's best to start with these three: a video maker, a video hosting site and an analytics provider.
01. Video maker
Use a video maker to quickly and easily create promo videos, product demos, social posts and more. Wix Video Maker provides free customized video templates for news, like sales announcements, milestone celebrations, or other exciting updates. The video maker allows you to schedule when and where you’ll share your videos. In your Wix Dashboard, click on “Marketing & SEO” and then “Video Maker” to get started.
You can easily showcase your videos on your website using the Wix Video App, or share them on Facebook and Instagram, upload them to YouTube or download them to your computer to use freely whenever you want.
02. Video hosting platforms
A video hosting service enables users to upload, store and play video content on the web. Consider one of these video hosting sites:
Free to use and commission-free sales
Mobile and desktop live streaming available
Website focused
Completely mobile optimized
Integrated with YouTube, Instagram and more
Largest video hosting site in the world
Lets you build your own channel and get subscribers
Allows you to serve video ads or potentially earn money from ads being shown on your videos.
Offers premium plans for businesses
Strong built-in analytics and special features
Extra storage space
03. Video analytics platforms
Depending on your budget and desire for in-depth analytics, you might want to invest in further measurement tools. You can use recommended outlets like YouTube analytics (if that’s your hosting site), buyer or Kissmetrics.
Distributing your marketing videos
Last but certainly not least, strategically promote your finished marketing videos. You can either pay to boost the videos or distribute them where your audience organically spends time. Here are the most promising ways for you to get more views and engagement with your videos:
Create a landing page dedicated to the video campaign
Gain strong video SEO
Partner with influencers
Use social media marketing both organically and run sponsored ads. You can use a Social Media Graphics maker to assist you
Run Google Search Ads
Include videos in your email marketing or newsletters