As with any marketing activity, one of the most important questions you can ask before making a video is: who is this for? Getting it wrong risks wasting a whole lot of time and money. And depending on your goals, videos can take a bit more investment than other forms of media, so they’re worth getting right the first time.
You can’t just rely on releasing a single video to sustain your marketing, no matter how exciting the project is. Attention has to be captured, directed, and recaptured over time, and in different ways depending on who’s watching.
Spending all your budget on one fancy announcement video can be a powerful move at first, especially for attracting new fans, but you’ll need to diversify your output if you want consistent engagement from every member of the awareness funnel.
Luckily, with a bit of smart planning, you can make sure everyone’s catered for, and build a brand video marketing flywheel that performs strongly over weeks, months, and years. Here’s how to make the best types of videos for each stage of your brand marketing funnel.
Unaware of your brand
Source: mmg.consulting
Right at the top of the brand funnel, latana.com got those who’ve never heard of you.
These videos should focus on who you are and what you can do for people. Snappy and to the point, you want to make an impact quickly with your visual branding. Text on the screen helps alongside a voiceover to cater to viewers with the sound off. And footage of happy people using your product or having their problem solved somehow is a must – it’s much easier to relate when you see other humans involved.
Visual marketing creates a really good impact on people’s mind and increases brand awareness.
Aware of your brand
The brand awareness stage is where someone has heard of your brand but hasn’t been exposed to it enough to form an opinion about it.
With videos for this stage, you can have a similar approach as above – showing who you are and what you do – but going into a little more detail this time.
Think of what someone’s first question might be after finding out about you. For example: “How does it work?” Then, go on to answer that question, either explicitly with an explanation, or indirectly, by showing it in action.
Testimonials and short explainer videos can work a treat here. [Brand] improved my life because [problem you solved for them] is a good formula to lead with.
Also, other than testimonials, you can share knowledge about the services you provide and let people know what will be the benefits of having your product.
Considering your brand
Source: marketixo.com
At this point in the brand funnel, a potential customer knows enough about your brand that they’re considering giving it a try. So your videos for these viewers will focus around encouraging them to take action.
One of the best ways to help them make this decision is by teaching them how you differ from the competition. There’s a good chance they’re already aware of the alternatives out there (this is something you can discover via surveys and other research methods), so a quick overview of your differentiators will help to persuade them to your cause.
Explaining your services and products, after buying services offered by you etc will make people considering you brand and will make your product a boost.
If you’re confident enough, a direct demonstration of your brand vs. the nearest competitor can work. Otherwise, you can be a little more subtle: use statistics to your advantage and show how you’re x% more effective than other leading brands, for example.
Active users
Further down the awareness funnel, we’ve got those who’d prefer your brand to others, and are active customers of yours.
This is where you have the opportunity to show existing fans that you appreciate them, along with extra tips on how to get the most out of your product.
These videos are also crucial in customer retention: encouraging them to stay on board with you for the long term. Serving repeat customers is significantly cheaper and easier than finding new customers, and it’s something most businesses want to aim for.
One of the best ways to increase retention is to produce a personalized customer retention video.
It’s easier than you might think – with the right tools, you can craft a bespoke video with your customer’s name, including stats about their time with you, purchases they’ve made, or what usage they’ve gotten out of your product. Send it to them on the anniversary of their sign-up and you’ve got a nice boost in sentiment towards you, or even a conversion if you’ve included a proper email sequence.
Additionally, even long-term users might not know about certain features or benefits of your product. Sending them a quick tutorial with a “Did you know?” can increase engagement even for power users.
Advocates
Source: marketing91.com
Advocates of your brand aren’t just loyal customers. They’re the fans who are happy to recommend you to their friends and family. They might even leave online reviews, offer feedback, and engage positively with you on social media. Treasure them!
They’re certainly worth rewarding, and direct engagement is a great idea here. Similar to the above, personalized videos showing stats about usage can be appreciated (and might even be a shareable point of pride for your power users and evangelists).
In this stage of the funnel, advocates can benefit from videos explaining how they can help bring new customers on board. This is especially effective when tied in with an affiliate or reward system, or if you offer something that benefits from customers getting together, like collaborative software, events, or games.
Again, testimonials can help here. Advocates might enjoy sharing them with others or even starring in videos themselves. Why not offer your super-fans a bundle of free goodies and merch in return for a video testimonial? Sure, you can set up a studio shoot if you want to go all out, but a simple selfie-cam recording is much easier for both parties and can feel a lot more authentic.
