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Beth PopNikolov
CEO, Venveo
Research shows that, in 2022, audiences are spending an average of 19 hours a week watching videos online. But don't limit the idea of video to only YouTube and TikTok. Today, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and even Pinterest are prioritizing video content.
And because so many people are watching videos, SEO has started to prioritize it. According to Hubspot, "Websites see a search engine boost when they add video because it increases page quality and the time visitors spend on the page." As an added bonus, "83% of video marketers say that video helps them generate leads."
Here’s another stat for you, in case you weren’t convinced yet. According to Forbes, “viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video, compared to 10% when reading it in a text.”
We believe that video is no longer an optional tool in your marketing toolkit. It's become an essential way to include visual storytelling, build trust, communicate with, sell to and form relationships with your audience(s).
As smartphone cameras are becoming better and better, it's never been easier to create high-quality videos for your company. The hard part has changed from choosing the right equipment to choosing the right type of video. From how-tos to case studies to VR, there is no limit to what you can create with a limited budget and tight deadlines.
First, let's look at 15 types of marketing videos you can create. Then, we'll give you our top seven tips for successful video marketing for building materials companies.
Before you pull out your phone and start filming, you need to know what types of video you can choose from. Each video serves a different purpose, so it's essential you pick the perfect video for your audience and where they are in the buyer's journey.
Probably one of the most common types of video in the building materials industry, how-tos are exactly what their name claims: they show the audience how to do something. These are great for explanations around installation and troubleshooting your specific products, or you can use them to teach newcomers the basics they need to thrive in your niche.
Demonstration, or demo, videos are a great way to showcase how your product works. For example, you can walk through how one of your products solves common problems faced by your target audience. Or, if your main value prop is durability, you can create a video putting the product under a stress test.
Now that the pandemic is “over”, trade shows are becoming increasingly popular again. If you're already manning a booth, why not kill two birds with one stone and create a video out of it? You can do a timelapse of people visiting the booth, create a highlight reel or get sound bites from visitors.
Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to sell your brand. Normally, you can't easily control who hears what about your company, but with interviews, you can (at least a little). Have a loyal builder or contractor who's your number one customer? Get them on camera explaining why they pick you over and over. Hearing it from someone just like them is a great way to influence other builders and contractors.
Case studies don't have to be boring, dry, multi-page documents. Make them fun and entertaining for your target audience by putting it into video. Show clips of the project before, during the installation process and after while throwing in interviews with the installers and buyers and it's a recipe for the perfect video.
Have some downtime at an event? Seeing an uptick in the same questions recently? Go live! Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok make going live fast and easy. Your audience will love getting to ask you questions and hearing the answer "in person" without ever having to leave their desk. As a bonus, you can combine going live with an interview and draw in even more viewers. Plus, you can save the video to reuse over and over again.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are becoming more and more popular with customers. If you are already investing in either of these for your website, why not use it for video too? Record a walkthrough of a project, explaining key selling points along the way.
Personalized video works best for high-dollar, high-touch companies. Use personalized videos to address a potential customer's specific pain points or send a personalized thank you video after the sale to keep them coming back. Every customer loves to feel seen, and a personalized video does just that.
Everyone loves a good behind-the-scenes video. A brand that feels too perfect and polished doesn't always feel trustworthy. So let them see how the sausage — or roofing material — is made. Or, if you've gotten feedback that your brand feels too sterile, try a funny "bloopers" video of employees — it's instant humanization of your company.
Similar to interviews, most builders and contractors trust the word of other builders and contractors the most, so use that to your advantage. Share videos created by your customers. They get wider exposure, and you get proof you're trusted by industry professionals. Plus, you get content to use that you didn't have to take the time or money to make.
Similar to interviews, most builders and contractors trust the word of other builders and contractors the most, so use that to your advantage. Share videos created by your customers. They get wider exposure, and you get proof you're trusted by industry professionals. Plus, you get content to use that you didn't have to take the time or money to make.
Short and sweet, ad videos are the most important type of video to make your point quickly and clearly. These videos draw attention to a specific product (or sometimes a product line) in order to create awareness, push people further down the buyer's journey or get them to contact your sales team. Make sure it's short and packs a punch.
When you're launching a new product or product line, this is the video type you need. They showcase the new product, telling the why behind its creation, what pain points it solves and any other important information you want your audience to know. Launch videos will set the tone for the product or line, so it's important to get it right.
People love a success story so why not give it to them? These work great on your product pages, especially when you can have a customer talk about why they love a specific product. After all, happy customers are your best advocates. Just make sure the story the customer tells is genuine and shows how the product solved their problem or achieved a goal.
Last, but not least, is the FAQ video. These videos are a great way to show answers to a question your team gets a lot. You can either do a longer video with time stamps so the viewer can easily jump around, or you can do one video per question. The choice depends on where you are going to host and share the video. If you don't want to choose, do the longer video and then you can cut out individual questions to share on social media.
Videos can be an extremely effective communication tool. However, with all the advances in technology, it's become so easy to create videos that we forget to consider the why behind the creation.
When thinking about the purpose of your video, ask yourself a few questions:
When your videos address your customers' pain points, they feel seen, which builds trust. And, they can also help your team answer common questions faster and easier, freeing up time to help more potential customers.
Some example purposes you can create videos for:
Creating a video that offers general information about your company or products (such as product launches, FAQs and company story types) can help new brands spread awareness.
If your company creates products in a unique way, it may be hard to explain through copy alone. That's where video comes in to help showcase your value.
If you're looking to target current customers, videos about maintaining, repairing or repurposing your products (how-tos, demonstrations and case studies) can help keep customers engaged after they purchase.
If you know your consumers are running into problems getting their clients to buy from you, create a video that helps them overcome common objections. Not only will this help create loyalty, but it will also boost sales for all parties involved.
For your videos to be successful, each one should speak to a single purpose. If you're trying to talk about too many points in a single video, you're going to either lose viewers or confuse them, neither of which is ideal.
For example, say you're a roofing company that wants to make a video telling customers about your products while also showing them why you're better than the competition. Your first idea may be to include a quick look into your factory, show ease of installation and durability against moisture and mildew and finish with a testimonial or two from happy customers.
Instead of showing all of that, focus on the common denominator: the quality of your product. You could show the manufacturing process, which provides the opportunity to explain how your roofing material is made and why that process makes it better than other materials on the market. Or, you can show how to install the product, highlighting how easy it is while again talking about durability.
Just remember that your video should serve onlyone ultimate purpose. Even if you want to talk about multiple topics, it should fall under a single theme.
If your audience can't find your videos, then your videos won’t be as valuable and utilized as you were hoping. Stumbling on a product video on the contact page is confusing. If your customer was looking for that specific video, the contact page is going to be the last place they look. You never want your website visitors to think, “What is that doing there?”
Videos made for your website shouldn't be expected to stand alone. They need supporting content to give the video meaning. So place it on a page with relevant content that people are going to visit often.
When video was first getting popular, it was hard to get it to rank on SEO. Today, marketers add video to increase a page's SEO. More often, video is shown as a top result in user searches. If you're including video on your website, make sure to include content on the page that tells Google exactly what the video is about and incorporates SEO keywords. And whether the video is on your website, social media or YouTube page, be sure to include keywords in the video's description.
In addition, adding closed captions or transcripts to your video allows Google to pull and index information from the copy. This can ultimately boost your video’s SEO ranking, increasing its visibility.
Just remember — the better the SEO of the video, the higher it will show in search results.
Don't forget the most important part of video marketing: the CTA. Actually, there are two CTAs you need to consider.
First, if the video is on your website or social media, invite your audience to watch the video with some introductory text: "Watch the video below to find out more about..." or "See how our unique manufacturing process makes a superior product in the following video."
A great example is Nest.
Notice how the CTA sets up the viewer's expectations for the content of the video? It's clearly a "tour" or introduction of the product. By setting expectations upfront, viewers are more likely to watch the entire video because they know what they're getting into. More full views increase the video's ranking in search results. It's a win-win for the viewers and you.
Second, whenever possible, include a CTA at the end of the video. The viewer watched the entire video — now what? You got them engaged and interested in your company and its products. What action do you want them to take? What you don't want to happen is for them to watch the video, close off the page and continue their online journey elsewhere. Instead, make the most of this moment by directing them to the next logical step in their buyer's journey.
Decide if you want them to watch another video, sign up for your newsletter, contact a salesperson or request a sample. Whatever it is, state it plainly and make it easy for them to take that action. To decrease the chance of them exiting after watching, include links or buttons on or directly beneath the video.
Some examples:
Focus on choosing the right copy for your buttons and links, as they can make a big difference in conversion rates. Copy that says "Download the Catalog Now" tends to convert better than generic wording such as "Learn More."
If you're using video for ads, be sure to use the call-to-action buttons included as part of the uploading process.
In the example above, the company included a "Book Now" button to guide viewers to book an appointment. This is a great way to influence viewers' next action. They're primed and ready to convert — don't leave them hanging! Give them an immediate action and make it so easy it's foolproof.
Generally speaking, video is not the place to make a hard sales pitch.
When done correctly, your videos will help to drive sales, but not through blatant means. Video sells best by offering consumers the information they want and clearly leading them down the sales funnel. Except in very specific situations (usually in ads targeting people very far down the sales funnel), closing the sale or asking for the sale doesn't fit into the content of most videos.
The longer the video, the less likely people will watch the entire thing. For the vast majority of videos, keep them under three minutes. More specifically, according to HubSpot, there are ideal video lengths per social media platform:
Most of the videos you make for social media will be targeting people at the very top of the sales funnel. However, the farther down the sales funnel your viewer is, the more committed they will be to watching the entire video, regardless of the length.
In practice, this generally means that awareness videos should be shorter than demo videos, and company story videos should be shorter than how-to videos.
In a nutshell? Shorter is better. Be clear, be punchy and be memorable.
A last bonus tip for you: always, always, always include captions. 83 percent of people watch video with the sound off, and 80 percent are more likely to watch an entire video when captions are available, according to a report from Verizon Media and ad buyer Publicis Media.
Video is not only here to stay, but becoming an increasingly essential part of every SEO and social media marketing strategy. The good news is that creating successful video marketing doesn't have to be complicated. You simply need to have a solid plan before you start.
If you’re looking for help creating the best video marketing strategy for your company, Venveo can help. Start a project today and learn how Venveo helps building materials companies succeed.
