The Ultimate A-Z Guide for Video Marketing Success

Today’s digital world is filled with content. Thankfully, it’s also filled with people who are eager to consume it. No matter what role your brand plays in the industry, video marketing is an incredible way to connect with your customers, stand out from the crowd, and grow your business. 

With the rise of video-first social media platforms, the boom of Connected TV (CTV) and Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming, and the creative use of out-of-home (OOH) advertising, video content is everywhere.  

Video used to be a great addition to your marketing campaign. Now, it’s critical to the success of your business. But there are often roadblocks, which prevent brands from getting started. 

We’re here to help! If you’re looking to understand more about the power of video marketing and how your business can utilize it, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’ll walk through everything you need to know to kick off a successful video content marketing campaign. 

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What Is Video Marketing?

Video marketing is the use of video in your overall marketing strategy to promote your brand, services, or products. For example, you might use: 

• A video ad akin to an old-fashioned TV commercial (reinvented for the age of CTV and over-the-top (OTT) devices, of course)
• Video embedded into your marketing emails
• Social media videos 

Video content can also be used to meet goals, including building brand awareness, creating authority in your industry, and establishing trust with consumers. The possibilities are endless when it comes to video marketing for your business. 

Benefits of Video Marketing

With such a versatile medium, it’s no surprise the benefits of video marketing are plentiful. 

Ranging from live-action and animation to user-generated content (UGC) and event coverage, video gives you the ability to effectively connect with your audience. Plus, video content allows you to pack in a significant amount of information in a short time frame, which viewers can easily absorb and enjoy. 

Some key video marketing benefits include:

Videos Are Shared Most Often

You probably don’t have to think too long to remember the last time you received a video from a friend or family member, or maybe shared one with them. Since video content is easier to consume, it makes sense that people share videos more frequently than other types of content. 

In the best-case scenario, videos may go viral, which exponentially increases the chances of your content being shared. While viral video marketing can seem daunting, it’s possible. 

There are some best practices to follow when you’re aiming for viral video content, including: 

• Focus on quality. Viral video content is typically high-quality, so make sure your video content looks and sounds professional. 
• Understand what your audience shares. Take a look at other viral content — what caused those people to share the videos? By understanding why people shared content in the past, you can inform your video marketing strategy with those tactics. 
• Center your brand, not a product. We’re not saying it can’t happen, but product-focused marketing isn’t usually the type of viral video we see. Typically, these videos focus on branding, which creates a connection between the business and the audience. 

Viral video content is usually quick, concise, and emotional or entertaining. And this content comes with a bonus: it’s organic word of mouth. This means people are genuinely interested in your brand, enjoy it, and want to share your video. Some ads have been so popular they’ve even become part of a cultural conversation or led to the creation of TV shows and movies, like Ted Lasso. 

Video Content Improves SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving your website’s rankings in web searches on search engines, like Google and Bing, by incorporating relevant and frequently searched keywords. 

When consumers search for a product online, they are most likely to click on a result on the first page of the search engine page results (SERP). This makes SEO — and getting to the first page — an essential tool for marketers. 

There are several benefits when you use video marketing for SEO, including: 

• Video creates more backlinks. Backlinks are created when someone else shares your video content, for example, and directs viewers back to your page. This organic engagement increases the authority of your page in the eyes of the search engine’s algorithm. 
• Video allows you to rank on YouTube. Owned by the same parent company, YouTube and Google are both important to your SEO rankings. If your videos rank highly on YouTube, you’re more likely to have improved authority and brand awareness, both of which can improve your rankings on Google. 
• Video improves your engagement. SEO rankings are determined by several factors, including how long people spend on your page. Captivating video marketing can help ensure viewers stay on your page longer. Even a couple of minutes is significantly more helpful than the handful of seconds most web surfers spend skimming over the text of an article.

You may (understandably) think of SEO as a mostly text-based experience, which accounts for the slightly stilted language you may encounter when searching the web. This is, in part, because SEO experts seek to use the most concise language to incorporate highly searched-for terms (keywords) into each piece of content. But video content marketing can also help boost SEO rankings and organic traffic. 

Video Content Increases Conversions

Depending on their age, consumers are 64 to 85% more likely to purchase something after watching a video on your product detail page. Similarly, including video on your landing page can also increase conversions by more than 80%.

Clearly, video is powerful. It allows your customers to connect with your brand more effectively and have a deeper understanding of your product or service. Seeing something represented in three-dimensional video content can feel more real than static photos or text about it. 

Videos Educate and Build Trust

One of the biggest hurdles to buying online is convincing someone how buying a product will add value to their lives. But, videos can help solve this problem!

Video content for business can be highly effective in building trust in several ways, including: 

• Making a consumer see how something might solve one of their pain points.
• Helping consumers address some of the nitty-gritty details of the setup or installation of a product. This is more helpful in a video than text since you can pause and rewatch any complex parts.
• Suggesting different uses for a product. 

Your video marketing can help educate consumers on your products’ benefits and contribute to your brand’s authority. The more your audience understands and trusts your brand, the more likely you’ll be the first brand they think of when they’re ready to make a purchase! 

Videos Improve Your Brand’s Image

Video is an excellent way of showing off your brand’s accomplishments, discussing your values, and otherwise improving your brand’s image. 

The visual and audio associations you create are powerful. By linking your brand with a fun piece of music, a cool animation style, a respected pitch person, or a well-designed and informative video, you can create a polished image of your brand in consumers’ minds. 

While these videos can be done in many ways, you may want to ditch the maker’s handbook for a moment. Today, videos that effectively improve brand image often favor emotion over hard sales tactics. Think like the quick, lyrical ads you may see from the Apples and Nikes of the world. These shorter videos aim to ensure their brands remain relevant, trusted, and top of mind when consumers think of their respective industries. 

This, of course, is just one example, and you can use many different video types to improve your brand’s image. Videos can also enhance how consumers feel about your brand overall. By highlighting aspects of your diversity initiatives, fair trade efforts, or even the excellence of your product, you can help viewers associate positive emotions with your brand.

Video Content Marketing Trends

Thanks to the shifting currents of the internet and social media, digital video trends are dynamic. This means they’re always evolving to meet the needs and wants of viewers. Thankfully, video is versatile and can keep up with ever-changing video marketing trends. 

While it can be difficult to follow these trends, video marketing statistics can help you understand where the industry is — and where it might be headed next. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s dive into some of the critical trends in video content marketing today: 

User-Generated Video Dominates Social Media

Ironically, the heightened creation of highly produced, polished digital content has led to a desire for authenticity and realness in marketing videos. 

So, user-generated content (UGC) — or video shot to look like UGC — has become increasingly important to consumers. These videos come in many different formats, including a testimonial as to a product’s effectiveness or a demonstration video with a user showing how a product has made a significant difference in their life. 

Whichever subgenre of UGC you choose, it’s likely to create authority with your consumers. As Zoom calls, TikToks, and FaceTime dates have become ubiquitous, it’s possible UGC makes us feel at ease, providing a sense of familiarity with our other frequent communications. 

In any case, it’s an effective video style for businesses to utilize. Plus, it’s a relatively affordable and efficient way of producing video while still significantly impacting your audience. 

Digital Communities Will Grow and Diversify

When it comes to video, creative is only part of the equation. 

Often, brands, influencers, and other digital leaders create communities around their content. For example, influencers might share video content with their followers on social platforms and encourage engagement. While the content is vital, the interaction users have with their favorite influencers and fellow fans in the comments section, digital groups, and in-person events keep them engaged. 

As social platforms continue evolving, digital communities will increase — but may also fragment and become focused on more niche experiences. To meet the needs of your specific audience, make sure you create content that resonates with them, excites them, and provides value in some way. 

Before you get started making community-based video content, make sure you have a clear sense of who your target audience is and what they want to see. It’s also crucial to consistently listen to their feedback and make sure you’re giving them the right content. 

Audiences Will Use a Variety of Platforms

As we said above, digital communities might cause fragmentation of your audience — but so will other factors, including the rise of new platforms. 

Most social media users don’t just use a single platform; instead, they interact with content across multiple apps and websites. The same goes for streaming services! With so many networks launching their own services, many viewers are fragmented across several different platforms. 

So what does this mean for businesses like yours? 

Essentially, it means the stakes are high when it comes to video marketing content — and you’ll need to put in extra effort to ensure your video content captures your audience’s attention. 

Another factor to consider is the simultaneous use of multiple devices by viewers. Many people watch CTV or stream on an OTT device while using their phone or tablet. For example, while someone is watching a show on their Smart TV, they might look up a related story or search for a product on their phone. 

Now, brands need to craft strategies to follow their audience across platforms. With multiple touches on multiple devices, viewers can keep the products, services, and brands front of mind, even as their attention divides.

Audience Targeting Will Evolve

Audience targeting was once incredibly haphazard. You would buy ad space on a popular show, cross your fingers, and hope it would catch someone’s eye. 

Thankfully, things have changed. Now, you can start your campaign with the image of the consumer you want to reach, you can get specific with demographics, lifestyle, interests, and more.

While these changes are positive, data privacy regulations can provide roadblocks for advertisers. With these restrictions in mind, you’ll want to create some content for a broader audience to establish yourself in the market and provide unique experiences consumers can associate with your business. 

But, don’t worry! There’s still data available. Typically, you’ll want first-party data, which is data a company collects directly from its customers. First-party data can include demographics, but also includes other elements like interests, education level, and “taste clusters,” which are essentially digital communities that form around certain shows and products. You can then use these pieces of information to craft your video marketing campaign and decide on its distribution channels.

Ideally, the more information you have about your audience, the more effectively you can target them. As you gather data on your viewers and their measurable responses to your campaigns, you’ll be able to optimize your campaigns and create content your audience loves. 

Connected TV Advertising Will Become Mainstream

As the Connected TV (CTV) and Over-the-Top (OTT) industries continue growing, advertising in this space will become increasingly mainstream  — and necessary. 

For advertisers, Connected TV combines the strengths of video content with the powerful performance you can gain from social platforms and other digital media. With vast numbers of viewers cutting their TV cords and migrating to CTV and OTT devices, it’s likely your audience is already tuning into these platforms. 

While Connected TV advertising is booming, not every marketing team is fully aware of what it can do. In the coming years, as network and traditional cable TV continue to lose relevance, CTV advertising will become fully mainstream, if not the dominant advertising platform. 

7 Types of Video Marketing

Video content marketing can take countless forms, but there are seven particular types of videos you should familiarize yourself with — each with its own strengths and industry-specific applications — when you want to elevate your brand.

1. Brand/Company Videos

Brand and company videos are geared toward showcasing your company, what you do, and, often, your brand’s values. Your brand videos could also highlight specific aspects of your company’s culture or process you are particularly proud to have. Brand and company videos are made to enhance the positive aura around your company. 

What comes to mind when you think of brand videos? One example includes the Tiffany & Co. spots, which sell the idea of romance, diamonds, and Tiffany’s famous shade of blue, without pushing a particular piece of jewelry. Brand and company videos cement your brand in consumers’ minds as the leader in your industry. This way, when it’s time to shop for something in your industry, your brand is the first one that comes to mind. 

When you’re creating an online presence for your brand, you’ll want to keep a couple of things in mind. On one hand, you have the advantage of controlling every style element to make it as appealing as possible. On the other hand, you don’t have the immersive environment of a brick-and-mortar shop with helpful assistants. Thankfully, brand videos can help make up the difference. 

For example, suppose you are marketing a coffee brand. In that case, your video could feature attractive shots of farming and roasting, while informing customers about your fair trade practices or eco-friendly initiatives. 

With effective brand and company videos, consumers will be able to get an inside look at your business, increase their level of trust, and think about your business when they’re ready to make a purchase. 

2. Explainer Videos

As the name implies, explainer videos take a more complex aspect of your product or business and find a way to break it down for viewers, often with the use of step-by-step graphics or animations. 

Explainer videos might adopt an educational and entertaining tone, providing consumers with information about how the product or service can enhance their lives. If you’re selling frozen meals or nutritional supplements, for example, you might want to explain how you source your ingredients and why each one contributes to overall wellness goals. 

Explainer videos work well across industries, including for businesses selling medical or technically oriented products. Since these items can be more difficult to understand than traditional retail goods, explainer videos effectively break down the information for your consumers. 

3. Industry Specific Videos

Industry specific videos allow you to pitch your company’s services to your broader industry, while also establishing yourself as a thought leader. Each sector has its own set of guidelines, depending on the needs and wants of the industry. But, overall, these videos can address industry-wide problems, educate your industry, and highlight your business. 

Common industries for these videos include:

• Real estate and housing
• Medical and healthcare
• Non-profit

While these are common, industry specific videos are certainly not limited to just these industries. This kind of video content can provide critical information, allow your business to engage with consumers, and provide education on specific topics. 

For example, they may address new technological innovations in dentistry, which will impact dental practices; trends in the housing market, which may impact the real estate agents in your region; or upcoming legislation affecting insurance companies in a certain region. Case studies can also be effective in these videos to show how your products have helped others in the industry. 

These can serve the dual purpose of featuring your technology and also giving viewers a warm, human sense of your company by featuring actual employees and b-roll showing real-world situations.

4. Product and eCommerce Videos

Product and eCommerce videos focus on your offerings and make a detailed pitch for the virtues of a particular product. For example, Apple might make a product video featuring the new iPhone model, emphasizing its improved camera and faster response times. 

Product video marketing is a high priority for all businesses, but it’s increasingly important if you only sell via eCommerce. These videos can be a powerful tool for building trust with your customers while still promoting your products. 

As with many video ideas, you can have a significant amount of creative freedom when it comes to the video style. Depending on your brand, you might choose to make an outgoing and creative video or stick to something more simple, like a UGC-style video. 

Product videos focus on elevating your digital shopfront to make it more dynamic and engaging than product photos alone. You might feature: 

• An unboxing video. This can show consumers exactly what to expect when they receive your product in the mail and begin opening the box. 
• A detailed overview. These videos can showcase specifics about your products. For example, you might want to highlight the quality of ingredients in your food products. 
• How-to videos. These videos are perfect for showing how your offering can fit into your customers’ lives, meet their needs, and solve some of their pain points. 

Product videos can feature your specific product or service offerings to make sure your customers know about their key features and benefits. By showing how your products can positively impact customers’ lives, you can cut through the vastness of the internet and make a lasting impression. 

5. Social Media Videos

Many of your potential consumers willingly spend hours of their day on social media, so take advantage of this opportunity to connect with them. 

Here are a few key things to keep in mind when creating social media videos: 

• Each platform will be (at least) a little different. Before you get started, take each platform’s demands into consideration. This includes including technical specs, aesthetic best practices, purpose, and audience. This information can help you create videos that feel native to each platform. 
• Many people use different platforms for different purposes. When you’re crafting your content, understand you can’t reach everyone with a single piece of content. This is exactly why understanding your audience is so critical. When you know why your audience is on each platform and what they expect out of their experience, you can create video content more aligned with what they want. 
• Social media users favor some industries over others. While businesses in all industries are (and should continue to be) present and consistent on social media, it’s easier for some businesses to connect with their audience than it is for others. Typically, social media users favor entertainment- and food-related industries over others. But, don’t get discouraged if you’re not in these areas! Social media still provides you with an incredible opportunity to reach your audience — these brands just have a bit of an advantage. 

When you think of video content marketing, social media videos might be the first thing to come to mind. This, of course, makes sense. Many of us spend much of our time on social media — and some marketers’ jobs are entirely dedicated to the platforms. 

6. TV Commercials

TV commercials have evolved — but they certainly haven’t gone anywhere. With the rise of CTV and OTT streaming, living room quality advertising is (once again) becoming more prevalent in marketing strategies. 

Often, these videos feature: 

• An effective story with quality visuals
• Voiceover and onscreen text
• People enjoying your product in a relatable context
• A clear message

As more streaming platforms emerge and offer ad-supported subscriptions, it’s important to make sure you’re creating high-quality content. It can be jarring to viewers enjoying prestige TV to suddenly need to adjust to a lower-quality video. In these cases, they’ll typically end up tuning out, watching another show, or shifting to another platform altogether. 

Fortunately, with new digital technology, it’s not hard to produce an ad of high quality and entertainment value. Plus, TV commercials now have the added appeal of advanced audience targeting through CTV and OTT. This makes it possible to ensure your spots are reaching their desired audience, and keep iterating them using data-driven insights until they hit their aims. 

7. Website Videos

Including videos on your website can help welcome your audience, creating an exciting and engaging experience as soon as they arrive. 

There are several use cases for website videos, including: 

• On the homepage of your website. Often, these videos are quick overviews of your business, your position in the industry, and who you typically serve. 
• On your product pages. When it comes to product pages, you should consider including videos to highlight your products, their benefits, and anything else your customers might need to know. For example, if your product is more complex, you might want to include a how-to or educational video alongside the description and use cases. 
• On your about page. Increasingly, customers want to know more about your business. To meet this need, consider adding a video to discuss your values, your company’s history, and other relevant information. 
• On your hiring page. When you’re looking to attract new candidates to your company’s hiring page, video can be an incredible asset. Showcasing your hiring team, current employees, and other aspects of your company can give candidates an inside look at your business — and help them understand if it could be a good fit for them. 
• Within your blog posts. Your business’s blog is an incredible resource for your audience and a great way to gain inbound leads. But, sometimes, too much text can cause your readers to disengage and quickly leave your website. To avoid this, use video content to break up the text within your blogs. This encourages users to interact with different aspects and spend more time on the page. 

No matter which pages you add video content to, it’s a successful way to enhance your website and create a more enjoyable experience for your audience. 

For example, The New York Times also adds another element to their news stories by including well-produced videos to their home pages, making their stories more dynamic and engaging than static photos or text alone. These videos also deliver a more human quality to the web, with close-ups of distinctive faces and stories — even if the bulk of their content is still delivered in text.

Video Production Process

It takes time and thought to produce a good video, no matter what genre it’s in. You should pay attention to each of these five crucial stages of video production to get the results you want. 

Phase 1: Planning & Development

The planning and development phase includes answering key questions which will shape your video and the forthcoming process. This video production planning checklist is critical to the success of your project. 

Some questions to ask yourself and your team include: 

• What is the purpose of your video? Starting with the purpose of your video allows you to answer all of the other questions effectively. 
• Who is the target audience? 
• What style do you want for your video? Animated or live-action? Documentary style or a more conventionally scripted narrative?
• How many ways might you repurpose the footage you shoot?
• What kind of budget and resources might you be dealing with? There are always creative ways of addressing restrictions, and it’s important to be mindful of the video production cost throughout the entire process. 

You don’t necessarily need a massive budget to create something memorable and enjoyable for your audience. Remember: it’s better to have a well-executed idea with effective resources than it is to have a video process where ambition exceeds execution. 

The planning and development phase gives you and your team dedicated time to explore different ideas for your video content marketing. Overall, this is the part of the process where imagination and possibility rule.

Phase 2: Pre-Production

Video pre-production is the part of the process when your planning begins to get more granular and logistics have to be ironed out. You’ll want to begin addressing more specific questions, including about: 

• Casting. Who’s your talent? How will you find them, and how many actors do you need? Do you want actors or actual customers? Either way, you may have to work with a casting agency to find the right talent.
• Locations. Where do you want to film your video? What preparation and permissions might this location require? How accessible are they? Will you need backups if weather conditions are interfering with the production? It can help to visit a location at different times of the day (or at night, if you’re planning to shoot your video then). You’ll want to make sure it’s accessible, doesn’t have extensive noise issues, and understand what lighting equipment you might need. 
• Crew. Who are your key crew members? What departmental support and equipment do they need? You might need a videographer, an editor, a scriptwriter, and other key positions filled. Your crew will vary depending on the type of video you’re shooting. For example, the crew for an animated video production will differ from the crew for a live-action production. No matter the format, make sure you have all key roles present during the process. 
• Scope of the shoot. How long will your shoot be? How many lighting changes will be required? Which shots do you already know you need? The fewer locations and the more contained the shoot, the easier it will be and possibly the more footage you will end up being able to use. Plus, with a shot list, you’ll be able to mark off already-captured content and ensure a smooth production. 

Careful planning during video pre-production can create an efficient shoot. This is particularly true if you have limited time to shoot, budget concerns, complicated shots to pull off, or even if you just want the security of having enough content. 

Phase 3: Production

In the production phase, you capture all the footage you need to craft your videos. Your careful planning should pay off and production should be a check-the-box experience, in which you go down your shot list, walk through your storyboards, and get everything you need. While everything should go well, it’s wise to add spare time to your schedule for retakes, weather issues, and other disruptions. 

Of course, the kind of video you’re producing will dictate production. UGC-like content will have different requirements than other live-action formats, for example. 

No matter which video style you use, make sure you frame your footage so you can capture all the aspect ratios you need for different social media and streaming platforms. In addition, the focus of your video will need to be centered in the frame. You don’t want key elements of your product pushed out of frame or blocked by captions or icons on certain platforms. Since you need your footage to look appealing and native across platforms, it’s critical to keep these details in mind. 

If you have the resources, you can use an in-house team to complete the production phase of the process. However, for many small and medium-sized businesses, outsourcing video production is a more effective solution. 

With today’s technology, video production is more efficient than ever before — but it’s still a complex experience that requires organization and consistency from beginning to end. 

Phase 4: Post-Production

In post-production, you edit your footage, beginning with rough cuts and increasingly refining your edits until your videos emerge polished. This step is an integral part of the process since it allows you to break your content into several different videos, often with different audio, effects, and ad specs. 

Video post-production can involve a number of different factors, depending on your video type, footage needs, and more. Post-production manages: 

• Audio, including sound effects, editing any existing audio, and mixing, which ensures all the tracks are balanced with one another. 
• Visual effects and color correction, which could help give your video a certain aesthetic. 
• The addition of any motion graphics or onscreen text. 

During post-production, you should cut several different video spots, each of which needs to feel native to the various platforms you will be distributing your video on. But don’t worry — you already planned for this during phase one. 

Much like the rest of your video production experience, the post-production process will depend on the kind of spot you’re making. If you’re making mostly social media spots for digital phone scrollers, bright colors and simple large text can be an eye-catching combination. If you’re working with a TV ad audience in mind, you might be able to afford to cut at a (slightly) more leisurely pace, with more information or fun music on the soundtrack. 

Phase 5: Marketing & Distribution

Making video content doesn’t end with its production. By marketing and distributing your content, you finally connect with your audience by putting your video marketing campaign into the world. 

Once you’ve distributed your content, you’ll want to keep track of its effectiveness. Did your audience resonate with it or not? Take a look at the key performance indicators you’ve set, which could be conversions, views, clicks-per-view, and so on, to measure the success of the campaign. 

Whether you’re using social media, CTV, or another channel, it’s important to collect your data and use it to inform your upcoming video marketing content. This continuous data loop allows you to optimize your campaigns, meet your audience’s needs, and create engaging content they really want to watch. 

8 Video Content Marketing Tips & Strategies

With the right tips and video marketing strategy, your business can effectively reach your target audience.

1. Know What Your Audience Wants

Before you can understand what your audience wants, you have to understand who you’re speaking to in the first place. Since audiences can vary drastically — even for businesses in the same industry — it’s important to be familiar with your unique audience. 

Gone are the days of sending out one, generic message to all of your customers. Today’s consumers want personalized messaging, which is relatable, understands their needs, and provides a solution. 

In order to create individualized messaging, you need to know more about your audience. For example, you might want to know: 

• Age ranges 
• Hobbies and interests 
• Careers and industries 

The more you know about your audience, the more you can optimize your campaigns and drive engagement. 

In addition to knowing what your audience wants, you need to know where your audience is spending their time online. For example, you’ll need to know which social media platforms they frequently use and which streaming platforms they like to watch. 

While there might be an overlap between your CTV audience and your social media audience, users still expect different strategies across different platforms. We’ll get into specifics about this below!

2. Take Your Budget and Timeline Seriously

You spent time creating your budget and timeline, so make sure you utilize them. Each budget you create will look a bit different, but some key elements to include are: 

• Casting and crew
• Props
• Location 
• Scripting and storyboarding 
• Production crew and equipment 

If you want to cut down costs and create video content on a smaller budget, you still have several options. For example, you can produce user-generated content to cut down on extra costs, repurpose older content through the post-production process, and shoot as much content as possible from any given production. 

Just like your budget, your timelines will also vary depending on your goals and resources. Still, each timeline should include: 

• Planning and development 
• Pre-production
• Production
• Post-production
• Marketing and distribution

Drastically altering your timeline can also cause negative impacts on your budget, so keep both in mind with any decisions you make. 

Once you’ve crafted and finalized a realistic timeline and budget for your video marketing project, it’s time to move into the fun part: creating video content! 

3. Utilize Native Video Advertising

Social media users are familiar with seeing advertising on the platforms they use, and they’ll be the first ones to point out an ad that doesn’t seem quite right. To avoid this, make sure you utilize native video advertising features on each platform. 

Why does native video advertising work? 

• It’s built into the platform. Your viewers don’t have to click on a button, go to a website, or take any action — your video ad will automatically be right in front of them. For example, when users are scrolling through TikTok, video ads can show up at any point in between the platform’s organic videos. 
• It can feel natural. Sometimes, users may not even know they’re watching an ad! By creating advertisements that feel similar to other videos on the platform, your audience is likely to stick around, watch more of the video, and engage with your call to action (CTA). 
• It can reach your ideal audience. Instead of creating a disruptive experience, native video ads with effective targeting can help your customers. For example, if a customer is searching for travel ideas on social media and a travel agency’s video ad plays, this can be incredibly beneficial for the customer and effective for the business. 

With effective native video advertising, you can reach your target audience through advertising that’s consistent with the experience they’re already having across these platforms. 

4. Know Your Platform Ad Specs and Formats

To ensure your videos appear native, you need to understand and utilize the ad specs of each platform. Social media ad specs differ from platform to platform, but it’s critical to stay updated with the latest information. As social media trends evolve, the ads on each platform will also change to meet the needs and expectations of the users. 

You’ll also want to understand where the platform’s native features will appear. For example, on Instagram Reels, you’ll want to avoid placing important information or visuals in certain areas of the screen, because they’ll be covered by text, icons, or CTAs when they go live. 

As CTV becomes more and more popular, you’ll also need to be familiar with CTV ad specs. While these will likely be similar across many platforms, different networks will have different requirements for ad creative, including the file size and length of the video. 

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Ideas

In our incredibly busy digital world, creativity is key to standing out. With so much content on our screens, unique video ads can be more effective than ever before. 

Truly, video marketing ideas can come from everywhere — from other advertisements to a funny social media post, a scheduled brainstorming meeting to your favorite movie. No matter where the inspiration comes from, don’t be afraid to give unique ideas a try. 

What kind of videos should you consider? 

• How-to or other educational formats
• Emotionally driven content 
• Animated videos 
• Product release ads
• Brand story videos 

Of course, these are just a few examples of the endless possibilities when it comes to making creative video for content marketing. It’s also important to remember you don’t have to create every video type today. Over time, test several different videos, understand what your audience wants, and optimize your campaigns accordingly. 

The best part about trying new ideas right now? You have access to a social media platform where creativity and unique ideas are highly valued: TikTok! In the endless For You video loop, users are looking for creativity, so don’t be afraid to try something new. 

6. Use Your Videos for Email Campaigns

Email marketing is an incredibly powerful marketing tool, as it allows you to speak directly to people who have already opted in to communicate with you. 

Plus, many customers say they want to see more videos from the brands they love. By adding video email marketing to your strategy, you can engage your audience and meet their needs at the same time. 

You can use video marketing within your email campaigns to: 

• Summarize a more complex idea or point. In some cases, ideas can be more effectively articulated through a video than through a lengthy, detailed text, which will take significantly longer to read. Video content can help you explain your ideas to viewers in a more effective way. 
• Create a more authentic connection with your readers. Video can help you connect with your audience — especially if real people from your organization star in the content. More people will be able to connect real people with your brand, which can also help build trust and authority. 
• Keep your audience engaged. If your newsletters or emails are filled with too much text, your audience might be overwhelmed before they even begin reading. Obviously, you don’t want this result. In order to keep your audience focused, break up text with interesting video content. Plus, this can keep your audience on your email longer — and may even cause them to come back to watch it again. 

Every email client has the ability to include video content with emails, but you might need to take time to understand how it works with the provider you use — and how it will look to readers with different email clients. Some will be easier than others to use, but the benefits will outweigh the difficulties of setting up the process. 

Adding video content to your email marketing strategy is an effective way to engage your readers and, with the right video content, grow your audience. 

7. Video Works for B2B. Use It.

Many businesses are under the impression that video for content marketing is only effective when you’re speaking directly to consumers, but this myth is causing marketing teams to lose out on a significant opportunity for growth. 

B2B video marketing can help you build deeper relationships and connections with your customers while promoting your products and services. You can share B2B videos in the same ways you’d share B2C videos, including on social media, through CTV ads, within email marketing campaigns, and on your website. 

While there are countless ways to use video marketing for your B2B brand, you should consider: 

• Explainer videos
• Case study videos
• Social direct response content
• Culture and brand videos
• Content marketing

With the right video marketing strategy, you can reach current and potential customers while positioning your brand as a thought leader and establishing trust in your business. 

8. Measure, Analyze, and Test

Once you’ve started creating and distributing content, you have to test it consistently. Otherwise, you’re putting time, money, and effort into a strategy you can’t effectively optimize. 

Measuring, analyzing, and testing your video creative allows you to understand which components are working (so you can replicate them) and which components are falling short (so you can adjust them). Especially in our competitive, digital world, data is critical for staying ahead of other businesses in your industry. 

But, keep in mind: data isn’t evergreen. What worked last year won’t necessarily work as well this year, so you need to test continuously to have the latest information on your video content. 

You might be thinking: “Wait! But I don’t have any data to get started!” Don’t worry — while you may not have video-specific data, you likely have data from previous static image ad campaigns (or publicly available information about platform demographics) at your disposal. You can use this data to inform your initial strategies. 

Once you do have data about your video content, one of the most efficient ways to examine your content is through multivariate testing. This style of testing allows you to evaluate how well your creative resonates with your audience. 

For example, you might test the: 

• Design aspects
• Written copy 
• Number of actors included 
• Video style used 
• Value propositions mentioned 

It differs from A/B testing by providing a more in-depth look at multiple components. While A/B testing allows you to compare two different pieces of content, multivariate testing looks at the individual components of the content. 

From holiday advertisements to everyday promotions, accurate data allows you to optimize your campaigns and drive increased performance. 

Social Media Video Marketing Strategies

Social media might be one of the first things you think of when you hear the term video marketing — and it makes sense. In today’s digital world, social media video marketing is one of the most essential aspects of a digital marketing strategy. 

Consumers spend a significant amount of time on social media and often use the platforms to make decisions about shopping, travel, and more. But, each platform is different, so let’s explore some best practices for reaching your target audience across these social media networks. 

Facebook Video Marketing

Let’s start with the powerhouse of social media: Meta. With nearly 3 billion monthly active users (MAUs), Facebook can help you reach a significant number of current and potential customers. 

So, how can you make the most of Facebook video marketing? 

• Focus on community. Many social media users are looking for community, but this sentiment is especially prevalent on Facebook. While you can create actual communities through Facebook Groups and Pages, you can also encourage community through posts by inviting people to comment and connect on your posts or by sharing video content from community events. 
• Share entertaining content. Many people use Facebook for entertainment, so give your audience what they want! Entertaining content can be made through several different video types, so feel free to get creative with this concept. 
• Create an emotional connection. From fear to joy and many other emotions in between, you can utilize certain themes in your video content to create emotional connections with your audience. 

While many think Facebook has reached its boiling point, the numbers are still strong. With over 3 billion people around the globe on the platform, people are clearly still interested in connecting through Facebook. 

Instagram Video Marketing

Next up is Instagram, another Meta-owned social media platform. 

While Instagram started as a photo-focused platform, it (like many other social media channels) has evolved. In 2022, Instagram entered the video-first revolution and began promoting video content above static images. This update created a higher demand for video content among content makers, brands, influencers, and other platform users. 

You can make the most of the opportunity by implementing best practices into your Instagram video marketing strategy, including: 

• Share user-generated content. Since many users are accustomed to unboxing, how-to, and other user-generated content videos, similar videos can feel familiar and increase trust in your brand. Previously, UGC was only created by users, but brands are now leading the production process in many cases. Take this opportunity to show your audience real-life examples of your products being used and, hopefully, create some social proof! 
• Showcase your products and services. Instagram is a great format to promote your products and services. In fact, many users come to Instagram to search for items, places to visit, and restaurants to eat at, among other things. So, don’t be shy when it comes to highlighting your business — many Instagram users are there looking for them anyway! 
• Stay up to date with Reels trends. Reels are an incredible way to connect with a wider audience on Instagram. By tapping into popular audio, dances, hashtags, or other trends, you can catch users’ attention with a familiar video while using your brand’s creativity to keep them engaged. 

When it comes to Instagram Reels, you can reach your audience through fun and unique videos. Above all, make sure to optimize your visuals so your content stands out on the platform. Audiences see a ton of content every day; make sure yours looks like something they want to see! 

TikTok Video Marketing

But don’t worry — new platforms can be just as powerful. TikTok just got its start in 2016, but it has already become a global favorite. 

Many people are under the impression the platform only has teenagers and young adults, but the platform has users of all ages. If you’re in the U.S., it’s best to target folks who are roughly 45 and under, as they make up the majority of the platform’s demographic. 

What are the best practices for reaching TikTok users? 

• Prioritize authenticity. Since the platform leans toward younger users, authenticity is critical. However, it’s important to note that they’re not the only people craving authenticity anymore; older generations have begun to want it, as well. Many users are seeking a genuine experience in life, including with their favorite brands. Take this opportunity to stand out by connecting with your audience in a way most businesses aren’t! 
• Use trending sounds. While there was a period of time when many social media users didn’t turn on their sound, TikTok has changed the game! Trending audio is vital on TikToks and Instagram Reels. Whether you follow the trend exactly or put your own spin on it, the familiar sound can entice viewers and encourage them to watch more of your content. 
• Use storytelling strategies. Many TikTok users are video makers themselves, so they have pretty high expectations for the content they consume. Without engaging storytelling strategies, your audience might keep scrolling past your videos. Avoid this by creating hooks at the beginning of your video to draw viewers in, and then follow through with interesting content. 

When it comes to TikTok video marketing, make sure you follow the trends, use captivating hooks, and follow through with effective, authentic content. 

Many marketers are still skeptical about the platform. It’s relatively new — we get it! But, keep this in mind: The average TikTok user spends a little more than a half hour on the app every day, so the seemingly endless stream of video content seems to be working out pretty well for the platform. Use this time as an opportunity to meet your audience where they already are spending time! 

YouTube Video Marketing

Part social media, part educational platform, part search engine — no matter how you measure it, YouTube is an incredible platform. As more people continue watching more video content, YouTube has grown in popularity, and it’s likely to continue growing! 

What are some YouTube best practices for video marketing? 

• Share educational videos. Many people head to YouTube when they want to learn something. From changing a tire to how wine is made, users search the platform for educational videos every day. No matter your industry, you can teach your YouTube audience about your products, services, business history, and more. 
• Inspire social proof. People want to know why they should buy your product and, often, this is most successfully done when other people show them. UGC or UGC-like content is critical on YouTube, as it feels familiar to the content from influencers and other makers on YouTube. These videos can inspire social proof, which occurs when someone is more likely to try a product because they saw someone else trying it (and enjoying it) first. 
• Promote your brand’s values. What values does your brand have? While this might not be the first theme to come to mind when you think of video marketing, it’s becoming increasingly important. Consumers want to know more about the brands they’re spending money with, including what values they have and the organizations they support. Authentically showcasing your brand’s values can connect your brand with your audience while providing them with the information they want to know! 

YouTube video marketing is an incredibly powerful tool to utilize in your marketing strategies. From educational videos to values-based ads, your business has endless opportunities to create engaging content for the platform. 

Snapchat Video Marketing

Created in 2011, Snapchat has been a popular social media network among younger people for years — and its popularity still stands. With over 360 million daily active users (DAUs), Snapchat is a great social media platform to reach your audience. 

Most photos and videos on the platform are built to only last a short amount of time, making Snapchat posts a quick, full-screen way to connect. Snapchat Stories can stay up for 24 hours, providing a longer ephemeral experience. No matter which format you use, the platform was created to encourage users to check back frequently so they don’t miss out. No FOMO over here! 

How can you reach people on Snapchat? 

• Focus on authenticity. Similar to TikTok, authenticity is essential on Snapchat. After all, that’s nearly the basis of the platform. With a simple camera (which now has more features) as the opening screen, Snapchat encourages users to take a photo or video of the moment occurring right in front of them. When using Snapchat for video content marketing, it’s important to keep this in mind and use authenticity within your videos. 
• Use a clear CTA. If you utilize video ads, Story ads, or commercials on Snapchat, your CTA will be supported with an arrow at the bottom of the screen. Due to this format, it’s habitual for users to move on to the next piece of content. So, give your viewers a clear CTA and an enticing reason to swipe up instead! 
• Use custom filters and lenses. If you remember the original Snapchat filters (you know, the ones that made us all look like cute dogs and gave us flower crowns) you’ll agree with me when I say: Snapchat’s visual features have evolved. While those filters are still around (seriously!), the effects on the platform reflect the current technological advances — and allow your business to use them to reach customers. Between Snapchat filters and custom lenses, you can create unique and interactive marketing techniques to connect customers with your brand. 

If you have a younger audience, Snapchat video marketing can help you connect with them through unique and creative content. When utilizing the platform, make sure to take advantage of the augmented and virtual reality features available. These help your business stand out while creating an interactive experience for your potential customers. 

Pinterest Video Marketing

Though Pinterest might not be the first platform to come to mind when you think about video marketing, it’s an effective tool for many businesses. With visual search features and curated boards, Pinterest is an incredible way to creatively showcase your products, services, and business through video for content marketing. 

What are some Pinterest best practices? 

• Center your products. Many Pinterest users are there because they’re looking for something. Whether it’s inspiration (we’ll get into that in a minute) or a specific product, they’re often surfing the platform with a specific intention. By centering your products in your video marketing, you’ll be able to catch the attention of people looking for something similar — and hopefully entice them to click on your website. 
• Promote action. Since many Pinterest users have a specific intention when using the platform, make your CTA clear. Whether you’re inviting them to download a resource or read a blog post, ensure your copy is concise and encourages them to take action. 
• Design for inspiration. Inspiration is vital on Pinterest. From fashion to gift guides to wedding planning (and everything in between), many people come to the platform for ideas. When crafting your content, make sure it’s well-designed, aesthetically pleasing, and creative. 

In some cases, Pinterest video marketing is an underutilized tool. Many teams leave it out of marketing strategies, but it can be effective for businesses in tons of industries. If you use Pinterest as an opportunity to focus on user interests and inspiration, you’ll be able to connect with your audience. 

Video Marketing Examples

It can be hard to find the right inspiration for your video content, but don’t worry — we’re here to help. Let’s dive into five video marketing examples:

MNTN

This MNTN advertisement is a great example of how an intriguing hook can get your audience’s attention. I mean, who doesn’t want to know why there’s a robot sitting on the couch watching TV? By leading with this unusual image, MNTN is betting its audience will stick around long enough to find out. 

This video marketing advertisement is also successful because they clearly know their target audience. MNTN understands they are speaking to marketers, and this knowledge about their audience has informed their language and value propositions mentioned within the ad. 

Showing a familiar face doesn’t hurt, either. By having MNTN Chief Creative Officer Ryan Reynolds star in the video, the ad encourages social proof and trust within the brand. 

Overall, this live-action MNTN video ad is an incredible way to connect with your audience in a humorous way, while still focusing on the functionality of your product. 

Rumpl

Rumpl knows who their key audience is — and they’re not afraid to show it. The brand uses adventure-focused storytelling in its video marketing to engage people who use its products for camping and other outdoor activities. 

But, they still throw in ordinary moments for people who may be interested, but not so adventurous. Whether you’re staying at home or sleeping in a tent, Rumpl makes sure everyone knows the products are useful for countless experiences. 

Rumpl also uses video marketing as an opportunity to showcase its sustainability initiatives. At the end of the video, they include B Corporation, 1% for the Planet, and Climate Neutral logos to let current and potential customers know they are an environmentally friendly brand. Since consumers are consistently becoming more conscious about spending their money on brands that share their values, this is a great opportunity to connect with their audience. 

Through this live-action video, Rumpl highlights its products, while also showing its audience they understand who they are and what they need through real-life use cases. 

Bolt

We’ve all been there: sitting on our couch, teary-eyed while listening to “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan as photos of sad and injured animals scroll across our TV. Even if you haven’t been there, you’re likely familiar with the phenomenon. 

At least, that’s what Bolt is betting on with this ad, featuring McLachlan and abandoned shopping carts. In order to promote a one-click checkout product, they’ve created a video that already feels familiar to much of their target audience. They’ve even included sad-looking stuffed animals, paying homage to her previous advertisements. 

In addition to these familiar pieces of video marketing, Bolt adds information about abandoned digital shopping carts, which is a significant conversion opportunity for their potential clients. At the end of the video, they utilize a concise CTA. This also helps their audience know exactly what to do next to learn more information. 

Through a combination of humor, statistics, and familiar elements, Bolt creates an interesting and unique video for content marketing, while still providing customers with the information they need about the product. 

Replacements

By opening with a well-decorated dining table, younger audiences might initially feel like this video ad isn’t for them. But, Replacements does a fantastic job of reframing the situation and encouraging younger generations to continue the tradition. 

This video stars a relatable actor using Replacements pieces to create a stunning dining room experience, which can catch the attention of younger audiences. Plus, mentioning the importance of family traditions allows this video to create an emotional connection with the audience. Through this unique connection, more consumers might be inclined to purchase products and enjoy this experience with their family members. 

Overall, this Replacements ad is a great example of how to connect with people who may not think they’re not the right fit for the products. By creating a connection with younger audiences, this brand is able to connect with people who otherwise might have skipped the ad or turned their attention elsewhere. 

1Password

What can we say? We can’t stay away from Ryan Reynolds for long. 

In this 1Password video ad, Ryan literally bursts through the door with news about 1Password — but (thankfully) the Wrexham team already knows about it. Still, Ryan briefly discusses the benefits, providing consumers with more information about the brand. 

If you take a look at the Wrexham jerseys in the ad, you’ll see a shoutout to Ryan’s other business, Aviation Gin. By using different elements throughout the video relating to both Wrexham and Aviation Gin, this video ad creates a familiar experience for many different consumers. This sense of familiarity is key to creating trust within the brand. If you’ve used one of these products and had a good experience, why not try another one? 

This 1Password ad is a classic combination of humor, information, and familiarity, which drives results for brands of all sizes. 

Video Content Marketing at Scale

When it comes to video marketing, the stakes are higher than ever before. 

Between social media, CTV, OOH advertising, and other outlets, brands can never have enough video marketing creative. But, the traditional video process makes it difficult to create at scale. In the past, this process has been costly, time-consuming, and difficult for small business video marketing teams to achieve. 

At QuickFrame, we don’t believe this should be the case. Video marketing is the core of everything we do, and we believe high-quality video for content marketing should be accessible to businesses of all sizes, for all objectives. 

So, we created a robust end-to-end video production platform to change the game. From awareness to acquisition (and every other goal), the QuickFrame platform connects you with top makers and production teams who are ready to deliver high-performing video built for every channel, audience, and campaign. 

Plus, our video content is always backed with exclusive performance data. This helps to ensure your ad stands out against the competition, connects you with your audience, and drives performance. 

Ready to get started? Contact us today. 

Video Marketing Content: Final Thoughts

In today’s digital world, video content marketing is the most effective way of reaching your audience. It can help you connect with your audience in a way that’s entertaining and effective, while providing you with actionable, data-driven insights. 

As more people tune in across the globe, video for content marketing will only become more critical in your overall strategy. Whether through social media, CTV, or another format, video will continue to help your business connect with customers through a deeper, more engaging experience. 

The bottom line is: if you’re ready to effectively promote your business, it’s time to create video marketing content.