Video Marketing: 5 Best Types of Video To Promote Your Online Business

Is video marketing part of your online marketing strategy yet?

Until recently, it wasn’t part of mine, either.  Why?  Because what I had seen of video involved someone talking directly into a webcam. As someone who hates having her picture taken, this type of video marketing certainly did not appeal to me.  However, I’m starting to change my mind about this marketing strategy.

Look at these stats I recently uncovered about video:

• 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute each day
• Cisco (an IT company) predicts that by 2015 at least 90% of all Internet traffic will be video
• 84% of the US population is watching videos
• Of that 84%, the average person watches 4 videos a day
• People are more likely to watch longer videos on non-desktop devices.
• People who watch online videos are more valuable to business than individuals who don’t.

Kinda makes you sit up and think, doesn’t it?  As someone who used to hate watching videos, I’m finding myself watching more and more of them online than before. Moreover, what I’m seeing is that the ability to produce videos is much easier than just a few years ago, and the cost of producing a video has dropped dramatically.

If you want to incorporate video marketing into your online marketing strategy, here are the 5 best types of video to promote your online business:

1. Screen capture videos:  This is one of my favorite video types, as it involves capturing your computer screen, as you would do for software demos and how-to videos.  You need to use screen capture software of some sort, and the software captures your desktop as you move from place to place on your screen.

2. Slidecast Videos:  This involves taking a Powerpoint/Keynote presentation and filming it with screen capture software and combining that with an audio voice-over.  The format in this kind of video isn’t always pretty, but it’s quite effective.  The combination of text and voice-over narration can be hypnotizing.  And, much to my disbelief, I discovered that the highest-converting videos of this type consist of someone reading black text on a white background.

3. Sock puppet/doodle/papercut/animated/humorous videos:  With the advent of Fiverr.com, you can now write a short script and have any number of video creations completed using sock puppets, doodle videos (drawing your story line), papercut videos (where images are cut of paper and moved around a board with a finger), and almost anything else you can imagine.  I recently had a video completed of a woman reciting my script while dressed as a green pea pod as my unique entry into a scholarship contest.  It helped me win the contest!

4.  Photo videos with music:  With this type of video, you assemble a number of photos or images and then use a video service to put them together with some special effects to jazz up the images a bit. Typically the video service will offer a large library of rights-free music you can add to the background, or, if you like, you can add a scripted voiceover.

5. Talking head videos:  Surprisingly enough, these kinds of videos are not the best type of video to post on Youtube, even though they are very common.  The only exception to this is if you’re a recognized name or brand, like Martha Stewart or Donald Trump.  However, if you decide to go this route anyway, be sure that your logo, Facebook URL and Twitter URL are displayed in the background at the top of the screen, or you add in this info as text afterward.

Here’s an important video marketing tip:  Your video should ideally be no more than 3 minutes in length.  Many of mine are 60-90 seconds.  If you are creating a review or how-to video, keep it under 10 minutes, or better yet, break it down into shorter videos.

The age of video has arrived, and creating videos is easier than ever. Decide on the kind of video you want to use to promote your business and jump headfirst into video marketing today!