Best Practices for Creating Effective Employee Training Videos
Employee training can be time-consuming, particularly when the same information needs to be explained repeatedly…
Video is one of the most flexible forms of content a business can create. It can help you explain what you do, answer customer questions, show the people behind your business and give your audience a reason to keep coming back.
The good news is that not every video needs a large production budget. Some ideas can be filmed with a smartphone, while others are better suited to a professional production. The important thing is to create something useful, interesting or entertaining for the people you want to reach.
Here are 12 video content marketing ideas worth trying.
Think about the questions your customers ask again and again. These can make excellent video topics.
You could create a short video answering questions about your products, services, pricing, delivery, installation or anything else your customers regularly want to know.
Once you’ve created the video, you can also use it on your website, social media channels or sales presentations.
A product demonstration can be much more effective than simply describing what something does.
Show the product being used and explain the features that matter most to your customers. If there is a common problem that your product solves, demonstrate that too.
This type of video can be particularly useful for products that are difficult to explain with photographs or written content.
People like dealing with people, so why not introduce the people behind your business?
You could create a simple video introducing members of your team, explaining what they do and perhaps sharing something that customers might not know about them.
It doesn’t have to feel formal. A relaxed introduction can help potential customers understand who they will be dealing with.
Your customers only see part of what happens inside your business.
A behind-the-scenes video can show how products are made, how your team prepares for a project, what happens before an event or what goes into delivering your service.
These videos can be particularly effective because they show the real people and processes behind your business rather than simply making another sales message.
If you already spend time writing blog posts, you have a ready-made source of video ideas.
Take one of your existing articles and turn the main points into a short video. You could have someone talk through the subject on camera, use graphics and text, or combine the presenter with relevant footage.
This is also a useful way to get more value from content you’ve already created.
For example, our guide to how to make a video go viral could easily be turned into a series of short social media videos.
Customer stories are a great way of showing what your business actually does rather than simply telling people how good you are.
Ask a customer to explain the problem they had, why they chose your business and what happened after working with you.
A good customer story doesn’t need to be heavily scripted. In many cases, allowing the customer to explain their experience in their own words makes the video feel much more genuine.
You can find more advice in our guide to developing a story for a customer testimonial video.
Is there a topic in your industry that you have a strong opinion about?
Video gives you a quick way to explain your point of view and join conversations that are already happening in your sector.
This could be a response to a recent development, an explanation of a common misconception or simply your thoughts on where the industry is heading.
The key is to have something useful to say rather than creating an opinion video just for the sake of it.
If your business manufactures a product or creates something from scratch, show people how it happens.
You could film the different stages of production, introduce the people involved and highlight interesting details that customers would not normally get to see.
Even businesses that don’t manufacture physical products can use the same idea. A software company could show how a feature is developed, while a service business could explain what happens behind the scenes when a customer places an order.
Instead of putting every answer into one long video, consider creating a series of short videos.
Each video can answer one specific question. This makes the content easier to watch and gives you multiple pieces of content that can be shared across your website and social media channels.
It can also help you build a useful library of videos that your sales and customer service teams can refer people to.
A day-in-the-life video can give potential customers a much better understanding of your business.
Follow a member of your team through a typical day and show what their role involves. This could work particularly well for unusual jobs, specialist roles or businesses where the work happens away from a traditional office.
These videos can also be useful for recruitment because they give potential employees an idea of what working for the company is actually like.
If your business attends conferences, exhibitions, awards ceremonies or other events, don’t let the opportunity pass without capturing some video.
You could record presentations, interviews with attendees, reactions from your team or a quick tour of your stand.
A single event can provide enough footage for several pieces of content. Our event video production page explains some of the ways event footage can be used.
You don’t always need to put everything into one video.
If you have a subject that could support several pieces of content, turn it into a series. For example, a business could create five short videos answering common questions, explaining useful tips or introducing different members of the team.
A series gives your audience a reason to return for the next video and gives your business a regular source of content to share.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make with video is treating each video as a one-off piece of content.
A single shoot can often produce much more than one finished video. A customer interview could become a full testimonial, several short social clips, a case study for your website and useful footage for future marketing.
Planning this before filming can help you get considerably more value from your content. Our video production brief template can also help you think through what you want to create before you start filming.
You don’t need to come up with a completely original idea every time you create a video. Some of the most useful business videos simply answer questions, demonstrate products, introduce people or show customers what happens behind the scenes.
The important thing is to create content that gives your audience a reason to watch. Start with one idea, keep it focused and see what your audience responds to before building your next video around it.
