Today we’re going to have a look at the different types of marketing videos you can use for marketing and content creation.

With so much talk about video in the online marketing space, I thought it would be good to go over the most common different types of marketing videos you can use for content marketing and video marketing campaigns. Since I know you haven’t been living under a rock in the past year, I’m sure you’re also interested in finding out more about how to use video to grow your audience, your membership website, your user base, your sales. Video is growing and growing and let’s face it, we never receive an education to prepare us for this video revolution. We need to figure things for ourselves.

So, let’s start before the internet changes everything again:

Live Action Videos (1)

If you film still or moving objects, that are real, you’re creating a live action video. They can involve actors, props, sets, secondary cameras, special effects, etc. ‘Live action’ is the name of any video or movie which doesn’t use animation. In the movie-making industry, they only use the term when there’s a chance people might think it’s an animation because of the film studio or because of the topic. They say ‘101 Dalmatians live action movie’ because you’d normally think it will be an animation. Live action is the default.

Now, getting back to our own issues, live-action videos for online marketing can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred thousand dollars. It all depends on your script.

In industries in which trust is super important (doctors, banking), as well as when preparing a product for national launch, you do need to show some real faces or the actual product in customers’ hands.

Kinetic Typography Videos (2)

Kinetic typography videos are super useful when you need to create a longer video but don’t afford any stock footage or to hire actors. All you need is a voice recording that will become the voiceover and your video editor can start work. The example I love using for this type is this YouTube video for Citizen Cope’s ‘Let the Drummer Kick’. Just because you’re only using typography, it doesn’t mean that your video won’t be engaging.

What I think this would be best used for this year is for transforming 2-3 minute clips from your podcasts into engaging videos for your YouTube channel, but there’s are a lot more things you could use kinetic typography for in your videos, so let your imagination run with it.

2D Animation Videos (3)

They’re a great solution when you don’t feel comfortable in front of a camera or when you don’t have the budget or the space to create a live action video. They can be used for many things, from explaining how a service or product works, to detailing what a position you’re hiring for involves. Most of the animations you see online are 2D because they’re vector based and, thus, less expensive. The animators can just animate the characters and not draw them up, again and again, the way it happens with traditional animation. The original Powerpuff Girls series or the videos of CGP Grey are an example of 2D animation. Toy Story is an example of 3D animation (aka computer animation). Disney’s original Beauty and the Beast, as well as the Tom & Jerry cartoons, are examples of traditional animation.

If you need a video for your website that could save your visitors from reading a long text to figure out what you do or what you offer, you can take 2D animation into consideration. You’ll surely find a style that would work with your branding and desired message.

Video Infographics (4)

Video infographics are becoming some of the hottest video options in B2B marketing and journalism. They can deliver information in just a couple of seconds or minutes and they keep the audience engaged because things keep changing on the screen. If you have stats you want to show off or leads to convert into buyers through the power of hard facts, you should definitely have this on your list of possible options.

Trailer Style Videos (5)

This is another of the different types of marketing videos you can use to emulate the style of Hollywood movie trailers. They’re short, action-packed, designed to spark people’s interest and stir up their curiosity. They’re a good choice if you want to get people talking about your company or product before you’re ready to launch your product or website. Usually, all you’d need for a good trailer style video are a couple of stock videos, a decent script, and a good voiceover. You can use your own voice or hire a voice actor on Fiverr – and even hire someone on Fiverr to make your own.  To get these done just go to Fiverr and search for ‘Trailer Video’ and you’ll find lots of people ready to go to work for you.

Teaser Videos (6)

Teaser videos are what happens when you take a trailer-style video and you break in down into 10 videos. They can be 3 to 20 seconds long and always end with a date announcement like ‘something big’s coming this June 10th’. Their content can be anything from a part of a logo to a blurred image of a product, from people’s reaction to the new product or service to fragments of testimonials.

If you have a big captive audience and you’re about to launch a product or service designed specifically for them, you can use teaser videos to get them talking, speculating, but if you don’t have your own audience and little money for promoting the actual product, it’s better to just focus on promoting the real deal at the time of your launch.

Screencast Videos (7)

A screencast is just a video capture of what is on your computer (or phone) screen that has a narration – someone explaining what is happening on the screen. Every Lynda.com tutorial is a screencast. If you’re selling software, I don’t think there’s a way you can get away without doing a screencast video. Haha. They’re super useful in showing people what to do inside a specific computer program, how to solve a tech issue, how to use a web-based app.

In the marketing software niche, they’re usually used for product walkthroughs but also for product reviews. In fact, I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of my screencasts, haha.

Live Video (8)

This type is kind of new, and it really took off with the launch of Periscope and Meerkat (RIP). Now we can go live from most of the social media app on our phones. A live video is a great tool for real-time updates, connecting with your community, and creating content based on specific events as they happen.

And remember, just because it’s live, it doesn’t mean it has to be 100% spontaneous. You can have a script, or a few notes, a general idea of what you want to achieve with your video and what you want to show or talk about for your audience. And also, just because you recorded live, it doesn’t mean you can’t use your FB live or Periscope videos for evergreen content afterwards – it’s still video content, and hey, maybe you had 50 people watching it live, but you can have 20,000,000 who watched it in the year after.

Stop-Motion Videos (9)

There are people out there who won’t be stopped by the fact that they don’t own a video camera to post a video online. If you have a photo camera, you can get artsy and create a stop motion video. Big advertising agencies use them even when they have all the tools they need to create something far more complex because a stop-motion video is a fresh and innovative one.

You can use stop-motion videos to promote physical products or virtual ones or to post a message in a format that will grab people’s attention. Check out these examples here, here, here, and here and get inspired.

Explainer Videos (10) 

Explainer videos usually start from a single question.

• How does it work?
• What is this new product?
• What should I know before buying this product?
• What should I expect to happen to my body once I start this weight loss program?
• How do I use this service to get goods delivered to my home?

You create a video to answer a specific question and you can film yourself, have actors involved, or use animation. But you should strive to make it as engaging as possible, even if it’s a service unsubscribing you from unwanted emails or a financial tracking service.

These are super useful for populating your YouTube channel and getting both views and visits to your website. They’re also great if you’re selling a service or product that people need to be educated about, and you should definitely have them on the homepage of your website or on dedicated landing pages.

Whiteboard Videos (11)

Whiteboard videos are great when you want to transform a voice recording in a video while keeping your audience with their eyes glued to the screen. You can use them for explaining a new concept or a business model or even to deliver your online course content. You can use them on your website, in your email marketing, or just on your YouTube channel. Either way, keep in mind that you should have a script before talking to an illustrator and an animator or before starting to create it on your own using web-based apps.

Slideshows (12)

These are the easiest to make. You just need photos (and they can even be stock photos) and (if you want it) a voiceover. Or they can just be slides with text on them. Use them when you need to create more video content that you can afford to send to an animator or video editor. Or use the text ones on Facebook where people don’t usually play the videos with sound. I like it when people upload their podcasts to YouTube and use a slideshow with some pictures to make it easier for you to recognize the characters or products or places they’re talking about on the show.

Promotional Videos (13)

These are ads and you can create them in 4,574 different ways. It really depends on what you’re selling, to whom you’re selling, what your marketing strategy is, etc. You can basically pick any of the types above and transform it into a promotional video. The recipe is quite simple – what are you selling? why should people buy it? where can they get their hands on it? You can also use these for promoting special sales, events or anything that’s of importance for your company and brand.

Testimonial Videos (14)

Ah, one of the best tools for boosting your sales – the good old testimonial, now in video format. When filming people for your testimonials, make sure you’re respecting local regulations on testimonials. Also, make them authentic. You can keep them sounding less-awkward if you’re asking people something off camera and record their answer. Having them read their thoughts off a paper will make the testimonial sound inauthentic. What to ask them? Simple, things like:

• What did you thought about the product after you’ve used it the first time?
• How would you describe your experience of working with my company to a close friend?
• What do you think other people could achieve using this product you enjoyed?

You should always add the testimonials to your website as they are social proof, but you can also include them in your emails and social media posts from time to time.

Case Studies (15)

Case studies are 1-2 minute long ‘stories’ about the effectiveness of a product or service or advertising campaign. They tell viewers what that situation was before the use or the product or service and end with the situation after its use. The more dramatic the effect, the better the case study. You can use these on your website, on the homepage or on a dedicated page, and you can even post them on Facebook and promote them because they’re a super effective way to promote a product or service.

So there you have it.  We’ve covered a lot of different types of marketing videos and If you’ve made it this far on the page, you must be really interested in video creation and video marketing and you’re just the person I want to talk to – let me know in the comments which of these types of videos do you think would be the most cost-effective for new online marketers and business owners.

What was your experience with video creation?  What do you mostly use?  And why?