Not so long ago, businesses would rarely use more than one type of video.  This would be the company video, a promotional film that was all about themselves and was often a little conceited too. This video would be shown everywhere possible, at presentations, exhibitions and on a constant loop in the company reception.

These days, with video most commonly shown on the internet, it is no longer enough to use one style of video to do it all.  Corporate video has evolved and the company promotional video is now commonly called a brand video.  You may have read my earlier article where I listed the brand video as one of the 7 effective ways to use video in your business marketing. It is still an essential element of a business’s video marketing but the content and structure need to be different if the video is to attract and engage your target audience.

So what is a brand video?  Read on to find out.

Brand video overview

A brand video is perfect content for raising awareness and positioning your brand in the market. This ‘top of funnel content’ should be targeted at an audience that is early in their customer journey and needs to be created with an emotional connection in mind.

People buy with emotion and then justify their purchase with logic, so an “awareness video” such as your brand video is about encouraging people to connect emotionally with your company. You must do this before asking them to buy.

Tell the story of your business and why you do what you do. Show potential customers that you have the answers they need and that you understand them. Give an overview of your products and services. This is your chance to introduce your brand.

Why create a brand video?

The brand video is powerful content for your business. It introduces potential customers to the personal story behind the brand and is a great way to showcase why you’re the best choice for your audience.

Your brand video is a fantastic way to bring the personality and ethos of your business to your target customers in a format that people are most able to retain.

This is core video content that plays an important role in many video marketing strategies.

What should a brand video include?

As we’ve seen above, a brand video needs to tell the story of your business, the how and why it came into being. There are many different ways that you can choose to do this, depending on the story you want to tell.

Typically, the duration of these videos is between two and three minutes. Long enough to tell your story, differentiate you from the competition and engage potential customers without being overwhelming.

If possible, try to include one or two client testimonials within your brand video. Video testimonials help people see other people like themselves, which helps them relate, to picture themselves in the other person’s place. Therefore, a client testimonial video can be an extremely powerful tool in converting sceptical leads. There needs to be a method of gaining your prospect’s trust to convince them to engage further with your business, which is why video testimonials are so powerful.

I’m a big fan of Donald Miller’s Storybrand and if you’re familiar with his content then you will already know that the most successful brand stories are those that recognise the ‘hero’ is not the brand. Instead, we must position the client or customer in the hero role with the brand, business or product serving the role of the guide. At the awareness stage in the customer journey, your audience doesn’t really care about you.  They are focused on themselves and their own problems which they are seeking a solution for.  Acknowledge your audience’s problems, provide a solution through your products or services and offer to guide them to a successful resolution.

The structure of your brand video

Your brand video or ‘story’ needs to have a clear emotional hook that grabs the audience’s attention with something that they really care about. This can be a visual, textual or aural hook, whatever will best serve your story and draw the viewer in.

Often, the emotional hook will reflect the ‘pain’ or problem the customer faces. You should emphasise what’s at stake from the outset.

From this pain comes desire – the desire for a better life, a resolution, the realisation of a dream. This is what sets your brand story in motion.

The video should set up the positive outcomes that can be reached by working with your brand, product or service. Allow your customers to really connect with that and want the same outcomes for themselves.

This is where your brand comes into its own, guiding and leading the customer through their journey of transformation and success.

With your business by their side, how will the customer’s new normal look? Your brand story should clearly highlight the win, the possibilities of a changed life that come from engaging with your brand.

Finally, a soft call to action inviting viewers to learn more or engage further works well and can be either explicitly mentioned or more subtly encouraged through the words and action on the screen. This could be asking viewers to download a free guide, enter a competition or sign up for a webinar. The action will depend on your video strategy and the overall goals of the business.

Building on your brand story

With your ‘Brand Story’ in place, we recommend creating additional video content that continues the conversation with your prospective customers and moves them through your sales funnel. Examples of such content include ‘Client stories’, ‘How-to’ or ‘Explainer’ videos, ‘FAQs’ and in-depth ‘Services’ videos.

As we can see, brand videos are a powerful communication tool between any business and its customers.

Of course, the content has to be supported by a great video marketing strategy. In other words, you need to know why you’re using video and what your desired outcome is. Get that right and your content will truly resonate with its target audience, turning them from first-time viewers into passionate brand ambassadors.

Developing a strategy for using video in your marketing mix can be confusing if you haven’t worked extensively with video before.

If you want to make video a profitable part of your business, it’s important that you have a video marketing strategy that extends beyond your normal digital marketing or content marketing strategy, and maximises the impact of the videos you get produced.

Don’t know exactly what you need?

Get in touch for some free advice and discover:

• What videos will have the greatest impact on your bottom line
• The best way to have your videos produced, based on your needs and budget
• The video marketing channels that will deliver the greatest reach and engagement for your brand