TYPES OF VIDEO CONTENT

A Brand Story video helps your audience understand what you do, how you do it and why you do it. Typically positioned on websites and official channels it represents your brands mission, vision, values and beliefs. These type of videos help build trust, loyalty and create engagement by showcasing your business and how it was created.

An explainer video is often created with 2D and 3D graphics and typically explains a problem and then offers a solution. These are great for organisations that don’t want to use talent or actors but need to convey a message and how they are a solution provider. For example, Jimmy was looking for a video production agency to film his explainer video, he had ideas but didn’t know how to film it. He found Refresh Films who took him through the video production process and created an amazing video his audience loved.

Training and Development videos are used by many organisations to quickly and consistently teach what you need to know, why you’re learning it and then step by step show you the process to follow to deliver a desired outcome. Video site inductions are a commonly created form of training video, with many contractors coming on site it’s important for facility managers to ensure each and every person has had the same safety briefing and understand site specific conditions that may affect contractors work. Training videos are designed to improve efficiency that may otherwise be a repetitive process and prone to misunderstanding.

A highlights video shows off what can be expected of a experience or event. This type of video is typically used for marketing purposes and does it exactly what it says – highlights the benefits of going. Event or experience highlight videos are very popular and are often used for promotion of the event for the following period they operate, they may include testimonials of previous attendees, short clips of the experience, guest speakers or famous presenters who might be there and so on.

A testimonial video is an excellent way of building trust with your potential clients. Usually set up in an interview format an existing client will be filmed talking about their great experience with your product or service, describing the problem or issue they had and how your business helped them overcome it. Coupled with b-roll or supporting footage / evidence the testimonial video offers a more personalised approach, like a friend recommending you instead of being engaged by a sales team member.

A sizzle reel or showreel is in some ways similar to a highlights reel, however they are typically showcasing your biggest achievements to date rather than one particular event or experience. A builder might use a sizzle reel to show off their biggest builds, a lighting supplier might show off the largest or most creative lighting solutions they provided. This helps your audience understand your capabilities and the scale at which you can operate at which helps a decision maker trust that you can deliver.

‘How To’ videos are MASSIVE, how many times have you gone to YouTube and typed in How to… plenty I’m sure, we all do it, and that’s why they’re a great video to create. Fun Fact: A ‘How To’ video was the reason we exist today. These types of videos are often presented in a relaxed but professional manner, they show authority and build trust with your audience and there is a endless range of topics you can create a ‘How To’ video on. It might be something simple like ‘How to tie a knot’ or more complex like ‘How to create an engaging video’. A good way to come up with ideas is think about your clients and their frequently asked questions, there will be one that takes time to explain – record the process, describe the issue, how to fix it and convert it into a ‘How to’!

Not to be confused with advertising media, a promotional video are often used for marketing of new products or services and how they are ‘changing the game’ for consumers. They are designed to show off the features or benefits, often compared to others on the market and how yours is different. Showing how the product or service is used in a story based video helps to build trust, position it and influence a potential customer to take the next step.

If you’re an independant retailer or service provider creating a review video is another excellent way to build trust with your audience and become an authority in your industry. Everyone has an opinion and whether or not everyone agrees with you doesn’t necessarily matter because not everyone is your customer. As a retailer of electronic goods you may want to show your customers a review of new televisions for example, by filming an unbiased review you not only inform your potential or existing customers you’ve showed them you care about their purchase decision and want them to make the best choice possible too. They also rake up plenty of views – especially for new release products or services.

If you’re chasing engagement for your brand, there’s nothing better than an entertainment video. A few great examples of this are Viva La Dirt League (a group of people who worked at the same computer store) who grew their YouTube channel to over 4 million subscribers by creating short skits that depicted the worst client interactions and how they dealt with them (in the imaginary world), the illogical aspects of game and how they would play out in real life and general office mishaps.

An important type of video is the documentary. We film various documentaries often for local council who want to preserve knowledge and experiences of individuals for years to come. These are usually purely for educational purposes, encompassing video footage past and present, historical facts, photographs, references and individual’s recounts. Some examples are stories from Vietnam Veterans or how ‘Rome’ was built.

Hate them or love them, vlogs are a great way to get personal interaction with an audience. Whether you’re exploring a new place, travelling the world or just hanging out a vlog or video log is a shortened recount of a day in the life of…

For business owners this can create insight to the daily activities you go through, how you handle and overcome challenges. It creates a fun and engaging way for audiences to see and feel how you operate. It definitely isn’t for everyone but those who can do it often succeed.

You’ve probably seen plenty of ‘free webinars’ as you scroll through social media pages, they’re becoming more and more popular because they’re so effective at lead generation. Businesses who offer coaching or mentoring services thrive off the webinar video. Typically they are pre-recorded content offering a hook, some free tips or explainer type videos about how the you generated something special that your viewer wants to generate too. Potential clients sign up, watch the webinar and you are positioned as a leader in the field – after providing the free content you offer further paid services for those who want to further their experience with you.

Think TED talks, if you’re presenting at a conference or similar event, record it, share it, create trust and engagement with an audience that couldn’t attend. You are the expert on that topic and that’s why you’ve been selected to talk about it publicly.

User generated content is somewhat similar to a testimonial video, except that the video is captured by the user of your product or service. This brings a new level of authenticity and generates engagement within online communities. Here’s how it works, you have a new product, you choose a select range of influencers that align with your brand, send them a free sample product or request the content for monetary reward. They create the footage for you and you promote it. Some examples of this might be reaction shots of taste testing a new beverage in the city, a skin care brand might share a new product with a model and have them talk about it on their page/channel, and probably the most successful user generated content is by GoPro, who pick a select range of influencers, send them on the trip of a life time and have them capture the experience on the GoPros, create videos and get their audience to vote for them.

An interview video is exactly that, it’s a back and forth conversation in an interview setting where you and your interviewee talk about a particular topic of interest to your audience. It may be related to your industry, for example in the solar industry you might have a conversation with a supplier representative about new regulations coming into the industry and how they will tackle it. Positioning yourself and the supplier as authorities / experts and offering first hand information to other professionals.

We’ve all seen podcast videos on social media, they offer an engaging way to promote or discuss a particular topic, designed to get audience interactions on topics that may be complex or hilarious.

Pain point videos are somewhere inbetween a how to video and a review video, they’re highly targeted and focus on how you fix an issue. They are very authority based and are designed to really attract specific audiences. “GET 10 NEW CUSTOMERS TODAY” or “FIX YOUR BRANDING NOW” are some example titles, in essence they target a very particular audience with a very specific problem. The video is filmed in a way that triggers a pain point in the audience which gets them to watch your video in the hope you solve their issue. This often leads to some tips or problem solving examples that lead to further paid services.

A product tip video is simply a short form video that shows a not so visible feature of a product or service that benefits the audience. There are plenty of features in the latest iPhone or Android phones, by simply showing your audience some slightly hidden feature or short cut you’ve just earned yourself a viewer and possibly a subscriber. You might leverage off another brand help you by showing the audience a great way to use a product for something it may not be intended to be used for. Think of a ‘TIL’ – today I learned.

The product demo is a tried and tested way to build audiences by showing them what they can expect when using your product or service. Think of an unboxing video, you go through the process start to finish of getting the product, opening the packaging, putting it together and using the product for its intended purpose. Now your potential clients have an idea of what will happen for them if they also buy the product.

Hiring the right people at your organisation can be expensive and even more so if they’re not fit for the role. A recruitment video a great way of attracting the right talented candidate for the role. These videos often begin with a tour of the office environment, have some staff interviewed and explain their experiences working for your organisation, show off the corporate culture, highlight employee journeys, diversity and information about the role you’re hiring for.

Reinforcing your position as a market leader can be done through creating a company values and culture video, similar to a brand story this type of video showcases how your company structure works, what the company values, your environmental goals, your contribution to community, how you are being inclusive. Often this involves many interviews with each person backing up the statements made by the previous interviewee to form a collective message.

Behind the scenes videos are a great way to give stakeholders and other interested parties a look into ‘the making of’ whatever you do. Putting together a montage of footage captured from various people involved or even by professional videographers gives a taste of the hard work that goes into major projects in construction and industry, movies and other large, long processes.

An experience video is exactly what it states, usually filmed professionally in a point of view style these videos gives a potential client a glimpse into a special experience. Live Wire Park is a great example of this where they allow their customers to film their experience walking above the tree top adventure course, flying along zip lines and in large trampolines, generating new business for them.