Choose the right style of video for each purpose to get better growth hacking results.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

 

When should you choose one style of video over another? Stick around while I share 5 of the most effective.

 

1. Concierge-style: What you’re watching right now. An on-camera host or concierge talks to the viewer, makes eye-contact and shares relevant information and insights. What the host says can be supported by graphics: words, pictures or animations. This style works great when you need to make a personal connection, or build trust and give your company or product some personality and humanity. It’s perfect for a multi-step sales process and it's the most effective way to nurture customers after a sale.

2. Whiteboard Animation: These use animated line drawing on a blank whiteboard to explain and entertain. At it’s most basic, it's a real person standing at a whiteboard drawing things as they talk. At the other extreme, it's a fast-paced close-up of an artist's hand doing super-human drawing feats while voiceover narration and music tell the story. Whiteboard videos make concepts and relationships easy to understand, and done well, they've got high entertainment value and stickiness. People usually watch them all the way through. 

3. Animated Explainer: Full animation can be technical, cartoony, retro, futuristic…because animation makes anything possible. I remember Will E. Coyote falling off cliffs and always coming back to life. That’s what’s so cool about animation. It can make things you can’t photograph real—virtual products like online services, cloud storage, etc. It can bring an infographic to life, or fly a smartphone around to demonstrate an app. 

4. Case Study or Testimonial: These communicate the positive experience or results of real customers. They’re usually shot on location and use a combo of interview footage and b-roll. The best ones are aimed at a specific buyer persona—people in a particular vertical or with certain needs. They work because third-party testimonials are the ultimate form of authority. It’s like an online customer review with the added emotional impact of visuals, movement and sound.

5. Executive Interview: Most execs aren’t comfortable staring into a lens and reading from a teleprompter. But they often have really important knowledge or they’re a thought-leader or rainmaker. So you set up a studio shoot with pre-drafted questions so the exec can prep in advance. I like an off-axis interview style, kind of like 60-Minutes. After the shoot, you’re gonna need a talented editor to cut a tight, coherent story from all the footage. These videos are perfect for investor and reseller updates, video news releases and online media kits.

 

Choose your video content style with care and you’ll get much better ROVI—return on your video investment.