If your small business is serious about growth, whether you are a law firm, a restaurant, or a service provider, you need video marketing.
Stop and consider this: You need videos that generate measurable results, not just "pretty clips." You need an effective digital marketing strategy that turns views into revenue and profit.
Right now, if you are like many business owners, you are likely spending time and money on the wrong kind of content. That stops today. I am going to show you the strategic framework for choosing the exact video type and style that will convert viewers into paying customers for your specific goals.
Let's get strategic.
Quick Answers to Your Top Questions
Choose video types based on where your customer is in the marketing funnel. Commercials and Social Videos build awareness, Explainer Videos simplify complex concepts, and Testimonials drive the final conversion.
The biggest mistake is only posting a video on one channel (like Instagram Reels). You must save the video as an MP4 file and distribute it to all relevant platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and your website.
Use Commercials (short, punchy videos designed to grab attention) and target them using Google's Demand Gen campaigns for hyper-local customer reach.
Testimonial videos feature real, satisfied customers sharing positive experiences, providing the highest level of social proof needed to build immediate credibility and trust with prospective buyers before a purchase.
The four strategic styles are:
- Lifestyle (aspirational living)
- Docu-Style (authenticity)
- Narrative (memorable storytelling)
- Animation (visualizing complex concepts).
Start with ideas that build trust:
How-To/Tutorials (educate your audience), Behind-the-Scenes (build authenticity), FAQ Videos (improve customer support), and engaging Listicle content for quick, digestible information.
Use Explainer Videos for the early stages to simplify complex concepts and address customer problems. Use Product Videos later in the process to showcase features and utility right before the customer makes a purchasing decision.
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Your First Move: The Strategic Framework for Video Selection
The question I get asked most often is: "What kind of video should I make?"
The answer is always the same: It depends on your goal.
Choosing the right format is the linchpin to achieving your marketing goals and genuinely connecting with your ideal customer. The difference between an awareness video and a conversion video determines whether you get a 'Like' or a new client.
Discover How Our Agency Can Drive More Leads and Sales To You
SEO - increase traffic and leads from Google
Content Marketing - from a data-driven topic strategy to awesome content
Paid Ads - Google Ads and Paid Social Media
Aligning Video Types with the Marketing Funnel
The key to profitable video marketing is to understand that you are creating video assets designed to move your potential customer through a sales process. Think of your customer acquisition process like a marketing funnel, where each video has a distinct job to do.
Content Marketing Funnel
Top-of-Funnel: Awareness and Interest
The primary goal here is to introduce your brand to a broad, relevant audience. This is your chance to stop the scroll and build brand recognition.
To grab attention and introduce your brand to a broader audience at the top of the funnel, you must use concise, powerful commercial-style videos. We specifically use these videos in Demand Gen video ads that run on Google and YouTube. This allows for hyper-local targeting of customers who are actively searching for what you sell, ensuring your awareness spend is highly focused and efficient.
Commercials: Boosting Brand Awareness and Hyper-Local Ads
Social Videos: Maximizing Engagement
Explainer Videos: Simplifying Complex Products and Services
Choosing the right video type is the crucial first step to ensuring a return on investment (ROI) from video marketing. We approach this strategically by viewing video as assets aligned with your marketing funnel. Commercials and Social Videos are top-of-funnel tools for brand awareness and grabbing attention. Explainer Videos and How-To content educate your mid-funnel audience. Finally, highly powerful Testimonial and Product Videos are utilized at the bottom of the funnel to build confidence and drive the final sale, converting viewers into paying customers for your business goals.
Mid-to-Bottom-of-Funnel: Consideration and Conversion
Once a viewer is interested, you must prove you are the credible expert who can solve their problem. These videos build trust and showcase utility to move them toward a purchase decision.
Video style is about the tone, messaging, and emotional connection that conveys your brand’s identity, separate from the video type.
The four strategic styles are:
- Lifestyle, which appeals to specific demographics by showing your products fitting seamlessly into the customer’s life.
- Docu-Style, which builds authenticity through behind-the-scenes interviews with staff or founders.
- Narrative, which utilizes classic storytelling to make your brand memorable.
- Animation, which is versatile for explaining complex concepts visually.
Product Videos: Showcasing Features and Building Consumer Confidence
These two video types serve distinct, critical roles in the middle and bottom of the funnel. If you have a complex product or service, Explainer Videos are essential to simplify those concepts and introduce what you do, addressing potential customer problems early on. Product Videos, conversely, are used when it is time to show off what you sell; they are designed to highlight features and utility, building consumer confidence and showcasing exactly why your product is incredible right before the decision point.
Testimonial Videos: Building Credibility and Trust
Testimonial videos are a conversion powerhouse because they are the ultimate tool for building credibility and trust. They feature real, satisfied customers sharing their positive experiences, and there is no better form of social proof available in digital marketing. They move beyond your marketing claims and use genuine customer voices to build confidence, which is essential right at the decision stage of the buying process.
Toby Danylchuk
Want to Learn More About Video Marketing?
Watch my YouTube playlist all about video marketing.
Beyond Type: How Video Style Conveys Your Brand Identity
Beyond the type of video (the topic), the style is paramount. Style dictates the tone, messaging, and emotional connection that convey your brand’s identity.
The Strategic Rule: Distribution is Queen
Listen closely...
One of the biggest mistakes in digital marketing is creating a great video and only posting it on one platform. That is poor distribution strategy.
The fundamental error I see is a failure in distribution strategy. As I always say, "Content is King, but Distribution is Queen." Many business owners spend time creating a quality video but then only post it on that single platform. You must save your final asset as a standard MP4 file and upload it to every channel where your customer spends time:
- YouTube
- YouTube Shorts
- Facebook and embedding it directly on your website.
Maximize the utility of every video you create.
The digital marketing maxim holds true: Content is King, but Distribution is Queen.
Content is King - Distribution is Queen
If you are already in the process of creating videos, it is crucial to save the final product as an MP4 file and then actively distribute it across a diverse range of platforms. Just about all platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) prefer native video files uploaded to each platform, not links to videos on other platforms.
Here are some key distribution avenues to effectively leverage your video content:
- YouTube
- YouTube Shorts
- Instagram Reels
- TikTok
- Embed video directly onto your website
- Google Business Profile post
By maximizing the utility and reach of each video asset, you can significantly amplify your overall brand visibility and awareness, all while minimizing the need for additional time-consuming production efforts. This means focusing on distributing your existing videos across multiple platforms rather than creating new ones, which saves time and resources.
You have no excuse for not getting started. Practical, actionable ideas that drive results include: How-To and Tutorial Videos (establish credibility), Behind the Scenes Videos (build trust), Live Q&A Sessions (direct engagement), Listicle Videos (concise, easy-to-digest info), Unboxing Videos (build anticipation), Myth-Busting Videos (establish expertise), and FAQ Videos (improve customer experience). These ideas cover everything from education to building trust and can be implemented with any budget.
10 Actionable Content Ideas for SMBs (Start Now)
You have the strategic framework. Now, here are 10 practical, actionable video content ideas that any small or medium-sized business can implement immediately to drive results.
- 1Behind-the-Scenes Videos: Show the human side of your business (staff preparing orders or daily operations) to build trust and authenticity.
- 2How-To and Tutorial Videos: Educate your audience (for example, How to properly care for a specific type of plant if you run a nursery) to establish credibility.
- 3Live Q&A Sessions: Engage directly with your audience on social platforms to build real-time trust by answering questions about product durability or service specifics.
- 4Listicle Videos: Present concise, easy-to-digest information in a numbered list (for example, Top 5 Must-Have Tools for Home Baking).
- 5Unboxing Videos: If you sell physical products, these build anticipation and trust by showing customers exactly what they will receive.
- 6Myth-Busting Videos: Educate and establish credibility by addressing common misconceptions in your industry.
- 7FAQ Videos: Answer frequently asked questions (like How do I return an item?) in a video format to improve customer experience and reduce support queries.
- 8Educational Webinars and Training: Establish your authority by sharing expertise in a longer format. Record these to offer on-demand for lead capture.
- 9Animated Infographic Videos: Present complex data or statistics visually in an engaging, easy-to-understand animated format.
- 10DIY and Life Hack Videos: Provide practical solutions and tips that relate to your product or services (for example, How to repurpose our product packaging).
Discover How Our Agency Can Drive More Leads and Sales To You
SEO - increase traffic and leads from Google
Content Marketing - from a data-driven topic strategy to awesome content
Paid Ads - Google Ads and Paid Social Media
Your Next Steps for Strategic Growth
The key takeaway is simple....
Don't feel like you have to do them all at once.
Start small, experiment, and see what resonates best with your audience. Remember, the goal is always to choose a video that not only meets your marketing objectives but also truly connects with your ideal customer. Video is essential in your marketing tool chest today.
