You know, considering how powerful video marketing is, its potential is wasted on so many businesses, in almost every industry.

Every year, companies invest billions of dollars in creating bland explainer videos and ads, while so many other powerful content formats go unnoticed.

And then those same people say they never got any results from using video! Here’s a hint: you’re doing it wrong.

To differentiate your business from the competition and communicate with your target market powerfully, you have to ‘cast a wider net’ and use other video marketing formats outside of advertising and explainer videos.

Today’s post is about 3 distinctive, and very powerful – forms of video marketing that you can adapt to your business to increase your sales and grow your bottom line.

Not all of them have to do with whiteboard video animations, but hey – we’re not a blog about video, we’re a business blog. And these are too effective to ignore.

Let’s dive in!

Boost Sales

1. Video testimonials and case studies

Testimonials are perfect for when you need to demolish a potential customer’s objections and provide that extra nudge to convert them. Exposing people to glowing reviews by someone similar to them is a wonderful persuasion tool.

Recording said glowing reviews on video makes it even more compelling. It’s visual, you can see the person talking, there are cadence and rhythm to what they’re saying – a video testimonial is uncommon, genuine, and therefore hard to ignore.

Case studies work in a similar fashion, but there’s a significant difference between the two. For starters, they are more extensive. And unlike with testimonials, the words don’t have to come directly from the customer.

While testimonials prove to the customer that a product or service has worked for someone like them, case studies establish expectations about what the results will look like.

Both testimonials and case studies have their uses, however, and both work astonishingly well in video format. Here are just a few things you could do with them:

  • Put them in your sales copy to overcome objections.
  • Insert case studies and testimonials into longer videos.
  • Convert your written case studies into videos, whiteboard or otherwise.
  • Put 1-2 standout testimonials or case studies on your About page.
  • Use video case studies and/or testimonials when pitching your product or service to someone, like a big client.

As far as proof elements go, both testimonials and case studies can, ‘single-handedly’, boost your conversions to a significant degree. Don’t neglect them.

Tip: A great format for a case study is a combination of video and text – for instance, when you create a separate page dedicated to one customer’s success story. A page like that is also a great place to put a lead magnet.

2. Screencast tutorials, teardowns, and demos

Have you ever heard of the #1 screenwriting principle – “show, don’t tell”? It applies equally well to basically all your customer-facing communication.

Want to teach your target market something? Instead of writing an in-depth post about it, you may want to record a screencast tutorial showing them how it works.

Similarly, let’s say you’re selling a software product. In that case, a video demo will work a lot better as a hands-on learning and onboarding experience than, say, a bunch of knowledge base articles nobody will ever read.

Tip: Teardowns have a special place in this ‘lineup’ of video marketing strategies. They are an excellent way to provide some free value, and seriously boost your brand awareness – especially if you sell services. For example, if you run a marketing consultancy, and want to impress potential clients, you could do a teardown of another company’s advertisement, or their website copy. One great example (that doesn’t even have to do with video) is the teardowns by Samuel Hulick, which he used to make a name for himself as a UX design expert.

3. User-generated video

If only you could get your customers to produce marketing videos for you, right? Think about how awesome and care-free life would be then!

Jokes aside, this question is only partly tongue-in-cheek. User-generated content, especially when it comes to marketing, is an extremely effective way to promote your product or service.

And the best part is, you don’t need to do anything to create it!

Well, that’s not entirely true: you will need to entice your target customers to create the content, first.

The best, most reliable way to accomplish that is by hosting a giveaway, or doing a contest. Everyone loves prizes, and many people enjoy a challenge. If it results in great video content for your marketing, all the better!

Tip: As a cross between the content you create as a brand, and user-generated content, you can partner with someone famous to create the content for you. Music bands do it all the time, teaming up with film directors to make their music videos. Here’s a more relevant example: Ace & Everett, a company selling socks (you heard us!) did it by partnering with Humza Deas, a famous urban photographer to produce some stunning and engaging content. Sure, it’s not video, but the lessons are the same!

Video marketing is a terrific way to promote your product or service – but only if you think out of the box and use the full potential of the medium. We hope that the 3 unusual (but highly effective) formats we’ve described will help you look at video from a different angle, and use it in new, imaginative ways to grow your business. Enjoy!

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