S2 Ep 9. What type of video should you make?

So you’ve heard that your business needs a video to thrive. Maybe more than one video in fact (more about that in ep 5 – check it out over here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/846682/10251895) 

But what type of video is right for your business? 

This is a question Sue gets asked pretty regularly by clients – and the possibilities really are endless. 

Do you need an overview video? A case study or two? Maybe an entertaining ‘how-to’ video? Or something fun and engaging for social media? What about animation? Or a short documentary? 

Oh my. That’s a long list. But we warned you – the possibilities are endless. 

Here’s the thing though, when it comes to making a video for your brand or businesses, it’s never just as simple as picking a ‘type’ of video, rolling camera and hitting publish. 

To truly figure out what type of video (or videos) you should invest in, you need to ask yourself one short but powerful question: Why? It sounds simple enough but you’d be surprised how many people get stumped by it. 

So before you even start discussing the type of video you’d like to create, make sure you understand why you want to produce that video in the first place. 

It could be to sell your product, build brand awareness, increase your Instagram following or promote your new campaign. Maybe it’s none of the above and that’s ok too. 

But trust Sue on this one– once you work out the why, landing on the right type will be a lot easier. 

If you need a little more guidance you can rest easy – in this episode of Moonshine Moonshot,  Sue breaks down the top three videos she thinks will do wonders for your brand or business.

If you're serious about making great videos,  don't forget to subscribe to our channel. You can do it from the app you're listening on right now! 

And if you're keen to learn more about video types, check out this episode from series 1 of Moonshine Moonshot:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/846682/4692350 

And you can learn more about Moonshine Agency at www.Moonshine.Agency

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LinkedIn Mike Hill  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehillmoonshineagency/
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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

So you've heard that your business needs a video in order to thrive. It's a fantastic asset for your marketing and it's something that you need to consider. And maybe you're also considering making more than one video. But what type of video is right for your business or project? This is a question that I get asked pretty regularly by our clients, and the possibilities really are endless. Do you need an overview video? A case study or two? Maybe an entertaining how-to video or something fun and engaging for social media. But then there's what about animation? And I'm always hearing people say, Do I need a whiteboard video? Or a short documentary? It's just such a long list. And I warned you the possibilities are endless. But here's the thing: when it comes to making a video for your brand or your business, it's never just as simple as picking a type of video, rolling camera, and hitting publish. And I really wish it was that simple and we could answer all your questions in one single go, but it's really not. And to truly figure out what type of video or videos you should invest in, you need to ask yourself one short but powerful question. Why? Told you it was a short question, one word in fact. Why? It sounds simple enough, but you'd be surprised how many people get stumped by it. Why will you make this video? So, before you even get started discussing the type of video you'd like to create, make sure you understand why you want to produce the video in the first instance. Perhaps you're trying to sell a product, build brand awareness, increase your Instagram following, or promote a new campaign. And maybe it's none of those things, and that's something totally different. It doesn't really matter, but trust me, once you work out why you need the video, landing on the right type will be a much easier thing to figure out. So, why am I the one to tell you about this? If you're new to the Moonshine Moonshot podcast, then let me introduce myself. I'm Sue Collins and I've specialized in video production and filmmaking for well over a decade here at Moonshine Agency. I don't want to see boring, poorly crafted videos any more than you do. So to help combat the onslaught of rubbish content being served up on social, I am sharing what I have learned about how to make a great video. And the good news is it's actually not as hard as you might think. Nobody sets out to make boring content, and unfortunately, that is exactly what can happen when you don't have the skills or the information to make your video great. Sometimes just a few small pointers can take something dull and make it shine online, and that's what Moonshine Moonshot is all about, helping you get those small pointers to help you make something really great. Getting back to what today's topic is, which is what type of video should you make. A rule of thumb is that videos fit into one of four categories. They can be funny, inspiring, entertaining, or educational, and within that are all the different types of videos that you can work with. For today's episode, I'm going to break down the top three videos that I think could do wonders for your brand or your business. Let's get into it. The first type of video that I'm going to talk about is the about video. About videos are probably the most common type of video that you'll find out there. They're usually on websites, and probably you would be hard pressed to find a website that didn't have one these days. But about videos can also be used well beyond your website too. They are really great to send to your potential customers or clients, and you can also publish it to your YouTube channel or your company LinkedIn profile. You can definitely add a QR code linking to it the next time you make any kind of print media. So if you create postcards or posters or anything like that, any kind of printed branding really, you can put a QR code on it and voila, it's going to go straight to your video, which is the simplest and quickest way for people to access it. But as a rule, an about video will be longer than something you might scroll past on Facebook or Instagram. Facebook and Instagram are usually well below two minutes in length, often under 60 seconds. But an about video is more likely to be closer to three and often up to five minutes because they need to really create a story for your audience around what you're about. So thinking about about, I feel like I'm saying about a lot, but not all about videos are created equal. And if the about video you create doesn't clearly explain to viewers what your business does, then it's probably not going to leave a big impact. And it's probably not going to leave a great impact if people are left scratching their heads going, I don't really understand what this company does any more now than I did when I first started watching this about video. If that's the case, you've lost that battle. So thinking about an about video is like thinking about how to really clearly and concisely communicate what it is that you do and turn that into a story, and then you're going to create a really interesting video that people are going to want to watch. Most people will go hunting for about videos when they're researching a new company, and you've probably done it yourself once or twice. I know that myself and our team here certainly have everything from looking to find out about a product that's sold by a company to who that company is. And you've also probably watched a couple, only to be left wondering, uh, what is it that that company does? And then you're going to click away and find somebody else. So remember, make sure that your about video actually does talk about what you do. So keep that in mind before you create your own. You never want your about video to leave your audience with more questions than answers, which is why figuring out your why. Remember the first point we talked about? Why are you making this video? It is just so important. Once you've nailed down your why, you can really figure out what your video needs to be. Here we go. It's that word again, about. I think in one of the other episodes we played a drinking game on every time I said a word. Perhaps in this video you could play a drinking game every time I say about, you have to drink. Only then you're probably a bit too drunk to get to the rest of this podcast. So maybe don't do that. I'm gonna move on now. I'm gonna stop rambling and tell you about case study videos. The case study video. Do you ever hear the word case study and think about those boring paragraphs you see under case study tab on organizations' websites? Challenge, solution, outcome, total snooze fest. Maybe you should have played the drinking game to get through this section on case studies. No, don't worry. It's actually not that boring. Case studies can be mind-numbingly boring, and especially that happens when they're written in the tone of a business without any client or customer input. But case studies are incredibly useful at really showing people what you're trying to communicate and what the outcomes could be. So, what's the trick to get people to actually take notice of them? A video, of course. Watching a case study is so much more stimulating than reading a case study because you can dress up a video with so many different things. You can add overlay, you can add graphics and text and narration and actors and all kinds of things, and you can hear testimonies directly from the person giving the case study. So when you share your case study through video, you give your viewers a more behind the scenes taste of your company or brand. And it's also a wonderful way to highlight your company's success or the success your client has achieved with the help of your services. That is actually the best way, the win-win. So I always recommend on-camera interviews with your customers if you can get them to go on camera, because you can walk through the steps your company took to solve that customer's specific problem. You can use stats and figures where applicable, and always, always highlight the benefits that your product or service gave rather than the features. So it's worth noting that a case study video is not an advertisement, not in the traditional sense at least. While they are both market your product and your service, an ad is far more commercially driven and has a clear intent. The why of a commercial is to persuade your viewers to work with you or to buy your product. It's very purpose-driven. Whereas a case study video is much more about storytelling. It's an excellent and authentic way to give potential customers a feel for your company and build trust in your brand, clearly explaining what you do and the outcomes that they could get if they worked with you. The testimonial video. It's not that different to a case study video, but it's very purpose-driven. A testimonial video and a great testimonial video can be more powerful than your entire marketing team multiplied by 10. You didn't hear that from us though, if you're the marketing team, they still need you. But it is really as simple as politely asking your customers to record something glowing on their smartphone or laptop. And the key is you just need to ask people, because if people have been really happy with the service or the product that you've provided to them, they're not going to have any objection to telling other people that they've had a great experience. And that's really what you want in your testimonial video is people talking about the experience that they've had with your product or your brand or your customer service or whatever it is you'd like them to talk about, and talking about how that experience has actually helped them. And if you can get people talking about how your product helped them overcome a challenge or a problem, you're going to have brilliant testimonials and they are going to really help progress whatever it is that you're trying to do. So, how do you capture a testimonial video? Is it a matter of using just your smartphone or a device? Or do you get a camera crew to actually set up the sound and lights and actually capture it in the best possible way? Well, you know, I work in video production and I've honestly got to say that you're going to get a way better result if you do it with the latter method and you use the best camera you can get, and if possible, a crew who can supply lighting equipment and also audio equipment. The reason I say that is because you're going to be able to get people to relax, have a conversation, you can ask them questions, and you can capture it all on camera. And yeah, having the lights and everything can be a little bit daunting for some people, but the end result is almost always so much smoother than if someone's just recorded it at home or in their office on their phone and sent it to you. Now I'm not saying that if that's the option, you shouldn't do it. It is absolutely better to get that testimonial on an iPhone than it is to not get it at all. But if you have the opportunity to get them sitting down to a camera with lights and with sound equipment, you're just going to get a way better result, and you're probably going to get a much, much smoother testimonial that's going to be more effective for you. So if you can, do it that way. If not, do the best that you can with what you have. So there you have it. We've talked about three different types of videos, and I hope that that's given you a little bit of inspiration for your brand marketing. The things that we talked about were the about video. That's to show your audience what your company or your brand does, a case study video, which gives people a really solid understanding of the results that they might be able to expect from using your product or service. And the testimonial video, which is really that social proof. It's somebody telling your audience what they've gotten out of using your product or service. All three of these videos are really powerful, and if they're really put together well, can make a huge difference to your marketing case of tools. So I absolutely recommend all of them. And all of these can fit into these three video types about case study and testimonial, they can all fit into educational, funny, entertaining, and they then filter down into the type. So that's what I was meaning before sort of the different categories that videos fall into, and then the different types that fit within those categories. So you can make a really funny about video, you can make a really serious about video, you can make a really engaging and entertaining case study video, and you can also make a really, you know, documentary style testimonial. Like it doesn't matter, you can do all of these things. You just have to choose which one's right for your brand and your business. And really, why are you making these videos and what do you need them to do once people have watched them? So remember what we talked about right at the very start of this podcast, which was why. Why do you want to make this content? Then you can pick what type of video you want to make, and then you can dive into creating some really brilliant content. I hope this was helpful. If you'd like any clarification on any of it, just reach out to me on LinkedIn or through the Moonshine Agency website where you can find the written blog that goes with this podcast, and uh I'll hopefully be able to answer any questions that you have. I'll be back next week. Speak to you then.