Essential sales and marketing videos your team has to make

Video Selling can help you boost sales by connecting you with prospects and customers in more effective ways, and help your marketing stand out in the text dominated content world we're in.

And video is becoming more important.

But if you've never done video before, it can all be a bit confusing. What type of video should you make? What are the different types of video you can make? And do different types and styles of video work best at different stages of the sales cycle?

Well, wonder no-more.

In this blog we'll reveal the essential sales and marketing videos your team needs in their wheelhouse to ensure you can give your audience the information they need, at the time they need it, in the style that works best.

Deciding what type of video to use

Deciding what type of video you need to use comes down to two things:

• What information does your audience want?
• What's the best way of giving them that information?

What type of videos can I make?

There are a few basic video types that are suited to different audience needs.

• Explainer video: These are useful for explaining products or services in an easy to understand way, and to increase awareness. High level topics like "5 essentials to creating an effective video" or "common video mistakes" fit well into the explainer video format.
• How-to: Step-by-step tutorials are effective for educating your audience and can prove particularly useful for solving specific customer problems. Anyone who has ever watched a YouTube guide to solve a problem around the house knows the value of a how-to video.
• Case studies: In B2B particularly, case studies are an essential piece of content in the sales process. They're a chance for you to prove to prospects that the work you're pitching them has worked for others. But usual case studies are a bit dry. Instead, try and get your customers in front of a camera and let them tell other people how great you are.
• Promotional videos: If you have an event or webinar coming up, it's standard practice to send emails or write social media posts plugging the event and trying to raise awareness. With due respect to the writers of these posts - it's pretty boring. A video on the other hand can be a much more interesting way of promoting your event - particularly if your guest speakers get involved and hype your event for you.
• Interviews and thought leadership videos: Everybody wants to be a thought leader and typically the way of doing that was to write long, detailed, opinionated articles which you'd shop around to the relevant B2B press or publish directly on your website. Now we're not saying that isn't a good way of doing it. But if you have a good piece of thought leadership (like an industry report) consider getting people on camera to discuss the results in person.
• Webinars: Digital events have become a lot more popular lately (depending when you're reading this guide you'll understand what we mean). But webinars and online discussions are an effective, cost reducing way of holding events to attract audiences. You can still invite the same people and run the same talks - just in a different format.
• Internal/culture videos: 'Brand personality' has taken off as a concept in the last few years and companies are desperate to get across how great their culture is. Yet so many rely on drab web content telling people how important culture is to them. Imagine how much more realistic that would be if you put your employees on camera and showed everyone what your culture is all about.

But hold on, stay tuned, because there's more.

What style of video can I make - and when should I use them?

Those are the types of video you should create for your library. But what about the styles of video?

Let's dive in and see what video styles you could consider.

• Webcam style videos: This style is excellent for building rapport and opening new conversations; they allow you to show your authenticity, capture initial attention, and deliver a message in a more engaging way than text, and with more context than a cold call. They don't have to be perfect takes, but videos of 60-90 seconds in length are ideal to get your message out while retaining attention. Use these as a first touch point as a companion to your first email. It's also a great way to introduce yourself on social media, to accompany a connection request or to follow up from a social thread.
• Screen shares: A great option if you're running demos or presenting ideas to multiple people (especially remotely). Consider sending videos that walk through presentations, slide decks, technical documentation, or other static content to highlight important points in an engaging way. These videos can also be really useful to recap following meetings to expand on points or give extra information. 
• Polished content: These are great when you need to give a more professional feel to your content, or for bigger set piece videos, like company culture videos. A quick webcam video is a great tool at times, but you need to mix it up and have some polished pieces in your locker too to promote your brand in the best way. They can also be useful if you're creating longer, scripted demos when you're perhaps explaining things in more detail or for your case study videos, when quality is particularly important.

If you want to learn more about what makes a great video, how video fits into your sales and marketing activity, and how you can measure the impact and ensure you're getting ROI from video, download our video for sales guide below: