All tech companies face a dilemma when producing new products. Before they can be celebrated for their innovation and creativity, they have to be able to communicate to their audience what their product is and why their audiences should invest in them. Many products’ success depends heavily on the right marketing campaign, and sales will flourish or wilt in accordance to how audiences respond to your campaign.
Video should be part of any product’s marketing efforts. But the video format you choose is just as important as making a video in the first place.
How to decide the right video format?
So before you start putting together your video brief and deciding what video format is best for your project, define what your video goals actually are. This will help you decipher what type of video you should be making. Ask yourself, what do you want your audience to take away from your video? Do you want to explain in detail what your product does? Do you want to show just a few key features? Or do you want them to get excited about your product and find out more? Is your product a complex concept to convey that requires a contextual explanation?
Once you have set out your video goals you can decide what type of video is best for your needs.
Different Types of Videos
There are countless formats to choose from when making a video and each one provides a different purpose. Here are some formats to consider when producing a video for tech product:
Testimonial Videos
Testimonial videos are a great way of delivering a third party perspective of your business to your audiences, which inherently carries with it a degree of authenticity and transparancy is invaluable when selling products. It is easy for brands themselves to tout their own products and consumers know this but using ambassadors is a good way of building trust with your consumer. There is a reason why Yelp, the platform that allows people to review businesses, has more than 178 million unique monthly visitors across their mobile, desktop and app platforms. Consumers are more likely to value the opinion of someone who is unbiased and objective when it comes to reviews of a product than the company selling it.
How-To Videos
How-To Videos gives your audiences an opportunity to see your product in action. It will allow them to see how the product could help them in their own lives. Niggling concerns consumers may have regarding quality, practicality and accessibility can be eradicated with a video showing your product being used. And there are many ways you can approach a How-To Video. Real time ‘Show and Tell’ type videos will communicate to your audiences your product in its truest form. However, a timelapse or stop motion video of a product being assembled or being used, intercut with graphics to guide viewers on certain features, can be an engaging way of showing your product.
Meet The Team
A Meet The Team video is exactly what it sounds like – a video created to show the team behind the product. You have a team of people who know your product best and have genuine invested passion for your product, so why not channel and exhibit that energy into marketing your product? It will also provide insight into your brand’s personality and put a face to your company, which will help audiences connect to your product on a more personal level and make them feel that they’re being invited to view an exclusive part of your company. Meet the Team videos can include a mix of interviews, behind the scenes b-roll and motion graphics or like this video take on a classic TV opening.
Case Study Video
Case Study videos, much like testimonial videos, allow you to explore the context of how implementing your product has changed a consumer’s life. This video will let audiences in similar situations see themselves represented, and show how your product can provide positive solutions to their lives. Case Study videos have the added benefit of lending themselves to a traditional narrative: the consumer had a problem, your product offered a solution, their problem was removed or minimized. Like any good story, audiences are naturally inclined to engage with content that provides them with a journey that they can go on.
Brand Films
Brand films are usually more stylized and concept-driven than other video options. When producing brand films it’s important to ensure that you are investing in the production values that fairly represent your brand. If your company wants to convey the message that they are polished and detail-oriented, make sure that your video reflects this. Or if your business is known for its creativity and holistic outlook ensure your video from content to an aesthetic perspective helps communicate this message. The added value of creating a brand film as part of your product release is that it allows you to show how your product fits into your overall organization’s ecosystem.
Conclusion
As you can see there are many formats that can be used to market your product and most campaigns will require more than one of these videos to really push your product’s release. But with this in mind try not to combine these formats into the same video as this can muddy your videos key messages and tone.
