And the nominees are...

1 - Tutorials

For many brands, the first video experience starts right here.

The reason is simple, a big effectiveness is its foundation, whilst promoting a given product or service.

The idea is to always show the consumer how to do something more efficiently, whether this is the to present the proper way to use an online tool, the software’s installation and setup, or even how to assemble the living room furniture without putting too much thought into it.

These are crucial videos for brand promotion, because what initially looked like a “walk through the desert” becomes easier, by detailing step by step what the user should do in order to get the best performance overall from his product.

All in all, they literally give you the opportunity to see how you can carry out tasks by yourself without having to be aided by professionals, nor having to pay extra fees for it. 

2 - Interviews

In all areas, you have key persons and there’s not a single person who doesn’t enjoy listening to them and having the feeling that you’ve learned a bit more after doing so.

It can be really interesting to get in touch with these professionals and have a pleasant and, above all, a fulfilling talk on some subject that is of our prospects’ interest. It’s a good way to expand the company’s network, conquering views, followers and, more than anything else, people interested in our business. Interviews can be streamed in real time (Facebook, Skype, Hangout) or recorded and shared afterwards, in the right moment and platform. 

The big advantage of this kind of live interview is the fact that spectators will be able to interact while they watch the content, sending questions and suggestions, thus raising the interest in the action that’s being developed. 

3 - Explainer Videos

It’s one of the most effective video types among this whole set, due to how natural it fits a company’s marketing strategy, reinforcing it with a customized, creative and, above all, an intuitive tool, which is able to bring measurable results. 

It’s not out of nothing that more and more brands are choosing this option, since it shows to the customer, in a light and animated manner, the way he can use the product or service more effectively. It also helps to simplify the preconceptions of our target audience, debunking some difficulties that may not exist.  

Some advantages of the explainers are the way that they can easily spread our brand, the manner they increase the traffic to the website and its ranking on Google, increasing as well the conversion rates by using a language that is universal and understood in the world’s four corners.

Why should we pick a crowded route if we have, right next to it, an empty one?

4 - Reviews

There’s a reason for the great popularity of product evaluation videos: they’re effective. 

It’s proven that most consumers feel much more confident about making a purchase decision after having seen a video of this kind, which is able to explain the usefulness of a product or service, showing the pros and cons that they have in practice.

This small great detail decreases possible complaints, returns and it results in satisfied customers, ready to share the good experience that they had with our company. It’s also a way to reduce the workload of commercial teams, with the customers having this way the information that they need to make a decision when it’s buying time. 

Several brands take advantage of this sort of concept because it’s getting more popular day after day.

This is due to the existence of some market “influencers”.

People, famous or not, who show the product by highlighting its advantages, making it in a not-so-usual way, not giving the impression that it’s an ad. The users who follow that influencer generally abide by their tips, which results in sales for the company.

5 - Testimonials 

Testimonial videos are a powerful way to promote and highlight the advantages of a company or its services.

They help to erase preconceptions, doubts, or even fears that people may have towards the organization’s offerings. It even addresses questions that we’ve only started to see as important when we had to face them.

For instance, it can be extremely effective to create some videos, not that long, with testimonies given by a specific group of people, such as professionals who cooperate with us, or of company’s customers, who happen to be relevant to our audience, thus reinforcing confidence and optimism. 

This video concept really helps to do business with new customers, because one thing is relying on self-promotion explaining our advantages and skills, another is having a group of satisfied customers who underline our good delivery time, the good performance and follow-up provided by the work team and the quality of the end result. 

Thus, testimonials are brief statements on problems that buyers were facing, the reason for their decision and the main factors sustaining it, and, finally, the good results which made it worth having chosen us.

6 - Reel 

First, one needs to understand what a Reel is, or a Demo Reel.No more no less than a compilation of the developed projects, in which you solely include a minor demonstration of each one, in order to avoid a really long video. It works as a digital portfolio, easily shareable and a quite graphic one. 

But let’s focus on the main points to create a Reel which reaches the main goal: generate interest in our work. 
-A short video – there’s no need to include everything we’ve done. 
-Simplicity – it must be identified but nothing that causes too much noise in the information
-Focused on the target – it will not make sense having it targeted to an audience that doesn’t generate business to us
-Impact – it’s crucial to have an impressive beginning and ending, thus they’ll always have us in their minds
-Content – what we want to show must be clear: the qualities, the skill and the advantages
-Originality – always!

7 - Humorous

Who doesn’t like a good share of humor? And what if we are able to give the spectators a good time and, simultaneously, win them by spreading our message? Even better. 

The important thing is to surprise the target audience, making it viral (dangerous words!), thus becoming a laidback reference, but always capable of reaching its goal.

Here the “rule” is to flee from what is common, from the safety of an explainer video or of a promotional campaign, the only rule is not having strict rules.

Obviously, creativity has limits, being creative and unprecedented doesn’t always mean being successful, you run the risk of generating negative reactions (that’s the reason why we should be careful with the word “viral”). 

Several marketers focus on creating a professional image of the brand which, bottom line, looks like exactly what it is, without surprises, without having interesting points.

The result? Many times, boring videos or campaigns, which are quickly erased from the audience’s memory.

That’s not what we want, but rather being able to create an emotional linkage.  

The challenge about using humor is one: being funny.Humor in videos works better when our target gets the references.

Funny situations related to the company can be used, or things that happen around it, moments in the office or mistakes at work, everyone will get that. Why?

Because they’ve lived them too. 

This dose of humor when applied to an explainer can get another dimension, because it opens the door of imagination even more. We can exaggerate and illustrate situations sometimes impossible to humanly depict, but ones that are part of our subconscious, immediately drawing the attention of our prospects.

8 - Online Ads 

What are they? You ask.

These are small video ads which pop up in the beginning of an online video, being really common on YouTube, but they can be found as well in other web platforms.

The major advantage of this format is the fact of being targeted to people who are already effectively engaged and familiar with this world.

Users who regularly watch online videos are much more predisposed to interact with an ad, whether by directly clicking on an option of it or by following the indicated page’s path. 

These ads live for the moment, and it’s precisely at that moment, in which we have the full attention of the spectator, that this becomes a golden opportunity that shouldn’t be thrown away.

Often, these are small videos whose length varies between 15 and 30 seconds, which is enough time to transmit a message that you want to be informative but straight to the point as well. 

That’s why it’s important to have it properly targeted, because we have the possibility of specifying the target of our content, which should meet the search done by the prospect. If these two factors are put together, the chances of success go off the charts.