If you’re considering producing a corporate video, your very first step is to identify the best format for your campaign’s objective. Are you trying to win over new business? Inspire new talent to join your team? Solve customer service issues with instructional content?
There are countless reasons to produce video content, but generally all corporate and business video projects fall into one of the following 7 categories. By aligning your business objectives with the right format, you’re well on your way to creating a strong finished piece that will resonate with your intended audience.
Let’s take a look at the 7 buckets each corporate spot will fall into:
1. Brand Awareness
When most business owners or marketing executives consider a corporate video project, this is the first category that comes to mind. And rightfully so, as brand awareness videos often serve as the foundation of your marketing video portfolio.
These videos typically run anywhere from 1 - 3 minutes, and are designed as a catch-all to inform, educate and inspire those who are interested in your brand. They are always detailed and specific to the company’s values, but don’t dig deep into any one topic, which allows them to be used more universally across different mediums.
Most commonly, these kind of videos are featured on a company’s homepage, used in presentation decks, and of course hosted on public video sharing platforms like YouTube. They are intended to be a support mechanism, and are not typically linked to a single objective (like generating new customers). They should give clarity and detail to those individuals who are already aware of the company, elevating their understanding and belief in the brand without going for a hard sell.
Often times, marketers will want to use these type of videos for paid advertising purposes, but that’s really not their sweet spot. Paid website and social media ads should be hyper-specific (more on that below), and the nature of brand awareness videos calls for them to take a 30,000 foot view. They are not supposed to convert anyone to a sale, but simply to prime them for a potential sale or engagement in the future.
2. Targeted Sales Ads
For businesses looking for a more specific and measurable outcome, targeted ads are the way to go. Like the brand awareness spots, these ads often run in the 1 - 3 minute range as well, but differ significantly in their messaging.
Very little (if any) time is spent on generalities that showcase the primary function of the business. It’s assumed that knowledge already exists in the viewer, and these ads serve up a more concrete offer - always with a direct call to action at the end.
Because these videos are often used in conjunction with a paid sales campaign - for instance on Facebook or YouTube - the more specific the message, the better. Targeted advertising only really works when the content you’re putting in front of your audience is extremely relevant to them. For this reason, marketing departments often produce a batch of sales videos covering different products or objectives. Then, each video is run on a separate targeted ad campaign to maximize results.
While we see this format used consistently for sales videos and direct-response style ads, it can also be used for countless other objectives. You may use it in your top-funnel, not to ask for a sale but simply to drive newsletter signups or social media subscribers. So long as you plan to target a specific audience with an equally specific CTA, this format can work wonders.
3. Branded Video Content
Directly opposite to targeted sales ads, are branded content videos. These are most commonly longer in length - anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes - and offer incredible value to your target audience without having a direct sell or call to action.
They can take many forms, ranging from documentary or narrative short film content to funny video sketches. There are very few rules when it comes to creating branded content, except to avoid the temptation to be overly brand-heavy.
The whole reason branded content works, is because it doesn’t resemble a traditional ad. Viewers are often not even aware that they are watching a sponsored advertisement, since the content itself is so rich and valuable to them. And ultimately, that is why they have a much higher retention rate when compared to traditional online sales ads or even TVCs.
Branded content pieces are highly effective when promoted on social media, since the platforms themselves are designed for content consumption. Nobody logs onto facebook with the intention of seeing ads, but virtually everyone is open to watching a funny video or a cool documentary shared by a friend. The goal then becomes to create valuable content that doesn’t resemble an ad in any way, but is still engaging to and valuable to your core audience.
Naturally there will be some brand integration in the content itself, but on that front less is more. A simple title card at the end of the video or a link to your company website can actually go further than a direct CTA. These viewers want to feel like they are discovering something themselves, not being force-fed. When done right, these campaigns can be massively effective without ever feeling like sales pieces.
4. Explainer Videos
Nearly any product based businesses - whether physical or virtual in nature - can benefit immensely from explainer videos. These videos often run about 1 minute long, and are designed to distill complex product descriptions into an easily digestible bite-sized video.
Tech companies use these constantly as a means to onboard users who may otherwise be confused about their software or service. Unlike a website, that requires the user to dig through material themselves in order to come to an understanding, explainer videos do the work for them. They are a fun, easy way to introduce new or existing customers to a product or service, or in some cases even to the overall function of the business.
Unlike the targeted sales ads we’ve already touched on, explainer videos do not need to have any sort of call to action. In fact, they are rarely ever used in a paid-ad scenario, and are more closely linked with the Brand Awareness videos with respect to their overall usage strategy.
Animation is a common theme with explainer videos, as it allows them to have a longer shelf life and more versatility over the long run. For instance, a software company may change the look of their interface every year. While a live action video may look outdated more quickly as a result, the animated piece may not show the real user interface, and therefore could have more longevity.
5. Live Event Capture
Companies have an incredible opportunity to create content centered around activities they are already engaged in. Rather than produce a video from scratch, it can be wise to leverage existing live events - such as trade shows or corporate retreats - to generate low cost content that can be packaged in any number of ways.
The idea is to capture high value material in a documentary or lifestyle fashion. For instance, you might want to film your CEO’s speech and a big trade event and release it as part of an email campaign. Or perhaps you’re demo-ing a new product at a trade show, and want to capture the reactions of potential customers as they try it for the first time.
Costs associated with these type of projects are typically much lower than traditional corporate videos, as they take a large degree of planning out of it. Unlike a scripted ad that requires lots of pre-production and development by the production company, event videos require much less prep. They also typically call for smaller crews and less equipment, as is the nature of event coverage. This equates to a faster, lower cost video product that can still pack a huge punch.
6. Recruitment
One of the biggest challenges facing growing startups and corporations today is recruitment. Being able to find the right talent for your team is essential to growth, but can be a massive challenge, especially with so much competition right now in the market. One of the best ways to break through the noise is by using video to showcase the unique benefits of working at your company.
In most cases, companies are looking to recruit new hires who are between 18-35 years old. This demographic grew up on the internet in the YouTube era, and is more receptive to video content than just about any other… Which is no surprise that recruiting videos are so effective in driving their interest in joining your team.
The best recruiting videos show both the importance of your core business or product and the unique corporate culture you have to offer. The latter point is often neglected in recruiting videos to the detriment of the potential employer, which is a missed opportunity as it is by far and away the biggest “hook” for prospective employees. They not only want to work with a great brand who they believe in, but they want to be in a fun and energizing environment..
When produced well, recruiting spots can be incredibly versatile in their usage. They can be used at live events, through email marketing campaigns, and even as paid ads on social media.
7. Training & Internal
While videos are often thought of as a tool to generate income (usually by selling your product or service), they can also be looked at as an opportunity to save money. This is certainly the case when you consider using them as a vehicle for training new employees.
Training can be a huge expense and a major time commitment when executed by traditional means. It requires physical resources and time (often from upper-level management) on an ongoing basis that could often be better allocated elsewhere. That’s certainly not to negate the massive importance of a thorough training program, but rather to say the same results could often be achieved with less money and less effort by harnessing video.
By their nature, training sessions are repetitive. The same information is shared with new employees over and over again, sometimes on a weekly or monthly basis.
The vast majority of this material can often be covered in a video format, and simply taking the time to produce this training material once could save hundreds or thousands of hours of precious time in the long run.
It’s especially enticing because the cost of training videos typically falls on the lower side of the spectrum. The same goes for any other type of internal content that will never be consumer or public facing. While you will always want to maintain strong production value, there is much more leeway in how you produce your work when creating projects that will live internally.
Final Thoughts
Virtually every corporate video created will fall into one of the 7 categories listed above. With that said, many videos take a hybrid approach, blending different techniques and strategies from multiple formats.
For instance, a company may produce a video at a live event that is primarily intended to energize shareholders on their monthly newsletter. But that same material can also be repackaged as a branded content piece to be shared on social media, or even as a paid ad designed to generate more followers or subscribers.
Rarely does a video start and end only in one category, but it’s important to identify which of the 7 video types your project falls into from the outset. By making this distinction, the rest of the process becomes much more clear and actionable - from the first steps with production to your final release and distribution strategy.
If you’re looking to produce a corporate spot in any of the categories above, be sure to drop us a line. We work with businesses like yours every day to create engaging content that drives measurable results.
Email us for a free consultation at info@creativerebellion.com