What Is Video Marketing? (With Types, Steps And Examples)

Updated 30 September 2022

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Digital marketing offers professionals in the field many opportunities to engage current and potential customers. One common strategy is video marketing, which allows marketing professionals to appeal to their target markets on several online platforms. Exploring this element of a marketing plan can help you determine whether it may allow you to develop an effective campaign. In this article, we answer the question 'What is video marketing?,' explain how to implement it and explore examples of how you can use it to appeal to consumers.

What Is Video Marketing?

The answer to the question 'What is video marketing?' is essential for marketing professionals exploring techniques for campaigns. Video marketing is a strategy that involves using videos to promote a brand's message and its products and services to consumers across a variety of platforms. As consumers often watch videos online, incorporating the use of videos in your marketing strategy has become increasingly important. Video marketing can help you connect with your customers in a meaningful and engaging way, deliver the brand's message and raise awareness about the brand, products and services. Here are some types of video marketing to consider:

Customer testimonials: Videos of your existing customers providing testimonials about how the company's products or services helped them solve their problems allow you to raise awareness and build consumer trust in your brand. Authentic testimonial videos from real customers can help you encourage consumers to choose the products or services the company offers.
Expert interviews: Videos of expert interviews with thought leaders within the company or industry can help the company build credibility with its target audience. These videos can prove the knowledge and ability of the people within the company and show your target audience that experts in the field promote your products or services.
Brand videos: Branding videos can portray the company's vision and mission and provide a high-level overview of the products and services it offers and why. You can use brand videos to establish what makes the brand different from its competitors, raise awareness and capture customer interest in the company's goods and services.
Explainer videos: The purpose of explainer videos is to provide more detail about why a consumer may benefit from the brand. Explainer videos often use a fictional buyer journey that shows how a target customer resolved their issues by using the company's offerings.
How-to videos: How-to videos are used to educate and inform consumers about how to use a specific product or service or how to complete a task using the brand's offerings. These videos can show potential customers examples of how they might benefit from the brand.
Demo videos: The purpose of demo videos is to show how your products or services work. These videos allow consumers to visualise what their experience might be like if they purchased and used the product or service you are advertising.
Event videos: If the company is hosting a major event such as a conference, party, fundraiser or award ceremony, you can use videos from the event to create a highlight reel. Event videos allow you to share the experiences of event attendees and build excitement around the company or brand.
Live videos: Live videos provide customers with a unique opportunity to engage with you in real-time and gain an understanding of the company's operations and culture. Live videos of meetings, special events or product or service introductions may have longer viewing times than other types of videos because they often give viewers a sense of the brand's authenticity.

How To Implement Video Marketing

Here are seven steps you can take to incorporate video marketing into a campaign:

1. Perform market research

The first step to successfully implementing videos into your marketing strategy is to perform market research. This research can help you gather insights about what type of video content may be most effective with your target audience. It also allows you to complete competitive analyses to determine how your competitors use videos in their marketing strategy and which techniques or platforms help them succeed.

2. Create a plan for your video

Using the information you gathered from your market research, you can create a strategy for the content you plan to include and how you want to share it. When considering your plan, think of the target market you want to engage with and the messaging they may respond to positively. For example, a company that sells luxury pens to businesspeople may choose a formal demonstration, while a cosmetics company with a young target market might create entertaining videos that follow a trending format.

3. Write a video script

Next, you can use your plan to help you write a video script so the person speaking or presenting in the video includes important details about the product or service. Writing a script can also help you avoid including unnecessary information that might distract the viewer and keep the video concise. To make your script as authentic as possible, consider writing it in a way that aligns with your intended tone.

4. Record your video

Once you have written the script, you can record the video. You may find it helpful to practise the script several times and record yourself rehearsing it. This allows you to gain confidence, ensure you stay within the length you planned for the video and watch the recording to determine if it contains all the details you want to give viewers. When you are ready to record, consider recording a few versions of the video so you have plenty of footage to edit.

5. Edit your video

When you have your recordings ready, you can begin the editing process. Editing is a critical step in creating a marketing video because it allows you or the video editor to keep footage you like and remove sections you do not want or need. You can then incorporate visual and audio elements like images, transitions, captions and music to emphasise specific points and engage your audience.

6. Publish your video

After you have finished editing your video, you can decide where to publish it. There are many platforms you can consider for a marketing video, such as on social media, on the company website or in an email campaign. When you are choosing where to publish the video, consider your target market and the platforms they may prefer. For example, you might publish a video about an upcoming business development seminar on a professional social media page.

7. Analyse the results

Monitoring the performance of your video after you publish it can tell you if you are successfully reaching your target market and if they are responding well to it. Consider some key performance indicators (KPIs) you can monitor to analyse the results of the video, such as view count, interactions and click-through rate. You can use this information to learn about how to connect with your audience and what to include in future videos.

Video Marketing Examples

You can use these examples of video marketing on different platforms to help you choose an approach that suits your campaign:

Example of video marketing on social media

Marketing professionals often use social media to share videos about specific products or services or special offers. You can choose the social media platform you think might best fit your audience to ensure your video reaches your target market. Then, you can monitor KPIs to evaluate its effectiveness.

Example: Emily and her team wanted to promote a special event at the club where they work. Based on experience and market research, they know their target market uses social media frequently, specifically short-form video platforms. After discussing approaches, Emily decided to create a short-form video using a format that included trendy music and a popular dance. After recording and publishing the video with a link to tickets to the special event, ticket sales increased significantly. Emily tracked KPIs and found that most sales resulted from her social media video campaign.

Example of video marketing in an email campaign

Some companies send regular emails to current and prospective customers to encourage them to make purchases. These emails typically include information about new products or services, improvements to existing offerings or special deals. You can add a video to a marketing email to encourage the customer to visit the company website and place an order.

Example: CTD Windows and Blinds is planning a promotional event for previous customers. They only want to target customers who have purchased their products in the past, so they decided an email campaign is the most personal and exclusive option. To show customers their new offerings, the marketing team created a video displaying each new item and sharing the discounted pricing the customer was eligible for as a loyalty reward. Within 30 days of starting the campaign, sales for the new items at the discounted rate increased by 70%, which proved the success of the video marketing campaign.