Video marketing guide for [2022]

Here's our video marketing guide for 2022

As we progress through the 2020s, video will play a larger and larger role in how we consume media. In this guide, you'll learn everything you need to know about using video as part of your internet marketing campaigns. We'll cover how it's already changed in recent years and what time travelers can expect to see as we enter into the next decade.

How video marketing has changed in the 2010s:

Video consumption exploded in the last few years. In 2014, 51% of all internet traffic was video-based; by 2016 it had increased to 70%. That's an increase of over 60% in two years!

This explosion continued into 2017 and early 2018, peaking at around 80% before stabilizing to 75% - the trend of video content is clear, but there are still some questions to answer. If you're new to video marketing, what are the biggest barriers to entry? What hardware do you need? How much does it cost? And most importantly: how can you use it to make money in 2022?

What should a video marketing guide include?

A video marketing guide should be comprehensive, going over everything from the hardware involved to the design of the videos themselves. It should also cover the different kinds of editing software you can use to create these videos and help you decide which one makes sense for your budget. Our guide will start by looking at what kind of video is best for marketing your product, whether it's a corporate video or a tutorial. In addition to teaching you how to make compelling videos, this guide will also look at the different ways you can host your video content. This covers both free and paid options, as well as how to best optimize your videos for viewers.

Finally, we'll look at the actual marketing that you need to do to get people watching. What are some of the best video marketing techniques? What's worked in the past? What can be tested for 2022?

So, let's get started. What kind of video is best for marketing your product or service?

There are a few different types of video you can use to market your product. Here are some examples:

A corporate video involves someone talking about what you do - usually the CEO or other high-level member of your team. These videos are almost always promotional, but they can also be used for training new employees or teaching people who have never heard of your company about what it does. This kind of video is best for companies that sell complex products or services that need explanation.

An explainer video tells viewers everything they need to know in 60 seconds flat. Explainer videos come in all shapes and forms, from simple pictures with text over them to fully animated cartoons. For these kinds of videos, it's often best to hire an outside company to develop them for you. They cost money, but they're good at conveying complex ideas in a concise way that can be understood by anyone.

Tutorial videos focus on teaching people how to use your product or service. They work well for local businesses because the barrier to entry is so low - all you have to do is help someone solve a problem they have with your product, and it doesn't matter if they go elsewhere after the video. For tutorials, there are lots of different styles that will suit any budget or message.

A review video shows viewers what one of your products looks like in use - whether it's food being cooked or clothes being modeled. These are usually created by actual customers rather than paid actors, and they can also be used to advertise some of your more popular products. Reviews only work for businesses that sell physical products and aren't overly promotional - you need to demonstrate the virtues of what you're selling without making it feel like a hard sell.

What type of video should I create?

The answer to this question will largely depend on the type of business you're in and what your end goal is with video marketing. There are lots of different categories:

Promotional videos, which give an overview of a product or service in use, and often include a call-to-action button that viewers can click on to buy them. These work best when they're short (less than 2 minutes) and focused - if you make something too generic it won't effectively engage viewers, but anything longer than 5 minutes has very low retention rates.

Customer testimonial videos focus on individual customers talking about why they like using your product/service - this kind of content lets people relate to real people rather than faceless businesses. They're also a great option for when you need to drive engagement and website conversions in your marketing - highlighting specific people who can attest to the benefits of using your product (and why they like it) goes a long way towards making people feel more confident about actually buying something.

Animation videos work best if you want explain complex concepts or processes in short, easily-digestible chunks. These videos frequently use illustrations that are either hand-drawn or created with 3D rendering software (like Blender or Cinema 4D), and rely heavily on memes and popular online culture references to highlight something simple in an unexpected way.

Customer support/instructional videos. These kinds of video don't fit super neatly into anyone of the previously-mentioned categories, but they're still incredibly important to your business. They allow you to show potential customers how simple or complex something is before they buy it - and if there are any problems with the product/service you can publicly demonstrate how to fix it for people who might otherwise be lost without help.

Marketing videos are usually longer than promotional videos, and focus on building a positive brand image rather than selling a specific product. They work best when they're emotionally driven rather than fact-driven - for example, showing what you do and why it matters can be much more effective (and memorable) video content than simply listing numbers and statistics.

Sales videos are a derivative of promotional videos, and are focused on closing the sale - going into more depth about what your product/service offers and why it's worth investing in. These types of marketing videos can be fun to make as well as watch, as long as you keep the viewer engaged without over-selling something they might not need or want.

Client presentation videos are another derivative of promotional videos, and are often used when a company is pitching to new business prospects or with existing customers. These also work best if they're shorter (less than 2 minutes) with an engaging script that keeps the audience tuned in - even if they don't buy on first viewing you can still make them feel positive about your brand.

HR videos are used internally at a company to inform employees of relevant changes that they need to know about - but they can also be repurposed as customer-facing video content. These work best if you don't focus on selling something specific, and instead stick with the 'promotional' label described above.

What type of video should I avoid?

There are two kinds of video that new marketers tend to create that don't work as well online:

Camera phone videos - where people film their videos on their mobile devices without editing them at all (or by using an app like iMovie). These just look incredibly unpolished compared to other options, so unless you want your video marketing efforts to feel amateurish you should avoid them at all costs.

Long, unedited videos - another kind of video you frequently see is an hour-long "documentary"-style video that covers every aspect of a business and what they do to get their message out there. These take up a ton of time to create and require a lot of manpower, but don't actually retain viewers for very much longer than 5 minutes - the sweet spot in terms of viewership retention is between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

What's next?

After determining what type of video you're going to create, you need to work on a storyboard. Video production can be broken down into five simple steps: pre-production, production, post-production, marketing & distribution, and analytics.

Pre-Production: This is where you come up with the idea for your video and storyboard it. Storyboarding is a critical step in video production because it helps visualize the entire video before shooting begins. Creating a storyboard doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it can be quite simple if you follow these steps:

- Choose your video format and style.

- Gather your visual inspiration.

- Sketch out your storyboard.

- Write down a shot list.

- Fill in the details.

- Review and revise as needed.

- Share with your video production company, like Zazzify

To learn more about creating a storyboard, check-out another Zazzify article: How to Create a Video Storyboard: A Step-by-Step Guide

Production: This is where you actually shoot video footage.

Post-Production: This is where you edit video footage and add graphics, audio, music etc. to create a finished video product that's ready for marketing & distribution.

Marketing & Distribution: You've created your video and now it's time to get the word out about it! This includes social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.), email blasts, blog posts and even paid advertising. Sharing content with people who are interested in what you have to say (and getting them excited enough so they'll share their excitement with others too). That’s why storytelling is so important when creating videos; viewers relate better when there’s an emotional connection between them and the storyteller through personal experiences shared with video content. Just make sure that the video is relevant to the channel you're sharing it on and that the audience for that channel will be interested in what you have to say. For example, if you're a B2B company then your video content shouldn't be shared on Instagram - unless you're targeting consumers with an interest in business products/services.

Analytics: You've created your video and shared it across all channels now what? Well, this is where the analytics come in. Analytics are important because they help you measure how well your video marketing strategy is working so that you can continue to improve upon it over time - whether by creating more engaging storytelling or changing up distribution methods etc. One way to do this is by using video analytics tools like those offered by Wistia, Vidyard or Brightcove. These tools allow you to see how many people are watching your videos, where they're coming from (geographically), how long they're watching for and what actions (if any) they take after watching. This data is invaluable because it gives insight into what type of video content is working well for us and where we may need some improvement.

What editing software you can use to create these videos?

There are a lot of video editing software packages available for free on the internet, from basic programs like Windows Movie Maker to more complex solutions like Adobe Premiere or DavinCi Resolve. Normally, these kinds of software are used by people who want to create videos as a hobby - professional video editors use expensive proprietary software and hardware setups that cost thousands of dollars.

For our purposes, we'll focus on using what's known as "freemium" solutions - this is where the company offers its software for free and charges money for any advanced features or additional storage you need beyond the basic package. There are three major freemium options:

- Shotcut is an excellent piece of freemium video editing software that works across all major operating systems (MacOS, Linux, and Windows). It's a very powerful option that can do nearly anything most people will ever need for basic video editing.

- GoAnimate is an online service where you can create video content by recording yourself talking and playing animated characters in front of your webcam. The service is completely free, and since there's no advanced software to learn or download it's incredibly easy to use.

- PowToon is another great place for beginners just getting into video marketing - the site has hundreds of video templates for everything from training videos to explainer commercials. These templates include stock assets like photos and music tracks, so all you have to really do is record yourself over them.

If you want to learn more about the best and more advanced video editing platforms, be sure to check-out this other Zazzify article: What are the Best Video Editing Platforms?

Which hosting platform should I use?

There are three main options for video hosting: YouTube, where you can upload your videos and give them a unique URL that people can point to. YouTube is owned by Google, so it's the default choice in a lot of places. Vimeo, which lets you host your video files on their website without ads or distractions from other users' content. Twitch, which is primarily used by gamers, but also caters to marketers who want to host promotional videos about their products/services. Finally, you then have social-media industry standards like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.

How much will video marketing cost?

As mentioned above, there are lots of different kinds of videos out there, so let's break down each kind and their associated costs:

Corporate videos cost tens of thousands of dollars - depending on how many people need to be involved in creating them. These kinds of videos require multiple employees (a member of the board plus an actor) as well as equipment (cameras, microphones, lighting) and software (specific recording programs like Camtasia or Jing). The cost of making one of these videos is the number of people involved multiplied by the amount of time they needed to spend on your video.

Explainer videos cost a few thousand but can go up to five figures. These kinds of videos are almost always made outside your company because you need specific skills that most employees don't have- knowledge in both graphic design and video editing. For explainer videos to be effective, they also need to have a high production value so they look polished and professional.

Tutorials can range from free if you do them yourself up to five figures for something with voiceover talent. Tutorials only require one employee and can be done using free (or cheap) tools like PowerPoint, Google Slides, iShowU, and ScreenFlow. Voiceovers will cost money but they add professionalism to your video.

Review videos can be created for free if you use real customers or paid actors instead of friends and family. Also like tutorials, review videos only require one person- the person doing the review. They're not overly complicated but may need some editing before uploading depending on how many people are in your video and what's said please please don't sue me if someone gets hurt during a video.

For many business owners and marketers alike creating a high quality video is not within their primary skill set; they might have an idea for a product video or promotional ad, but lack the skillset or resources needed to make it happen. Fortunately help is at hand with Zazzify and other video production agencies + tools! Make sure you track the effectiveness of your videos too. You can learn more about video tracking in this Zazzify article How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Video: Tips and Tricks

What other marketing tools do I need?

The content and digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving. In order to stay ahead of the curve, you need to be using the latest and greatest tools. That's why we've put together this list of the top 15 tools for content and digital marketers in 2022 so be sure to check-out this Zazzify article Top 15 Tools for Content Marketing and Digital Marketing [2022]

How video marketing will change in the 2020s:

In 2023, we plan to see a leap forward across all fields of video marketing. It's common sense that any form of media would benefit from virtual reality and augmented reality technology, but it also applies to current forms of video as well.

One particularly exciting prediction is that by 2023 you'll essentially be able to sit in on any public event from the comfort of your living room. Even now it's possible to watch some events live using Periscope or similar services, but this will become much more common place over the next few years.

As far as hardware goes, expect VR headsets other screens to get cheaper and smaller - so small, in fact, they'll have screens integrated into their lenses! This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for advertisements and other video content.

Summing Up

So that's it! A complete guide to creating marketing videos for 2022. We hope it helps you understand the different kinds of videos out there and their associated costs.

Our apologies if I left out any details; it's sometimes hard to predict the future. But, you know what they say: "a video is worth a thousand words."