Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing

This video marketing guide is not like the others.

It’s not basic, outdated or regurgitated. It’s a genuinely useful, current and unique guide for both marketers and creatives. So, if you’re looking for the real ultimate guide to video marketing, you’ve come to the right place.

Stick with me and in 20-minutes you’ll know how to:

• Develop a video marketing strategy
• Understand the future of video marketing
• Explore different types of video marketing
• Nail video creation, distribution and measurement
• Scale video production using the best solutions

But before we dig into video marketing strategy, it’s helpful to understand how we got to where we are today. How has marketing changed? What’s driving the most recent shifts in video consumption? And most importantly, what does it all mean for your video marketing strategy?

The Video Marketing Landscape in 2023

We’ve reached an inflection point in marketing. Driven by technology like AI and TikTok, the way audiences consume media is changing.

There’s a step change right now with the creator economy, AI, the Tik-Tok-ification of everything, owned media, the way we actually reach audiences as marketers. All of it changes the way audiences are consuming media and therefore consuming our stories and messages.

Robyn ShowersDirector of Content Marketing, Vimeo

With this step change, video is gaining even more ground. By taking a closer look at what’s causing the change, it’s easy to see why. Here are six factors playing into video’s prominence and evolution in the new era of marketing:

From shorter attention spans to higher quality standards, these shifts in marketing all point in one direction: More video. To capture attention, tell quick stories, share your POV and satisfy multiple search channels, there’s no better medium. In fact, the latest data clearly shows it’s not a matter of “why” video, but “how” video.

Move the Conversation From “Why” Video to “How” Video

If you ever have to answer the question why video, here’s a good place to start: Video is responsible for 65% of all internet traffic in 2023. The same study found video usage grew 24% in 2022.

With YouTube coming in second on the list of most visited websites in the world, this is no surprise. But contrary to popular perceptions, it’s not just a platform for MrBeast stunts and CoComelon singalongs—68% of users watch YouTube videos to help make purchasing decisions. What’s more, 72% of consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it.

Beyond giving the people what they want, video improves performance across all marketing programs. Need proof? Here are a few stats from our own experiments you can leverage to move the conversation from “why” to “how” video:

• Content with video gets 300% more clicks in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Around 63% of Superside’s videos appear on the first page of Google search results.
• Ads with video convert at a 30% higher rate than animation-only or static ads.
• Sales outreach with video receives four times more replies and eight times more clicks.
• Video content drives 50% of new opportunities at Superside.

There are a million more stats online to back up your video marketing efforts, like 92% of marketers report positive ROI on video content and 93% say they’ve acquired a new customer through video on social media. But since we’ll be sharing advice from Superside’s own video marketing experts, we thought it was important to back up our chops. And in this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to get these types of results.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the “how!”

Why do you want to do video? What purpose are you trying to fill with it?

This is the first question you need to ask yourself when developing a video marketing strategy. It may seem basic, but often, video is a medium marketers throw into their strategies without thinking through the different goals it can accomplish. In fact, in their State of Video Report, Wistia found 43% of companies don’t have a video-specific strategy.

People see video as a silver bullet, but you really need a processed approach of why, what and how. It’s not just make a video and you’ll find success. It’s really that pre-process that will set you up for the win.

Nolan McCoyHead of Video & Creative Content, Chili Piper

For example, when McCoy was hired to lead video at Chili Piper, he knew the first thing they were trying to solve was brand awareness. For McCoy, hitting that brand awareness goal meant moving fast, focusing on quantity over quality and filling feeds with lots of different, interesting content pieces. Knowing the “why” dictated the “what” and “how.”

McCoy suggests keeping it this simple: Understand the why, who, what and how, and you’ll have the basis of a strong video marketing strategy.

Why Do You Want to Do Video?

For McCoy, the answer to this question was straightforward: Increase brand awareness. But as Chili Piper evolved, McCoy’s video marketing strategy did too. Having made a name for themselves in the market, Chili Piper diversified their video content to fulfill more down funnel goals, like educating and nurturing their audience.

In other words, he built out a full-funnel video marketing strategy.

Chances are you’ll have multiple goals you can map to the funnel as well. Though it’s well-established the marketing funnel isn’t linear or clear, it’s still a useful construct to ensure you’re creating with intention and covering all the stages where you might catch a person along their journey.

We still believe you need to create videos with the specific goals of the funnel in mind. It’s really important to be creating with the intention of where you might want to catch a person along their journey. But knowing they might see a BOFU piece first, storytelling across the funnel is key.

Katie ParkesFormer Head of Video, Shopify

Here’s a breakdown of goals and video types by funnel stage to help you zoom in on your “why:”

Who Are You Making Video For?

Every marketer and creative worth their salt knows the success of content hinges on understanding their target audience. Video content is no exception. Before you decide on topics, formats and platforms to reach your goals, you need a solid understanding of your audience. If you’re an established company, your product or marketing teams have likely done a lot of this legwork already.

But when it comes to video, you’ll want to go beyond demographics and focus on the humans behind the data. Where do their interests lie? What are they engaging with? How do they interact with a channel? Focusing on the real humans consuming your content will help you craft beautiful messaging and package it in the right ways.

Connect with the person, don’t over-index on the employee. That person we’re marketing to is not just their job title, or their job description, or their KPIs. They’re a person that thinks and feels things. And that’s the version of them I want to connect with.

Kyle WeberSr. Creative Copywriter & Video Specialist, Superside

In sum, the best approach to answering the persona question is (predictably!) human-centric. Start by understanding who your audience is and what they want on a human level. Then, you can dig into where and how to activate them. But really get the human-side down first—if not, you might end up creating videos for King Charles when your audience is made up of Ozzy Osbournes!

What Are You Going to Make Video About?

Once you’ve established your goals, it becomes a lot easier to narrow down your topics and formats. For instance, you might have a strong legacy product, but you want to reposition it in the eyes of your audience who have a limited view of your capabilities. This is a real example from Vimeo.

Vimeo has a history as “the hipster cousin” of YouTube, known for being a great place to host and embed content. But people are less familiar with the suite of video solutions they offer beyond hosting. So, their main goal this year was to change their audience’s awareness levels.

How do we change the perception? How do we tell marketers that we see them, that we understand them, and also that we have all of these other video tools? That’s where the idea for our new campaign film came from.

Robyn ShowersDirector of Content Marketing, Vimeo

Starting with their most pressing top of funnel need, Vimeo came up with a creative campaign film concept to capture attention in a fun, unexpected way. From there, they carried the main messages and imagery of this campaign across their programs at different funnel stages, making everything feel cohesive.

Top of funnel: Campaign film

Capturing attention with a fun, technicolor lifestyle video.

Middle of funnel: Monthly event series

Educating by sitting down with people who are using the tools today.

Bottom of funnel: Product videos

Selling by showcasing exactly what you get with each tool.

This campaign is a great example of ideating video content based on goals. For mid-market and enterprise companies, it’s inevitable you’ll have multiple goals. But if you start from your top priority, you can repurpose ideas across funnel stages and create a compelling brand experience, like Vimeo did.

How Are You Going to Make Video?

You have three options here: Build an in-house team, outsource to a creative partner or adopt a hybrid model of insourcing and outsourcing. The route you choose will depend on your goals, the maturity of your company and the resources available to you.

For example, Red Bull uses a hybrid model. They have an in-house team whose primary function is commissioning. These in-house producers, managers and content creators understand the brand and know what will work on Red Bull’s channels. Adopting a hybrid model allows them to retain creative control, while gaining access to a broad range of expertise, scaling production and experimenting with different video formats.

If you’re in a position where you have a relatively well-developed brand and you know what you want to achieve, then that hybrid model of retaining control in-house but upscaling your services out-of-house can really complement what you have going on.

Nina CaplinVP of Video Services, Superside

For earlier-stage companies who need to prove the ROI of a program before investing in-house, it may make sense to start with outsourcing. This was the case for Curative, an affordable healthcare startup that needed to create more professional video for their B2B audience. Starting with an outsourced creative partner allowed Curative to maintain a lean team, while getting their video strategy off the ground.

We had to prove the ROI of video before investing in it internally. We’re a pretty lean staff, and we’re keeping it that way. So, it was an obvious choice to outsource. It felt like the only option to create more produced content for the B2B audience we’re trying to reach.

Jessica GelzerSr. Director of Brand Marketing, Curative

In contrast, Chili Piper went all in on video right away. Knowing they wanted to invest heavily in a video strategy to increase brand awareness, they started with an in-house hire. All this to say, there are advantages to all three models, and ultimately, the route you choose will depend on your business goals.

We’ll go into more depth about the different ways to outsource and strategies for scaling video production a little later on. But for starters, here’s a chart that breaks down the pros and cons of each model to help you start thinking through the right choice for you company:

Perfect Your Video Marketing Strategy

Creating a video marketing strategy from scratch can be intimidating, especially if it’s not something you’ve done before. But if you start with the “why, who, what and how,” you’ll have a solid foundation to build on.

You’ll also want to get into more detail about:

• The types of video you’ll create
• The video creation process, including resources, timelines and budgets
• The best distribution channels considering your audience
• The success metrics you’ll track
• The tools and services you’ll use to scale video

...all of which we'll cover in the chapters to come! To give you a starting point (and a one-pager you can share with your boss), grab a copy of our video marketing strategy template and fill it out for your brand:

The future of video marketing is bright. As we’ve seen, video consumption continues to grow and all signs point to an era of marketing where this format comes first. But like most technology, video looks different today than it did five years ago. And in another five years, we’ll all be immersed in 360-degree video experiences akin to real life.

Sound a bit far-fetched? We’re really not that far off!

Along with interactivity, 360-degree video is one the emerging trends marketers and creatives should be aware of. Here’s a breakdown of the top five video marketing trends shaping the future of the medium:

Top 5 Video Marketing Trends in 2024

1. Short-form video

From TikTok and Snapchat to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, short-form video is officially the most popular social media content format. But again, this isn’t just a medium for socializing and Gen-Z. According to HubSpot’s latest Video Marketing Report, short-form video has the highest ROI of any video format for businesses, surpassing common mediums like webinars and live streams by over 20%.

Though definitions vary, most marketers and creatives agree a short-form video is less than 60 seconds. Regardless of exact length, the idea is to deliver a bite-sized piece of content to captivate viewers while catering to limited attention spans. So, how can you work this type of video into your strategy? There are tons of applications in marketing, including social media content, ads, webinar cutdowns and more.

Here’s a light-hearted short we created for our customer, Intercom:

2. User-generated content (UGC) video

Hand in hand with the rise of the creator economy and the preference for real points of view, UGC has become an essential play in the marketing repertoire. It works because it doesn’t come across as a play—UGC feels authentic and trustworthy. Often, this type of video is low-budget. It’s usually recorded vertically on a phone from a first-person perspective with simple captions and minimal editing.

And here’s the thing: Even if you don’t have actual content generated by customers or the budget to pay an influencer to make videos, you can still dip your toe into UGC. At Superside, we tested UGC created by an influencer against UGC-style videos made with in-house talent, and we found the in-house videos actually outperformed the influencer videos, cutting cost-per-lead by 45% month over month. So, mimicking a UGC tone and style with in-house video can be just as (if not more!) effective as the real thing.

Here’s an example of a UGC-style video we created for our customer, Curative:

3. Interactive video

In the battle for digital attention, interactive video can give you the high ground. In fact, Magna, a media strategy group, found interactive video ads were 32% more memorable than non-interactive ads, even if viewers didn’t click on the video—just knowing they could interact with the video made it stick in their minds. The same study found interactive video ads had a nine times higher impact on purchase intent.

Interactive video is a way to think outside of the box on how you can engage your audience differently using technology. It’s all about engagement and getting folks to spend more time having an experience.

Derrick RhodesVP of Marketplaces, Vimeo

During our Standout Summit, Rhodes shared an example the Edinburgh Zoo created with Vimeo, where viewers can decide which animals to visit and click to reveal facts throughout the video. It’s easy to see how this type of immersive, active experience lends itself to deeper engagement.

Here’s a snippet of the Edinburgh Zoo’s interactive video experience:

4. 360-degree video and virtual reality (VR)

Taking the concept of immersive experiences a step further, 360-degree videos include footage from every direction and allow the viewer to control their perspective. How is that different from VR? The line between the two can get a bit blurry, but generally, viewers watch 360-degree videos on a normal flat screen, while VR is a more immersive experience where viewers wear a headset and control their decisions, gestures and whereabouts.

In a study by Omnivirt, a VR advertising platform, 360-degree video ads had an average video completion rate (VCR) of 85%, a 46% improvement over regular, 2D video ads with a VCR of 58.2%. Similarly, virtual reality promises to deliver more engaging consumer experiences and continues to grow in popularity—Statista estimates the VR market will reach 22 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. For marketers and creatives, these technologies open up brand new avenues to connect with an audience. Already, you can showcase your products in a 360-degree video or hold a conference in a VR environment.

Here’s an example of a 360-degree video from Google’s Arts & Culture project:

5. Artificial intelligence (AI) in video production

Like most workflows, AI is affecting the way marketers and creatives approach video production.

Beyond AI-generated avatars and voiceovers, this technology can play a part in everything from ideation and scripting to editing and repurposing. Meghan Keaney Anderson, the VP of Marketing at Jasper, has some good advice, “When you’re starting to use AI, figure out where there’s friction in your process in a way that’s not productive. Once you identify those points, that’s where you want to apply AI. Whether that’s in the editing process or earlier in scripting.”

Of course, there are also AI-generated video tools that can create video from text and other media. Globally, the market for AI video generators is expected to grow from 411.5 million in 2022 to 1,082.7 million in 2027. That’s a stunning compound annual growth rate of 17.5%. So, though the quality of AI-generated video may not be up to your creative standards today, these tools are evolving rapidly and are well worth keeping an eye on.

Here’s a roundup of AI-generated videos to give you an idea of what’s possible:

Now that you’re equipped with an understanding of both your goals and the current trends in video marketing, it’s a good time to explore. What types of videos can you create? And what types of videos should you create, given your strategy?

To help answer these questions, we’ve put together a list of common video types based on a survey of 346 marketers and creatives. In order of popularity, here are seven types of videos you may want to incorporate into your strategy:

7 Types of Videos to Include in Your Marketing Strategy

1. Social media shorts

Have you spotted the trend? In addition to topping the list of video marketing trends in 2023, social media shorts are the most popular video format according to our survey. Knowing that reduced attention spans is one of the factors affecting modern marketing, the prevalence of short-form video makes perfect sense.

As we’ve seen, this type of video has the highest ROI of any format and can deliver on multiple goals. The most common goal of social media shorts is to increase brand awareness—creative or humorous videos that capitalize on trends can get a lot of engagement on social platforms, like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

That said, social media shorts are also ideal for educating your audience about your product and how it can solve their problems. Last but not least, this type of video can fulfill down funnel goals of converting prospects or capturing leads when used as ads. So, it’s safe to say social shorts should be a part of any full-funnel video marketing strategy.

Here are a few examples of short-form social media videos we created for our customer, Suzanne Kalan:

2. Digital ads

When you have mere seconds to capture your audience’s attention, choosing video for your digital ads is a smart bet. Though success will depend on the overall quality of your ads, several studies have found video ads outperform static image ads. For instance, in a Databox survey, 67.55% of respondents said video content drives more ad clicks on Facebook than images.

That’s because video allows you to tap into a more immersive experience. Weber explained it beautifully in a recent webinar on spicing up your video ad strategy.

A great story connects with its audience emotionally. To do this you need more than great imagery. You need music. You need expression. With video, you gain access to more storytelling tools than any other ad medium.

Kyle WeberSr. Copywriter & Video Specialist, Superside

Though you may associate video advertising with down funnel goals, this medium is also excellent for building brand awareness. Even if a large portion of your audience doesn’t click on your ads, impressions count. Every view builds brand recognition—and if your ads are good, affinity—increasing the chances of a conversion down the line. The moral of the story: Don’t discount impressions as a key performance metric.

Here’s an example of one of Superside’s top-performing video ads (notice the use of captions to account for mute being the default setting in feeds!):

3. Explainers

Arguably one of the first types of videos you should invest in, an explainer clearly communicates what your product does and why your audience should care. What problems does your product solve? How does it solve those problems? Why is it better than the alternatives? A good explainer video touches on all of these key points.

Create a good explainer video and your sales team will reach for it over and over again. Though these videos can be promoted for brand awareness, they’re generally best suited for educating prospects in the middle of the funnel. Think of an explainer video like an opening argument: When your audience hears it, they’re aware of the problem, and it’s your job to deliver a straightforward, compelling case for the solution.

Of course, there are many different styles of explainer videos. Depending on your product, you might opt for a live-action explainer featuring people talking to the camera or an animated explainer showing a screen recording with narration and overlays. The former may be best for people-focused services while the latter often suits highly technical products.

Here’s an example of an animated explainer we created for our customer, Bolt:

4. Brand films

Brand films are more like art than marketing—and that’s why they work. Rather than a hard sell, brand films tell a story and aim to connect with an audience on an emotional level. In a world where we’re bombarded by ads every day, brand films focus on capturing attention by leaning into people’s interests and weaving engaging narratives.

With this approach, brands get attention through earned media, meaning their audience feels compelled to share the film on social media and the press may pick it up for coverage. (More on this a little later on!) As you’ve likely guessed, the goal with this type of film is to increase brand awareness and affinity rather than convert prospects.

To accomplish this goal, brand films can take many forms. They can be fictional short films featuring animated or live-action characters. Or, they can be nonfictional, like documentaries or interviews. Or, they may tackle pertinent issues, like the environment and inequality, in order to establish a company’s stance and gain consumer support. Whichever approach you choose, the key is to tap into story-telling to create a relatable, memorable experience that becomes tied to your brand.

Here’s an example of a beautiful brand film by Patagonia:

5. Testimonials

Right up there with creating a great explainer, producing or growing a library of testimonial videos should be high on your list of priorities. Why? Well, these types of videos yield an undeniable ROI. In a study by Wyzowl, 77% of people who watched a testimonial video said it played a role in convincing them to make a purchase. And two out of three people said they’d be more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video.

So, this bottom of funnel video format is one of your best sales enablement tools. They can provide the last piece of social proof a prospect needs to pull the trigger on a product page. Or, pave the way for your sales team to seal a deal. Regardless of whether you’re in B2B or B2C, testimonial videos can help you get that conversion.

The format you choose, though, will depend on your business model. For B2C, it’s common to create before and after videos or testimonials where consumers try a product live. On the other hand, B2B testimonial videos often follow a case study narrative, where a customer talks through the problem they faced, the solution a product offered and the results for their brand. That said, don’t dismiss more creative testimonial formats just because you’re in B2B. Switching things up with more candid clips from customers or behind the scenes UGC-style videos can help your testimonials feel fresh and authentic.

Here’s an example of a testimonial video we created from a candid webinar clip:

6. Tutorials

Who hasn’t watched a YouTube tutorial to figure out why their internet TV isn’t connecting or how to install a light fixture? It’s no surprise Google reports users are three times more likely to prefer watching a YouTube tutorial video over reading a product’s instructions. These helpful videos are a godsend in a pinch and can build a lot of good will with your audience.

In addition to building good will, tutorials can help position your brand as a helpful resource and an authority on a topic. Generally, these videos accomplish middle of funnel goals by educating your audience on how to solve a problem (and subtly introducing your product). But they can also be invaluable for retention and expansion by deepening your customers’ aptitude with your product and introducing them to new features.

For middle of funnel tutorial videos, try answering common questions that relate to your product or service in a clear step-by-step format. A UGC-style with simple graphics and easy-to-read captions can work well for this type of tutorial too. For pure product tutorials, screen sharing and walking through a process is a common approach, though you can always mix in some live-action for a personal touch.

Here’s an example of a middle of funnel tutorial video by HubSpot:

7. UGC or creator-led videos

Speaking of UGC, this type of video also made it onto the list of formats marketers and designers were most interested in pursuing. As we’ve seen, a UGC or creator-led style can be used across many different video types. But as a distinct and trending video format, UGC deserves a spot of its own.

From ads and explainers to testimonials and tutorials, UGC or creator-led videos can fulfill goals across the full funnel. Not in B2C? You can still use UGC. In fact, this type of video may help you stand out even more in industries where it’s not the norm, like finance or healthcare. No matter what industry you’re in, this first person, straight to camera style can lend authenticity to your messaging and content.

For B2C brands, UGC videos often involve product unboxings or showing real customers using your product. You can take the same approach in B2B to showcase how your product works in real life or get genuine feedback on experiences. Here at Superside, one of our favorite tactics is creating UGC-style video ads that tap into our customers’ pain points.

Here’s an example of one of our top-performing UGC-style skits:

These video types may have topped the charts in our survey, but of course, there are many more formats to explore. To continue along your video marketing reconnaissance journey, check out the 11 formats below:

Feeling inspired? Then now’s the perfect time to dive into the creative process.

If you’re a marketer, you’ll likely be involved in three parts of the video marketing process: Creation, distribution and measurement. As a creative, you might just be involved in step one—but it still pays to understand how your videos will be distributed and what metrics will indicate success.

It’s all part of the crucial cycle of testing and learning, which we’ll get into when we discuss video measurement. But first, let’s talk creation. Here’s how to come up with the best concepts, script the most engaging videos and make sure production goes off without a hitch.

Step 1: Video Creation

Ideation

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve already thought about what you want to accomplish and explored the different types of videos that can help you reach your goals. So, you probably have a good idea of the content you want to create. But depending on video cadence, coming up with fresh concepts can quickly become a chore.

The thing is, if you’ve been in business for a while, you’re sitting on a treasure trove of ideas. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look. In addition to (always) taking cues from your customers, here are some quick ways to come up with video concepts:

• Blog posts. As a starting point, ask your SEO team to pull a list of blogs with the most traffic and highest conversion rates or use GA4 to do this yourself. Then, narrow down which topics make sense to repurpose depending on your goals.
• Social channels. Your social channels are another goldmine of ideas. Ask your social media manager what content gets the most engagement or use a tool like Buzzsumo to see which posts of yours (and your competitors) have the most shares.
• Newsletter performance. Your newsletter is another channel you can look to for clues. If you’re sharing content from beyond your blog, like industry news or external articles, check to see which topics get the highest open rates, clicks and replies.
• Trending topics. Beyond trend-jacking, there may be a place in your strategy for covering trending topics, especially if one of your goals is brand awareness. Try using Google Trends to see what people are talking about and how it relates to your industry.
• The competition. This tip comes with a caveat: Your competition may have a very different strategic vision, and you shouldn’t just follow their lead. That said, it doesn’t hurt to keep tabs on their video channels or peruse their Facebook ad library.

Still racking your brain for ideas? Watch this video for tips to keep your creative juices flowing:

Scripting

It’s not an exaggeration to say everything hinges on the strength of your script. Don’t be that person who reads a blog post to the camera. Write scripts made for video considering the visual elements and personality you can add.

How? There are many frameworks for scripting depending on the type of video you want to create. One of our favorites is called the HIVE Framework by Ali Abdaal—though made for YouTube, the core concepts are short, sweet and can be adapted across video channels.

Hook

Remember how attention spans are shorter than ever? When it comes to scripting, this means you’ll want to spend at least 10-20 minutes thinking through JUST the first 10 seconds of your video, and how you’re going to capture your audience’s attention in that time.

Your video hook should make an emotional connection, address an issue, or better still, do both. Here are some quick techniques to consider for your hook:

• Ask a burning question
• Share a thought-provoking fact
• Offer a transformation from “this to that”
• Give a tip right from the start
• Show enticing B-roll to drum up intrigue

Intro

Often, there will be multiple entry points into your videos and many viewers may be seeing your content for the first time. Since it’s hard to predict how someone will come across your content, you’ll want to create a certain degree of consistency with how you introduce yourself.

Regardless of which video someone watches first or where they find it, they should be able to understand:

• Who you are
• What you’re about
• What value you bring to the table

Of course, the need to introduce yourself or your brand will vary depending on the type of video you’re creating. In general, you’ll only need an intro for “discoverable” videos where you’re attracting new viewers to watch your content. For these videos, keep it short. Your intro can be as simple as “I help X do Y.”

Value

This is the meat of your video. The reason your audience has stuck it out this far. Don’t disappoint them!

Consider how you can provide the most value to your audience while keeping them engaged. Your writing style is a factor here. Cutting to the chase, injecting surprise and leveraging emotion are all ways to keep your viewers from clicking away. The other big factor is the structure of your videos.

Abdaal describes four broad video structures:

1. Listicle. This structure provides clear value to your audience—they know they’ll come away with X learnings or suggestions.
2. Triplet. In this structure, you share three broader statements and a number of smaller points to support each statement.
3. Quartet. Ideal for educational videos, this structure answers the questions “why, what, how and what if?”
4. Story. Akin to the quartet approach, a story structure often follows the hero’s journey and includes more personal experiences.

End screen

If you’re creating a YouTube video and your objective is to keep viewers on your channel, Abdul suggests keeping the conclusion short and avoiding closing terminology, like “thanks for watching.” That’s because you don’t want to tip off viewers that your video is about to end and give them time to click away.

Instead, Abdaal suggests creating a segue to another pertinent question or topic by using an “if” statement or a story. Then, you can use YouTube’s end cards to point to a video with the answer right away. Whether you’re creating a YouTube video or an explainer for your homepage, the same concept can apply. You want to give your audience a next step—that might be continuing to consume content, or for more down funnel videos, getting in touch.

Video production

So, you have a strong strategy and stellar script. Now, it’s time to get the show on the road.

Traditionally, the video production process is broken down into three stages: Pre-production, production and post-production. Pre-production includes strategy, ideation and scripting—meaning we’re already a third of the way there!

Production is the actual process of filming your video while post-production involves technical tasks, like editing, audio, animation and optimization. We’ll get into strategies for scaling the full video production process in the next chapter. But for starters, here are some questions to think through before tackling video production:

• Will you use an internal thought leader or external ambassadors to be on camera?
• Do you need any new equipment for the type of videos you want to create?
• Do you have a dedicated studio or location to film video at?
• What’s your budget for necessities, like actors, gear and locations?
• Have you put together a call sheet (shooting schedule or agenda)?
• Do you have all the tools you need to handle post-production?
• Do you have access to all the skill sets you need to realize your vision?

Of course, the answers to many of these questions (and whether they’re relevant) will depend on the approach you choose for video production. If you recall at the beginning of our guide, we outlined three video production models: In-house, outsourced and hybrid. There are pros and cons to each model…

Rely on an in-house team and you’ll have to figure out the answers to all of these questions, though you’ll have complete creative control. Outsource everything and you won’t have to answer any of these questions, but you’ll have less control. Use a hybrid model and relieve some of the pressure on your internal team while managing logistics.

This is just a ten thousand foot view of your options. As noted, the close up is coming up in Chapter 5!

Step 2: Video Distribution

Just like the quality of your video hinges on your script, its performance will be determined by how well you distribute it. What channels does your audience live on? How will you get your videos in front of your audience on those channels? Does organic or paid make sense?

Broadly speaking, there are three main distribution strategies you can pursue: Owned, earned and paid media.

Owned media

Owned channels give you home court advantage. You know the lay of the land and can control when and how your audience will consume your video content. With the lowest barrier to entry and most control of any strategy, distributing your videos on owned channels is a no-brainer. These include:

• Your website. From your blog to your product pages, video can supercharge your website SEO, engage and convert visitors, and provide a better user experience all around.
• Your product. If you have an app, video can make your product tours, tutorials and in-app messages a lot more engaging, increasing usage and retention metrics along the way.
• Your newsletter. Just using the word “video” in a subject line can improve engagement and including a video thumbnail in the body of your email can increase click-through rates by 200%.
• Your brand social channels. Though you don’t own the algorithms, you can control the messaging on your socials and drive up performance with video—just make sure you’re creating platform-native content whenever possible.

Word to the wise, there are a lot of preconceived notions around social channels, like TikTok is just for Gen-Z or Facebook is a hot bed of boomers. To an extent, it’s true certain demographics are more prevalent on specific channels. But don’t dismiss a channel based on these kinds of assumptions. With a little research and experimentation, you might just find an unexpected channel performs well for your brand.

Here’s a breakdown of common social channels to get you started:

• Facebook. As a creative B2B company, we’ve found the most success with video ads on Facebook while organic social content tends to fall flat on the platform. This may be different for you, depending on your industry and audience. For instance, we’ve seen many thriving B2C Facebook pages, like Nike, Nutella and Universal.
• Instagram. Another hot bed for video advertising, Instagram can work well for both B2B and B2C paid campaigns. We’ve also seen success with reels and stories leading to widespread engagement and event bookings, so don’t dismiss this platform if you’re in the B2B space!
• LinkedIn. Everyone’s favorite professional network, LinkedIn is excellent for reaching a B2B audience. Though with recent algorithm changes, it’s increasingly difficult to get organic exposure as a brand. One workaround is boosting employee posts. We’ve also found UGC video ads work well at disrupting feeds and getting the click on this platform.
• TikTok. Contrary to popular belief, TikTok isn’t just for Gen-Z and can work for both B2B and B2C. Just look at Shopify, Grammarly and Adobe—these brands all have thriving TikTok channels with hundreds of thousands of followers. We’ve experimented with this platform a lot in the last year, and we’ve found using trending sounds and applying creative humor works best.
• Threads. An overnight success story, Threads grew to 100 million users in a week. As a young platform, there’s still a lot of UX work to be done, but we’ve found a pleasant reception to our content there. At this stage, you don’t necessarily need a full-on Threads strategy, but it doesn’t hurt to throw up a brand page and start experimenting.
• Twitter. Or is it X? Whatever Elon Musk is calling it these days, this platform still hosts a large audience. Though our content doesn’t resonate as well on Twitter, many B2C brands, like Wendy’s, Charmin and Coca-Cola do well here. For video content, you’ll just have to keep it under two minutes and 20 seconds.
• YouTube. The Goliath of video platforms, YouTube is one channel every brand should take advantage of. As the second most visited site in the world, there’s a high likelihood your audience, or at least a large chunk of it, can be found here. We share a variety of content on YouTube, from educational to inspirational videos

Paid media

One of the biggest advantages of paid distribution is better targeting. Though targeting isn’t as precise as it used to be given stricter regulations around third-party data, you still have a lot more control with paid than with organic channels. This makes paid advertising an excellent testing ground to see if messaging resonates with a specific audience. Here are your options for paid distribution:

• Social media ads. In addition to straight up ads, many platforms offer the option to boost your organic posts, allowing you to get your video content in front of a wider audience.
• Search ads. Though search ads don’t include video, the landing page you link to certainly can—and by including a relevant video on your landing page, you can increase your ad quality score and drive better conversions.
• Influencers and creators. More and more brands are turning to influencers and creators to share content that speaks to their target audience and feels authentic, despite being paid.
• Native advertising. Just like it says on the box, this type of distribution involves paying for natural content placements on third-party sites that don’t look like ads to the target audience.
• Sponsored content. Similar to native advertising, sponsored content involves paying for placements, but instead of an ad, the sponsored content is educational and written in the style of the publisher.

Earned media

You have the least amount of control with earned media. Though you can encourage social sharing, reach out to news outlets and ask for product reviews, the result of these efforts will always be a bit unpredictable. That said, earned media is powerful for this very reason. When a news outlet shares your content or a customer raves about your product online, that’s some authentic social proof. Here are some examples of earned media:

• Social sharing. Probably the easiest type of earned media, social sharing can help you reach new audiences with your content—the key is to create videos so entertaining or educational that your audience just has to share.
• News outlets. It’s become increasingly difficult to get unpaid placements on news outlets in recent years, but it’s not impossible. Again, you need to tell an extremely compelling story to earn this type of media.
• Endorsements. Your product or content could be so good that influencers and creators endorse it for free. You might also incentivize an endorsement with a free account or content exchange.
• Testimonials. You don’t have to create all the content yourself, either. Ask your best-fit customers for video testimonials or send your product to online reviewers to get credible social proof and expand your reach.

The common thread here is the strength of your video content. If you focus on quality from the get go, your earned media strategy may largely run itself.

But ideally, your video distribution strategy will take all three types of media into account. If you’re just getting started, it makes sense to focus on your owned channels first. That way, you can see what resonates with your existing audience and hone your video content before investing heavily in paid or spending a lot of time on outreach.

As you scale, paid can become an excellent testing ground. For example, here at Superside, we repurpose our most popular video ads to promote content organically while zeroing in on the messaging and pain points that really hit a nerve. This relationship can go both ways too, with your top-performing organic content informing your advertising.

At the end of the day, the goal should be to create a video distribution ecosystem where all three forms of media feed into each other, fueling the flywheel of creative that performs.

Step 3: Video Measurement

Now for the moment of truth! It’s time to see how your videos performed.

But here’s an inconvenient truth: Video can be hard to attribute, especially if you’re looking for a direct line to revenue. The thing is, it won’t make sense to tie every video to bottom of funnel goals. To understand the impact of video across the funnel (and the business), you need to tie the right results to the right video. You can also look at positive indicators, like video retention metrics and follow up actions taken.

Video can be hard to attribute. So, looking at retention metrics is a great place to start. Are they watching the content all the way through? Then, what did they do after they watched the video? Did they watch another one? Sign up for our newsletter? Reach out on another channel?

Nolan McCoyHead of Video & Creative Content, Chili Piper

All this to say, it’s best to take a holistic approach to measuring video performance. In addition to nitty gritty video analytics, make sure you’re looking at the content journeys viewers are taking, and whether they’re getting off on the right foot. With this in mind, here’s a quick look at how to tie results to videos across the funnel:

Top of Funnel: Awareness

Perhaps the easiest funnel stage to attribute metrics to, brand awareness goals naturally tie back to accessible data like views, impressions and unique viewers. To wade deeper into the weeds, you can also assess metrics, like awareness lift and ad recall. Let’s take a closer look at these top of funnel KPIs:

• Views. You’ll probably assess views across the funnel, but at the awareness stage, this may be a main KPI. View count is easy to access through most video hosting platforms—YouTube even shares it with the world!
• Impressions. Depending on the platform, impressions may indicate how many people your video has been shown to or how many times it’s appeared in search results. This tells you how visible your video is. If impressions are low, it could be a sign you need to change your targeting, keywords or check for copyright issues.
• Unique viewers. If you’re looking for a clearer picture of your audience size, this metric is for you. It estimates the net number of people who watched your video over a given period of time, taking into account repeat watches.
• Awareness lift. Though harder to measure, there are tools like Google’s Brand Lift that can help you get concrete data on brand awareness improvements. Brand Lift works by showing users surveys on YouTube, depending on whether they’ve seen your ads or not. Though less precise, you can also run this kind of survey yourself through your socials or newsletter.
• Ad recall. Similar to awareness lift, ad recall measures how memorable a video ad is to an audience through a survey. Note, Facebook uses machine learning to project the results of an ad recall survey while YouTube’s Brand Lift tool runs actual surveys.

Middle of Funnel: Consideration

The consideration stage is all about engagement. Your viewers are familiar with your brand—now it’s time to drum up their interest with educational content that speaks to the problems they face. That’s why your KPIs for middle of funnel campaigns should revolve around engagement, including:

• View-through rate. Specific to video ads, view-through rate (VTR) looks at the number of completed views of an ad over the number of impressions. Simply put, this tells you the percentage of viewers who watched your video ad to the end, which is a good indication of how engaging it is.
• Watch time. Watch time tells you, on average, how much of a video people watch. Using this metric, you can easily determine which videos are most engaging and figure out how to replicate that success.
• Audience retention. Similar to watch time, audience retention rate indicates how much time people spend consuming your videos overall. This can help you get a handle on how well a channel or campaign is performing as a whole.
• Favorability lift. Another metric available through Google’s Brand Lift tool, favorability lift assesses whether viewers see your brand more favorably after watching one of your video ads. Again, you can assess this yourself by running surveys to your audience.
• Consideration lift. Along the same lines, consideration lift tells you whether viewers are more likely to consider buying your product after seeing a video ad and can be measured with Brand Lift or audience surveys.
• Brand interest lift. Similar to consideration lift, brand interest lift indicates whether people are more interested in your brand as a result of a video. For this metric, Brand Lift actually looks at increases in organic search activity after running a campaign.

Bottom of Funnel: Conversion

At the bottom of the funnel, it’s time to seal the deal. Whether you’re looking for calls booked, app sign ups or direct purchases will depend on your product. Whichever action you’re after, this is where the metrics can get a bit muddy. It’s not always easy to attribute down funnel actions to a piece of content, like a video. But you should be able to set up tracking to see whether a video was a touchpoint along the buyer journey.

Quick tip: Try adding a self-reported attribution field to forms asking visitors how they found you.

Here are some metrics you might be interested in for BoFu video campaigns:

• Clicks. If your video ends with a CTA to visit a product page or book a call form, clicks will be important to track. This will tell you how effective your video is at driving action, independent of your landing page performance.
• Calls. For products that require demos, calls booked may be a key metric on your radar. As mentioned, it might not always be obvious whether a video led directly to a call, but you should be able to see whether it was a touchpoint that influenced a conversion.
• Sign ups. If you have a freemium or self-serve version of your product, you’ll likely be interested in app sign ups. Again, though attribution may be indirect, you can monitor whether a video was a touchpoint on the buyer journey.
• Opportunities. In addition to landing that call, you should try and get visibility into the entire sales cycle. If your video helps book a lot of calls but they’re not good quality, keeping tabs on opportunities can sound the alarm.
• Sales. For B2C products, sales will likely be your number one KPI. For those in the B2B space, tracking calls booked all the way to opportunities and sales driven by video content is the dream!
• Purchase intent lift. Another metric available through Google’s Brand Lift or measurable via survey, purchase intent tells you whether consumers plan on buying your product after seeing your video ad.

Beyond the Funnel: Loyalty

The bottom of the funnel doesn’t mean the end of the line! You’ve done the hard work of converting a prospect into a customer, but the real key to sustained success is retaining them long-term. In the loyalty stage, you want to stay top of mind and keep delivering value to your customers. To that end, here are a few video-related metrics to keep an eye on:

• Returning viewers. On YouTube, you can see how many people come back to view more content after watching your videos. You can also look at returning visitors on landing pages where you’re embedding video. Though you likely won’t be able to tell who’s a customer, this is still a good indication of the stickiness of your video content.
• Social engagement. If your full funnel video marketing strategy is working well, a lot of your customers will start as audience members and stick around to consume your content post-purchase. So, monitoring social engagement on video content can help you understand what resonates with your customer segment.
• Favorability lift. Just because they’ve purchased, doesn’t mean they can’t still be swayed in favor (or disfavor) of your brand! So again, looking at favorability lift after customers consume your videos is a smart bet.

By tracking these metrics, you should have plenty of ammunition to answer the “ROI of video marketing” question. That said, measuring video performance isn’t just about looking good in the boardroom—it’s about looking forward, learning and improving.

The insights you gather from assessing video’s impact at different funnel stages will inform the iterative process of testing and learning, fueling a cycle of growth where every video becomes a stepping stone towards a deeper understanding of your audience and more compelling campaigns.

But when it comes to video with its comparatively high-lift production, we know this test and learn cycle can feel laborious. So in the next chapter, we’ll share strategies to scale video production with ease and achieve a high-volume, high-reward cadence.

How to scale video production is a massive question. (Get it?)

Poor jokes aside, we’ll try to break it down simply. To scale video, you need to decide on the right production solution for your stage company and strategic goals. Then, depending on the solution you choose, you can think through time-saving tools and find efficiencies in your creative workflows.

As we’ve touched on, you have three options for video production: Building an in-house team, outsourcing or adopting a hybrid model that combines both. Within the outsourcing bucket, there are also several options to consider, including agencies, CaaS and freelancers. So, how can you decide which solution is right for you?

Which Video Production Solution Is Right for You?

Like everything in marketing, it comes back to your company goals and the volume of video you’ll need to achieve them. For instance, if you’re an early stage company that’s highly focused on positioning, there’s an argument to be made for quality over quantity. But if you’re a later stage company with goals across the funnel, you’ll likely need to prioritize speed and frequency.

Increasingly, what’s demanded of brands in this day and age is that speed, frequency and relevance of showing up in the right places. If your audience is in places that reward these qualities, you have to adapt and find a way to meet them there.

Nina CaplinVP of Video Services, Superside

So to answer this question, start by working backwards from your goals. When you have a firm handle on what you want to achieve, you can better assess how to get there. Let’s take a look at the video production solutions that can help you reach your destination:

In-house

Building an in-house team is often the go-to solution and there are definite advantages to this approach. The most obvious pros relate to the depth of creative control, brand knowledge and strategic oversight you get by keeping everything in-house.

The flip side to this equation is that your output will always be tied to your team size and priorities. (And we’ve yet to meet an in-house creative team without a mountain of competing priorities!)

Beyond securing budget, hiring and managing talent in-house also comes with its fair share of challenges. From expensive hiring processes, lengthy onboarding and uncertain retention to time-consuming management, limited expertise and slow scalability, building a video team is yet another mountain for busy creative leaders to climb.

Our recommendation: If your video needs are modest and you don’t foresee scaling quickly, you may want to focus on a few in-house hires.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing has become the norm for both small and large-scale companies, with nearly 86% of in-house teams using external partners. That’s because there are a lot of upsides—you get to skip hiring, upskilling and internal management while accessing a broader range of expertise and benefiting from fresh perspectives.

That said, depending on how you outsource you may encounter some pitfalls. Here’s a breakdown of your options when it comes to outsourcing video:

Freelancers

Freelancers are by nature highly specialized, making them ideal for filling individual skill gaps. That means, if you’re lacking one specific skill like video editing on your creative team, a freelancer can help. But they won’t be able to accelerate your entire video production process from start to finish.

There’s also the matter of performance. Some freelancers are exceptional. Others, not so much. We’ve all dealt with unreliable freelancers who blow past deadlines and deliver subpar work, putting more pressure on internal teams instead of relieving it. Plus, regardless of the final product, managing multiple freelancers quickly becomes a burden, making this solution time-consuming and difficult to scale.

Our recommendation: If you’re not ready to hire in-house but want to dip your toe into video, hiring a freelancer or two may be the way to go.

Video agencies

Traditional agencies tend to work on a project basis. So, if you have a big idea for a brand film or commercial and need help with the strategic execution, an agency may be a good choice. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a video partner who can help you execute on a long-term strategy, iterate on experiments and achieve scale, an agency might not be the best solution.

The project-based nature of many agencies doesn’t account for test and learn cycles. In fact, revisions and iterations are often limited or come at extra cost. Between rigid processes, slow turnarounds and use-it-or-lose-it retainers, traditional agencies simply aren’t built for scale. Of course, all agencies aren’t made equal—but these are some of the challenges we’ve heard from our customers over the years.

Our recommendation: If you have a specific, one-off video project in mind, an agency may be the right choice for you.

Creative-as-a-Service (CaaS)

CaaS is a new model that solves for scale and creative performance. Instead of rigid retainers, CaaS offers design and video services on a subscription basis, affording you greater flexibility, pricing transparency, and eliminating waste by rolling over hours; a system that accounts for the ebbs and flows of your creative needs.

Not only are you able to learn what’s working for your brand and iterate on it, the CaaS model gives you access to top global talent and a wide range of skills—all enabled by collaborative online technology that takes the headache out of design operations (or DesignOps). Simply put, a CaaS partner can fill the gaps on your creative team or handle your projects from end to end. This fast, modular model adapts to your needs, not the other way around.

Our recommendation: If you have an ongoing need for video and want to scale quickly, CaaS may be the solution for you.

Hybrid

A hybrid model that combines in-house expertise with outsourced people power is a common approach for companies at scale. No matter how well managed or resourced an internal creative team is, at a certain scale, pipelines will always be overflowing. An outsourced partner can take on that overflow or the tactical tasks bogging an in-house team down.

In addition to relieving internal pressure, a hybrid model can give you more flexibility to experiment with new video formats. For example, if you’re already smashing it in the UGC space, but you want to move into brand driven narrative films, you can try this type of video with an external partner without taking your foot off the gas in other areas. Not to mention, you can access skill sets you may not have internally.

Our recommendation: If you’re producing video at scale and want to experiment with formats, a hybrid approach may do the trick.

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What Video Marketing Tools Should You Invest In?

The video production solution you choose is the biggest factor when it comes to your ability to scale. That said, a well thought-out video marketing tech stack can help your team make incremental improvements, operate more efficiently and eke out time savings here and there.

Over on Superside’s marketing team, we take a hybrid approach to video production, supplementing our in-house creative team with (you guessed it!) our own Superside services. That means, we have our go-to stack of video tools.

Here’s what we recommend for a video marketing tech stack:

• Adobe Premiere Pro. Your classic video editing software, Premiere Pro is ideal for film, TV and web applications. With a long list of integrations, this tool embeds seamlessly into creative workflows.
• Adobe After Effects. For digital visual effects and motion graphics, After Effects is another classic choice. As part of the Adobe ecosystem, it’s easy to use this tool in combination with Premiere Pro.
• Frame.io. Built into After Effects, Frame.io allows you to review and collaborate on video. The ability to share media, collect feedback and have in-context conversations makes the review process a breeze.
• Descript. Another popular video editing tool on our team, Descript allows less technical users to access transcriptions, cut up clips and create content for various channels. With branded templates, marketers don’t need to rely on video editors for every last clip.
• Riverside. For video interviews, live events and podcasts, Riverside is our go-to. By delivering studio quality and branded experiences, this tool ensures every recording and live stream is on-brand and up to snuff.
• Superside. As mentioned, we use Superside to supplement our in-house creative team. Through Superside’s tech platform, we can submit a brief and get a video project back in as little as 12 hours.
• VidIQ. For YouTube title and video description optimization, we turn to VidIQ. Through AI algorithms, VidIQ can help you analyze your video title and produce captivating, SEO-optimized descriptions.
• Wistia. When videos don’t belong on YouTube, Wistia is our video hosting platform of choice. With its user-friendly interface, wealth of integrations and customization options, this tool is great for housing short video clips and soundbites.

That’s the stack! All of these tools offer integrations that can save you time in creative workflows and new AI features are cropping up every day. Seeing as time is every team’s greatest resource, we think these tools (or ones like them!) are well-worth investing in as you scale.

We’ve all been in meetings that ended with someone suggesting video can solve the problem at hand. Like a cure-all or silver bullet, video has a reputation as a magical medium that can draw hordes of fans to your brand. While it's true this medium is extra engaging, the key to success is starting with a strong strategy.

Curative’s Gelzer said it best:

There’s no shortage of ideas and needs for video. So it’s a matter of prioritizing it, then testing it, then really making sure when you do invest in it, you have a relevant strategy to reach your customers.

Jessica GelzerSr. Director of Brand Marketing, Curative

So remember, to reap that sweet, sweet ROI, start with the basics: Your goals, your audience, your channels and content mix. And make room for experimentation—testing and learning is how the best rise above the rest.

We hope this guide provided plenty of inspiration to give video marketing your best shot. And that you can find it in your heart to forgive us for the puns. If you’re still hungry for knowledge (and the occasional chuckle), you may also enjoy the following video marketing resources.

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