Video is more than just recorded audio and visual information. It’s about approach and presentation, creating emotion, and connecting with your audience. Effective business videos should deliver an experience that is clear about any benefits and calls to action. Ideally, your videos are more intuitive, more personal, and interactive.
Making the decision to include video in your marketing strategy is certainly a first step. The second step we discussed in our previous post, “Your Video Marketing Strategy is only as Good as Your Platform” boils down to determining which platform (or platforms) you will leverage. The next step is defining which types of videos you are going to produce.
Online Video Research
Business offering appliances, autos, and other high-ticket durable goods all have one thing in common today – their customers do extensive online research before they buy. And as you might have guessed, video consumption during the research phase is massive.
Combining video with research gives customers the information they require, and the convenience they desire. For retailers, video provides a terrific opportunity to reach, attract, and engage shoppers. And when implemented properly, video can also provide exceptional data about your shoppers – data you can utilize to create an even more enhanced experience.
What are your customers looking for? Do they need up close views of your products? Information that can empower them? Access to unbiased reviews or reports?
All of these questions help understand your customer’s needs and, by defining what they need you will at least have a starting point for what types of videos could deliver.
Six Video Types for Dealers and Other Retailers
There are many different kinds of videos that can and need to be made, with various styles and ways of presenting information. For example, here are ideas for auto dealers specifically, but which other retailers with similar products could consider as well:
- Value Proposition – Videos that answer the question “Why should someone do business with us?”
- Educational / Informative – Clear-cut information about a given product, service or news that relates to the industry. These videos aren’t about selling so much as establishing yourself as a trusted source.
- Walkaround – What’s the one thing usually missing from shopping online? Being able to see and evaluate the product. Walkaround videos give customers the chance to get a truly close-up view including small details.
- Customer Testimonials – The best form of advertising is through word of mouth.
- Service Diagnosis – Similar to educational or informative videos, these give client and customers the chance to troubleshoot on their own.
- Live Stream – Podcasts, interviews and streaming events invite people to interact in real time.
Overview of Video Types
Understanding what each video type is able offer makes it a lot easier to see what video can do for your marketing strategy. And once you know what type of video you want to use, that also makes it easier to dive into the details. Things like page setup, supplementary links, and developing an online persona to flesh out your marketing strategy.
In future posts, we will take a closer look at these different video types, and how to approach them. If you are subscribed to the blog then you will receive these posts as they are published, or you can enroll with the Video Marketing for Auto Retail Free Online Video Course and access all 12 videos in the series right now.
Overview of Free Online Video Course for Auto Retail
Fun Fact: Nearly 75% of shoppers prefer video to text for branded marketing and, according to Cisco data, internet videos aimed directly at consumers is expected to grow by about 30% by 2021. (source)
That’s the basis for why rooting your website in video will engage from the minute someone lands on your website.
In this free online video course are 12 videos ranging from 3-5 minutes each, allowing you to watch only the ones you want, when you want. The course is broken into 4 sections:
- To Video or Not to Video
- Types of Videos to Produce
- Equipment and Technology
- Hosting, Distribution, and Data
