August 24, 2023
What is Business Video?
Now, with the rise of digital marketing, the commercial game has changed significantly. With smartphones in every hand and Wi-Fi in every corner of the world, digital marketing allows businesses to connect with their audience in real-time with business video. But what is a business video exactly? and why is it so important for businesses?
What is a business video?
What exactly is a business video? Imagine it as a TV commercial, but far more versatile and tailored for the digital audience. It’s a visual piece of content created to promote products, services, or even the brand itself. In a more polished manner, a business video is video content created and distributed to communicate important messages to target audience for business purpose(s), such as boosting sales, increasing customer engagement, or training new and current employees, among others.
What are the characteristics of business videos?
Business videos have distinct characteristics, in comparison with other types of videos, say personal or entertainment videos, specifically:
Purposes
Business videos exist to help companies achieve business objectives, such as to boost sales, promote brand awareness, and increase customer engagement. Other types of videos may be created for personal reasons, self-expression, or for entertainment purposes.
For example, Nike’s promotional videos aim to boost sales by showcasing new products. On the other hand, YouTuber PewDiePie’s videos serve entertainment purposes, attracting millions of viewers through gameplay commentaries and humor.
Target audience
Business videos target a number of stakeholders of the business, usually customers (prospective and current), employees, and partners. Other videos may have a broader or more personal target audience.
For example, IBM’s recruitment videos specifically target potential employees, showcasing the company culture and benefits. On the other hand, National Geographic’s documentary videos appeal to a broad audience interested in cultures, history, and wildlife.
Messaging
The efficient nature of businesses demands messages conveyed to be clear and concise, whereas messaging and content in other types of videos may be more open-ended and diverse.
For example, HubSpot’s tutorial videos convey clear, concise messages about using their products. In contrast, artist Billie Eilish’s music videos unfold complex, multilayered narratives open to individual interpretation.
Branding
Business videos need to follow branding guidelines set out by the business, in order to represent the brand’s identity and values consistently and to enhance professionalism. Meanwhile, branding is not a must for other videos.
For example, Coca-Cola’s videos consistently incorporate their branding elements like logo, “red” color, and “Happiness” tagline. Conversely, Casey Neistat, a popular vlogger, creates videos without strong branding, focusing on engaging storytelling.
Production Quality
In most cases, business videos have higher production quality than other video types, including cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects, to create a polished and professional image. However, this does not mean that business videos cannot intentionally have lower production quality for aesthetic reasons.
For example, Apple’s product launch videos exhibit high production quality, featuring crisp visuals, professional editing, soundtracks, and special effects. In contrast, indie filmmaker David F. Sandberg’s low-budget short films showcase creativity within constraints.
Call to Action (CTA)
Business videos commonly include a CTA to prompt viewers to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or visiting a website. Other types of videos may not necessarily have a CTA or may have a different objective.
For example, BetterHelp’s advertisement videos usually end with a CTA suggesting viewers to sign up for their counseling services. On the other side, short aesthetic films do not typically include CTAs, focusing primarily on artistic expression.
Given the diverse business purposes and target audience, there are many types of business videos, from advertisements, product demos, explainer videos, customer testimonials, to training videos, event recaps, webinars, and more. The elements of business videos also vary, including narratives, dialogues, animations, or a combination of elements that are deemed optimal and effective in delivering the intended message(s).
Why are business videos important?
Business videos make up a crucial component of a successful business strategy – continue reading to discover the reasons behind their importance for businesses nowadays.
The Digital Context
In short, business videos become more important to businesses, since videos, as a whole, become a vital part and more widespread in an increasingly digital business world.
With rapid technological advancement leading to the prevalence of Internet connection, mobile devices, and social media platforms, among other major changes, people have found new, creative, and indeed exciting ways to share ideas and communicate to their target audience, from full-length videos to short-formed reels. At the same time, people are consuming more digital content, including video content, than ever. This reality requires companies to digitize their content first and foremost, and to utilize such trend in their favor through creation and distribution of business videos for business purposes and objectives.
The Nature of Videos
Business videos are also crucial to companies, since video content, in and of itself, is likely the most efficient ways for businesses to convey their messages to the audience, specifically:
- Videos help break down complex and abstract ideas, concepts, processes, and instructions through visual demonstrations and examples. This improves clarity in communication, leads to better understanding of the messages and expected actions.
- Videos involve a combination of visual and auditory stimuli that capture and sustain audience attention, engage with viewers’ sensory memory, and evoke emotional responses. Altogether, they make a simple message more engaging, memorable, and relevant to the audience.
- Videos allow for quick delivery of information, compared to other formats like audios or texts, which saves resources and cuts down cost (including opportunity costs) for businesses.
The Business Impact
Finally, business videos are important thanks to its positive impact onto the business, including:
Enhancing Engagement
Business videos have the power to engage viewers, as briefly mentioned above. Beside effectively capturing viewers’ attention and delivering intended messages, videos also foster connections with viewers and improve their experiences with the brand, through live and asynchronous interactions, such as likes/favorites, shares, retweets, and comments.
Elevating Brand Visibility and Recognition
Business videos play a crucial role in increasing offline and online visibility, brand awareness, and recognition for businesses.
- If done properly, the videos themselves can create a distinct and authentic brand identity, by showcasing the company’s missions and values, products and/or services, real employee and customer stories, behind-the-scene footages, or simply the way they respond to audience interactions, among others, through a combination of elements like visuals, storytelling, and music.
- Video content is also prioritized by search engines, so if the business videos are optimized with relevant keywords, descriptions, and tags, businesses can attract organic traffic and increase their online presence.
- Business videos that are shared on social media would also help with companies’ social media presence.
Boosting Conversion Rates
Business videos can help improve conversion rates. As mentioned above, the visual and auditory stimulations of videos have a more or less persuasive power onto customers than other forms of content, which influences their purchasing decisions and drive more sales conversions.
Enhancing Strategies with Video Analytics
Last but not least, launching videos allow businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of current activities involving video content, which will inform future business decisions. Most video hosting platforms allow companies to track metrics of their business videos, such as views, engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. This data allows businesses to improve their approaches on content creation, refine their video strategies, and optimize future efforts for better results.
Conclusion
Business videos have become a critical component of all companies’ communication strategies in this day and age. Not only are they almost a given in this digital world, but they also emerge as the ultimate “communicator” and attention-grabbers: delivering messages and ideas in a highly efficient and effective manner, while capturing viewers and leaving a lasting impact onto both viewers and businesses.
Having captivating and relevant business videos is a great start – but what’s next in the journey with these videos? Crafting business videos is just the initial step; the story continues with devising an effective distribution and implementation strategy. If this phase isn’t executed correctly, the impact might remain minimal. This is where Dailymotion steps in as your trusted video strategy consultant and supporter. With almost two decades of experience, our expert teams not only offer cutting-edge technology but also extend personalized support and strategic guidance to ensure your success.Be ready to harness the power of business videos, take your brand to new heights, make a lasting impression, and watch your business soar to new horizons with Dailymotion today!