8 Types of Videos That Industrial Marketers Can Use to Drive Real Results
We know the thought of creating videos can be overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to decide which types of videos you should make for your business. At Wistia, we’re constantly saying “There’s a video for that!” and it’s true—creating a video is often a better, more effective way of presenting information.
That’s why we’ve gathered a list of the essential types of videos your business can create in order to promote your product, convert leads, and grow your audience. Along the way, we’ve included estimated production times based on the experiences of our video producers, so you can factor them in based on your workload. Sound good to you? Great!
1. Product videos
Do you sell a highly technical product or service that isn’t easy to explain succinctly? Or maybe you’ve done enough research to know that including video on your product page increases visitors’ time on that page, and thus the likelihood that they might convert.
Product videos show your product’s features and benefits and often include examples of how it works, all while engaging your audience. They’re particularly beneficial for consumers who are in the awareness or consideration stages of the buyer’s journey and need a clear, comprehensive explanation of what you offer. Take a look at the example below from Frame.io, the cloud-based video collaboration platform.
Product update videos
Product *update* videos will keep your existing customer base in the know about the latest changes and upgrades to your product. Additionally, these videos can teach your customers about new features and help to increase product adoption. They’re perfect for putting a face to the name of some of your teammates, whom your audience has come to know and trust. At Wistia, we made a product update video to announce our resumable video feature.
Production time
Because they often take prominent positions on businesses’ websites, product videos can have lengthy production times with multiple edits and revisions. Often, getting the concept and script perfectly aligned, as well as looping in key stakeholders, can be the longest parts of the process.
On the other hand, product *update* videos have lower stakes, since they’re more likely to be featured on blog posts and across your social channels, so producing them is less time-consuming. From the moment you start scripting to the final embed, you can usually expect your product update video to take between 3–4 hours.
Video length
Your product video should generally run anywhere from 2–5 minutes for the best engagement results.
Metrics that matter
After you embed a product video, you’re primarily looking for a combination of the play rate] and engagement rate. You’re trying to communicate a lot of new information in only a few minutes, so you want to make sure your viewers stick around for the entire duration.
Rewatches will let you know if there were certain portions that people might not have understood the first time—or they could indicate that your viewers are especially excited about a certain feature that they want to see again.
2. Explainer videos
Explainer videos are educational videos that teach your audience how to solve a problem. That problem could be related to using your product, or it could be a more tangential issue. But by the end of the video, your audience should be armed with the knowledge to take action based on the new skills they’ve learned while watching.
All of these factors make explainer videos perfect for ramping up content on your blog or even assisting a page in your support documentation. Why force people to write in with a common question about your product when you can explain it in a video that’s easily searchable? You’ll know your explainer video has really done its job when it results in fewer questions for your support team.
While a product video is likely to be replaced by an updated video down the road, explainer videos often have the capacity to provide value for years to come. Think of these as the ultimate classics of your video collection, lined up right next to your Lord of the Rings extended edition box set.
For example, Heatcraft Refrigeration Products created a helpful explainer video to provide technicians and contractors with a step-by-step tutorial on pairing their intelliGen controller to Wi-Fi using the intelliGen app.
Production time
Since explainer videos require lots of detail-oriented planning and time collaborating with your Subject Matter Experts, you’ll need to put more time and effort into producing them—about 20–24 hours on average. But that time is worth it when you remember that new customers, returning customers, and leads who might be looking into your product for the first time are all going to benefit from them.
Video length
Explainer videos generally have a running time between 2–5 minutes, so it’s imperative that the content is dynamic and engaging.
Metrics that matter
Once again, engagement is the key metric here. But you should also take into account which parts of your video viewers took time to watch more than once. Does this mean that section was particularly confusing for them? Maybe it signals that a certain segment warrants its own explainer video. You’re teaching your customers with these videos, but let the metrics teach you a thing or two as well.
3. Testimonial videos
People influence people. From Yelp reviews to Facebook comments, honest reviews can change our opinion of a product or convince us to buy. That’s what makes customer testimonial videos so valuable.
These videos can clearly show your leads the positive impact that your product has on real people. Hearing from customers’ voices and seeing a product in action is far more engaging than reading a paragraph. In the end, testimonial videos can be indispensable to build trust and win over new customers.
Need some testimonial inspiration? PlanSource, the employee benefits software company, creates customer success story videos. They interviewed the VP of Human Resources from The CORE Group, a national food service agency, to showcase how their product makes The CORE Group’s benefits enrollment process easier for employees and their administration team.
Production time
Testimonial videos can take anywhere from 1–2 days to put together, depending on whether or not you have to travel to the customer to shoot footage. If you have a video team, there are definitely pros to sending them to your customer.
Not only does it make things easier for the customer (after all, they’re doing you a favor), but it also means the video itself will be consistent with your production style. If it’s inconvenient to travel and the customer has their own video team, having them film their own testimonial is a solid backup plan.
Video length
When it comes to length, testimonial videos generally fall within the 5–10 minute window.
Metrics that matter
For testimonial videos, play rate and conversion metrics are key. Your play rate will clue you into how many people are interested in viewing the endorsement once they’re on the page with the video. If you’ve added Timeline Actions to your video, like our Turnstile email collector or a Call to Action (CTA), you can quickly see your conversion rates on your video’s Stats page.
4. Promotional videos
Promotional videos are like personal video invitations. Whether you’re inviting guests to a conference, webinar, or office open house, promotional videos pitch your event while giving your audience a feel for your brand.
In these videos, you’ll want to give a brief but detailed overview of the event you’re promoting, along with a Call to Action that encourages viewers to sign up or save the date. Your end goal is to generate leads or attendees by prompting viewers to take an action.
Virtual events are the new norm, and convincing folks to take time out of their day to attend is a big ask. Video is a surefire way to level up your promo efforts and get folks excited for your event. It could be something as simple as asking your host to shoot a quick, personal invite. Or, you could try something a bit more creative, like this video we did to promote a webinar.
Production time
Production can take anywhere from 1 hour to multiple days depending on how major the event is. A webinar invite video probably won’t need as much production time as a promo for a 3-day conference, for instance.
Video length
Event videos should be short and succinct, ranging between 1–3 minutes.
Metrics that matter
Play rate is the main metric to take into account here. But perhaps more importantly, if you’re implementing Turnstile or a Call to Action within your video, you can track just how successful your video has been at convincing viewers to enter their information or click your CTA.
5. Company culture videos
When it comes down to it, company culture videos are the most fun (and dare we say easiest?) to create. After all, they can pretty much be about anything and everything. And we’re not talking your run-of-the-mill corporate video.
Did you throw a guacamole-making competition for your team? Show it off in a video! Your CEO rode a unicycle to work? You have no choice but to make a video of that.
These videos let customers see who you really are behind the scenes as both individual employees and a collective company. There’s no better way to connect with your fans than by giving them a behind-the-scenes peek into the goings-on at your office. (Hint: Prioritizing LinkedIn video is a great way to simultaneously show off your company culture and build your employer brand.)
You can also use these videos for recruiting purposes to show potential employees what your work environment is like. Don’t just describe your great company culture and list your cool benefits—show them how it works in action.
Because you can never have enough dog videos, here’s how we helped Lenny choose the perfect Halloween costume in 2018!
Production time
Your company culture videos will, in most cases, take 1–2 hours to craft, so they’re relatively quick and easy to produce. As long as your audience finds them delightful, you can never make too many of them. Plus, they’re a perfect way to ramp up engagement on your social platforms.
Video length
These can range in length, from less than a minute to more than 5 minutes, depending on the scope of the content.
Metrics that matter
When looking at the analytics, the overall play count can be particularly insightful. You’re basically selling your brand based on the work atmosphere you’ve helped create, so the barometer of success will ultimately be whether or not people took notice and pressed play. If the number of plays is telling you that your company culture video is making a splash, you know what that means: more guacamole-making contests are in store for your team!
6. Sales presentations
Video can be a sales secret weapon, especially if you’re working with clients all around the world. There are many advantages to using a pre-recorded sales presentation, not least of which is timing. Emailing back and forth just to get something in the books can slow the momentum of the sales process.
Recording a sales presentation with a webcam and screen-recording tool like [the one in Wistia can help speed things up. Prospects can watch your pitch on their own time, returning to points you made earlier in the pitch, and then share it with colleagues if they need to. Not only will they appreciate the effort and planning you put into it, but they can also get more of the information they’re looking for up front.
When creating a recording in Wistia, you’re able to record both your friendly face via webcam and your laptop screen simultaneously, giving you the opportunity to add a personal touch to your videos, just like Nextep does in this example:
Production time
A video recording in Wistia requires very little overhead—all you need is your computer and some good lighting. Depending on where the lead is in the sales funnel, you may just be dropping a friendly line, with a few screenshots of your product or website, or you may be conducting a more extensive walk-through, answering questions, or recapping prior meetings. If you want to learn how to create a persuasive pitch with video storytelling, try using our Sales Presentation Template.
Video length
Aim for up to 3 minutes so you can give yourself enough time to get into the right level of detail, answer all questions, and finish off with a call to action.
Metrics that matter
Sales presentations are meant for small audiences, and the most important metrics are engagement, watch time, and conversion (if you’re including a conversion action within the video).
7. Social videos and teasers
Whether your audience is on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, or a combination of these platforms, the videos you host there can drive traffic to your website or simply live on your profiles to build brand awareness. You can also use social platforms to tease any type of content—a new product, upcoming webinars, blog posts, e-books, podcasts, and more.
Many of your viewers will be quickly scrolling on their phones and won’t have time to watch longer content. Short and sweet is the name of the social video game. If you’re teasing something, one strategy is to create multiple types of teaser videos to promote the same product or campaign and link out to the longer version to build brand awareness.
Production time
One of the great benefits of social video is that a lot of the content will have already been made for other purposes, like event promos or product updates. All you have to do is post it (or at the most, edit it down a bit first). Making these kinds of videos might only take you a half-hour (if they already exist), or up to 2 days (if you’re creating original content).
When it comes to making a teaser video, you can create something from scratch, or save yourself some time and edit existing footage into clips. However, each teaser should be channel-specific. For example, Instagram Stories should always be vertical and must be shorter than 15 seconds. Depending on the size and scope of your campaign, teasers can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to create. Check out this LinkedIn teaser from Flow International, a leader in advanced cutting and forming solutions. In their video, they tease what their waterjet, laser, and press brake solutions can do and provide a link to learn more about their offerings.
Video length
The average length of your videos hosted on social media should be less than 2 minutes, but shorter than that is preferable. If you can cut down your video to 30 seconds or less, you’re a real social video superstar.
Teaser videos need to be visually interesting, but short. We recommend keeping them under 30 seconds long.
Metrics that matter
Take a case-by-case approach for measuring the performance of your social videos. Based on the platform, you’ll want to make note of the number of views, likes, shares, and comments your video is drumming up. Looking at how your video performs on each individual site will shed light on its success.
Teaser videos are unlikely to boost conversions or even site visits. The reason? Social media sites are designed to encourage users to stay put. That’s why teaser videos should be viewed as an awareness tool. Pay attention to view count and completion rate within each site to understand how your content is performing.
8. Webinars and livestreams
When it comes to webinars and livestreams, there are endless possibilities, but one type of video that your business can get started with right away is a webinar. If you’re already hosting conferences, conducting seminars, or sharing big product announcements with your audience, you can easily turn those events into a webinar to reach a wider audience.
Wondering where to stream? LinkedIn is a safe bet, especially if your company already has a presence there. At Wistia, our team hosts Wake Up With Wistia, our unscripted live morning show for marketers where we share hot takes on marketing trends, share behind-the-scenes details about our projects, and more. We haven’t simulcasted to LinkedIn Live, yet, but we’ve promoted the event on LinkedIn with a registration link to the event hosted with Wistia’s webinar feature.
Production time
Production for a webinar is all in the setup. In most cases (unless you’re on the go), and especially if you’re broadcasting a speech or announcement, you’ll want to use a tripod to keep the shot steady. Make sure to direct speakers to stand in the frame so you’re capturing the whole shot, and depending on the location and time of day, you may want to add some extra lighting to brighten up your shot. Give yourself plenty of time to set the scene, and once the cameras are rolling, production will end when the event wraps up!
When your event is over, depending on whether you recorded your event, you can polish up your video and share the recording on social media, your website, or in email campaigns.
Video length
Depending on the event, webinars or livestreams can last from a few minutes to a few hours. And while it may go without saying, if you’re live-streaming a three-day conference, don’t let the camera roll for everything. Schedule livestreams to capture keynotes and seminars, and then promote these individual livestreams on your social channels. That way, people can attend virtually, just like they would in real life.
Metrics that matter
In-the-moment engagement is everything with webinars and livestreams. During your live event, track the following metrics:
- Focused attendee rate: the amount of attendees who are actually paying attention to your presentation
- Chat participation rate: how frequently attendees send messages in the chat
- Attendee drop-off: when your attendees leave
- Audience responses: your audience’s level of active engagement in your presentation
Livestreams are a key component of community building for companies with global audiences. With a livestream, you’re attracting participants who are enthusiastic about your brand but can’t necessarily make it to your events. Interact with those people in the moment to forge meaningful connections and deepen relationships.
Go forth and create
Sure, videos are fun to watch and even more fun to make, but they’re also a pretty fundamental aspect of how you do business. By now, you should have a good idea of how to create videos that resonate with your audience, whether you’re talking to customers or superfans of your brand. We can’t wait to see what types of videos you make for your business.