Beyond the Explainer Video
In the early days of video marketing (re: 2012 and earlier), the explainer video was king – the cornerstone of your digital presence, out there spreading the word about your product. But that was then.
Today, companies aren’t stopping at the explainer video.
An explainer video is a top-of-the-funnel marketing asset, good at introducing your product, but not very good at closing sales or driving engagement among users.
So let’s look at the other kinds of videos you should be making after the explainer.
# 1. ONBOARDING VIDEOS
The onboarding video helps you turn newly minted customers into dedicated, everyday users. These videos are essential for tech companies – particularly apps and SaaS platforms – that lure users in with free trials, but lose them when they fail to appreciate the product. With a solid onboarding video, you can highlight your product’s best features and show people how easy it is to use. The only risk: you don’t want your onboarding video to focus too much on how to use the product. Instead, focus more on why you should use the product. That gets people excited to use it more.
# 2. TUTORIAL/FAQ VIDEOS
Similar to the onboarding video, tutorials help drive engagement with your product. But there are differences. The onboarding video aims to get users started, while tutorial videos help them keep going. Like if a user runs into a feature they don’t know how to use; or if they have a question that stops them in their tracks – instead of losing them to frustration, just keep a library of tutorial videos nearby so they always have the answers they need. Just be sure to make your tutorials targeted. Better to have a series of short videos that answer one question each versus one long video that covers everything at once.
# 3. CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL VIDEO
Explainers are great for introducing your product. But they don’t close the sale. A testimonial video, on the other hand, provides that final vote of confidence that can bring a prospective buyer off the fence. Testimonials are effective for a couple reasons. One, they’re personal. They show the viewer someone they can relate to – a real person who had many of the same problems they have. And two, they’re more authentic than other forms of video. When a prospective buyer sees one of your customers praising your brand, that carries more weight than simply hearing it from you. As a result, they trust you more. And trust is crucial to any sale.
# 4. PRESENTATION VIDEO
Think of this as a salesperson’s sidekick. This is what they play on their iPad when they go visit a prospect, or roll in the background while presenting at a trade show. The presentation video can be a collection of GIFs – each one illustrating a particular point in a clever way – or it can be a full narrative, offering an in-depth explanation of a product’s capabilities that you’d only share with serious buyers. The biggest benefit of a presentation video: it ensures that your messaging is consistent. In many ways, sales is like one big game of telephone. The sales manager comes up with the pitch, the sales person gives their version to the buyer, and the buyer gives their version to the final decision maker. In the end, you hope the message is consistent, but you know it’s probably not. With a presentation video, you can be sure that the final decision maker is hearing the right message, without distortion, giving you the best chance at a sale.
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CONCLUSIONS:
So while the explainer video is still a key asset in any marketing campaign, it’s not nearly enough. In order to engage users, you need to use video throughout the marketing funnel. The good news is, video has such a high ROI, you’ll be reaping the rewards before you know it.