The Corporate Video Handbook: Tips and Tricks (and How to Use Them)

Don’t let your brand be camera-shy. Corporate videos are becoming increasingly popular among marketers. With so much competition out there, your business can’t afford to get left behind.

Getting in front of a camera and explaining your business might sound daunting, but this doesn’t have to be the only way to create video-based content. There are many ways you can go about video creation. In this article, we’ll cover the benefits of using business videos and explore the variety of options available to advertise your products and services. 

Why Should You Create Corporate Videos?

It only takes the click of a mouse (or tap of a screen) to watch a video. There’s minimal effort involved — which is why your stakeholders love them. 

As one of the most passive ways to consume content, videos are a prime tool for attracting quality customers and talent to your company. 

In fact, 89% of people said a brand’s video convinced them to purchase a business’ product or service. Additionally, another 79% of people said they’ve been convinced to buy or download a piece of software or app after watching a promotional video.

Videos benefit both you and your audience as they can help to:

Build brand credibility by establishing your company’s history, mission and values.  Offer an accessible and digestible way for consumers to learn more about your business products and services.Create opportunities to showcase the valuable members of your team that work hard to contribute to your company’s success.Connect with your audience in a way that portrays the human side of your business.

What is a Corporate Video?

Simply put, a corporate video is any form of professional video produced for a business. An internal creative team or an outsourced third-party company often handles video production responsibilities. Companies can distribute their corporate videos using social media to increase brand awareness and visibility, and they’re an overall great way to effectively engage your audience.

How To Explain Your Business in a Single Video

When it comes to audience attention, the time is ticking. Viewers won’t stick around to watch drawn-out videos, so you need to summarize your business quickly. To effectively explain what your brand is all about, you’ll need to break down your products and services into the following categories:

Purpose: What do your business products or services set out to achieve? Importance: Why is your cause relevant or necessary to the audience?Solution: What problems and pain points do your products or services help to alleviate? 

From there, you can build a concise understanding of your business that communicates what you do without taking up too much time.

What Are the Different Types of Corporate Videos?

You can divide corporate videos into two major categories: promotional and internal. Promotional videos focus more on customers and clients to tell a story or send a message. Internal corporate videos are designed for your employees and other internal stakeholders. These are usually for informative or educational purposes.

Let’s break these down.  

Promotional Corporate Videos

1. Product Videos

These types of videos are perfect for showcasing what your brand has to offer. You might demonstrate the various use cases for your products, or list the practical benefits. For the best results, make sure your production quality is up-to-standard. Low-quality content may make your business appear less established.  

2. Tutorial Videos

Tutorials teach customers about how to use your products and provide them with helpful tips. Be sure to create clear step-by-step instructions and leave unnecessary information out of the picture. Avoid providing long explanations as to why a process is a certain way. Instead, focus on the process and cover any elements that tend to cause confusion.

3. Explainer Videos

Although they have the same purpose, explainer videos slightly differ from tutorials since they’re not limited to a “How To” format. In these videos, you can answer questions, discuss the purpose of your services or explore a topic that plugs upcoming promotions.

Internal Corporate Videos

1. Brand Profile Videos

These videos explain your company’s mission, goals and values to acquaint internal stakeholders with your business’ personality. This will give employees insight into your brand’s image and perspectives. 

2. Communication Videos

Share recent business developments with your employees, clients and other internal stakeholders in an effective and engaging way. Internal communication videos can cover any topic that requires company-wide distribution, including expansion plans, new product blueprints or structural changes. Videos have the power to inform thousands of people of information that may go unnoticed in an email or press release.

3. Training Videos

Employee training videos can save time while boosting retention. Words don’t agree with everyone, and reading countless pages of information-heavy documents won’t have the same effect as an engaging training video. With training videos, you can support visual and audible learners, while contributing to a comfortable learning environment.

Corporate Video Ideas Your Customers (and Employees) Will Love

1. Influencer Collaborations

Collaborating with online influencers is an excellent way to spread brand awareness and visibility. Not only will they help you reach your target audience, they’ll immediately build positive associations with your brand — making them more likely to trust your products. If you’re confident in your services, let influencers share their honest review to leverage this further.

2. Time-Lapse

Ever found yourself mesmerized by a high-speed video? Time-lapse videos can immediately capture the attention of your audience as they have an intriguing element that makes people stick around to see the end product. You could show your services from start to finish, demonstrate how customers interact with your product on a day-to-day basis or showcase the hustle and bustle of a busy corporate event.

3. Get Animated

With animation, the possibilities are limitless. Motion graphics allow you to create pretty much any image you can think of. This gives you the freedom to get creative and experimental with your imagery, so if you have a complex service, you can summarize the process with an easy-to-understand metaphor. The better the imagery, the fewer words you need.  

Tips for Creating Great Corporate Videos

To create unique and engaging content, it’s important to clearly define your objectives and understand your audiences’ needs. Here are some tips to consider when forming your corporate video production strategy:

Nail Your Intro

Don’t just catch the attention of your audience, really grab it. Attention spans are getting shorter, so the first few seconds of your corporate video need to engage and inspire viewers. A great way to appeal to your audience in the opening moments is to concisely ask a question that directly addresses the issue(s) they’re looking to resolve. 

To do this, assess the pain points and frustrations that your intended audience will experience, then explain how and why your products and services provide the solution. This will ensure your video content is valuable.

Your video’s finale also needs to make a strong impact. The call to action should drive your audience to interact with your products and services before they move onto their next task. Make a powerful last impression by summarizing what’s in it for them.

Stay Focussed and Cut the Fluff

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When constructing a corporate video, adopt the “few word do trick” philosophy. Obviously, we don’t mean you should make your script grammatically questionable. But, to create engaging content, it’s important to avoid using vague or indirect language. 

Also, stay away from complicated wording. Nothing puts off viewers more than excessively convoluted lexemes — see our point? When audience attention is so fragile, it’s essential to make sure every sentence is accessible and has a purpose. 

Lay Off the Jargon

Following on from the previous point, it’s also noteworthy to cut any dressed-up language that adds nothing to your message. Corporate jargon doesn’t have the same effect in videos when compared to other forms of content creation and communication. So, try to keep them away from your video marketing initiatives. Abstain from phrases like:

Game-changer.World-class.State-of-the-art.More bang for your buck.Low-hanging fruit.Think outside the box.

Unfortunately, these are phrases that customers know all too well and they’ve “lost their touch.” Instead, focus on incorporating powerful statements that you can back up. Clearer language creates a clearer message, and for B2B businesses, saving them time will only benefit you.

Get Comical (But Tastefully So)

Be mindful of professional audiences when getting creative. Whether you entertain this approach will entirely depend on your industry and target audience. If you’re a B2B organization, you may have to tread carefully when integrating humor in your video. But, for internal teams, introducing a funny side to work can contribute to a positive corporate culture — when done correctly.

Adopting this method is like walking on a tightrope: it’s risky, but when successfully executed, incredibly rewarding. Stand-up comedy and professional humor are two completely different ballparks — you don’t need to knock their socks off. A simple exhale will suffice. 

Don’t go making jokes at other people’s expense. Try to find ways to show your audience that you understand them. A sure way to add a sprinkle of humor to your video content is to: 

Tap into shared frustrations.Use lighthearted sarcasm.Throw a curveball.

If you take on this approach, make sure to run it by as many people as possible and gather their honest feedback to make sure you’re doing it right.

Keep an Eye on Competitors

There’s nothing wrong with peeking at your competitors’ content. Look at what others in the industry are doing and make a note of what they’re doing right. Competitor research is key to assessing what works, what doesn’t, and how you can build upon those ideas. Look at details, such as:

Music choice.Tone of voice.Video style (animation or documentary).Storytelling.Color coordination.Slide transitions.

Learn from their mistakes and find a structure that works for you. That way, your corporate videos come out on top. 

Strategize Your Distribution

There are 3 main channels of distribution for video: Website, email and social media. Social media channels are usually the place to go, with 63% of marketers agreeing that social media is the most effective way to promote corporate videos. 

The social media platforms you decide to use will depend on your audience. Be sure to analyze your customer data to gain insights into their demographic preferences. This will help you capture your target audience effectively.

Although website distribution doesn’t perform as well as other channels, make sure your video content is available on your business webpages for anyone who comes across them. 

Trust the Experts

When managing or overseeing a project like this, it’s important to trust your team. Whether it’s an agency providing corporate video production services, or your internal creative team at work, have faith that they know what they’re doing. That’s not to say you should blindly approve their first draft. But strive to form constructive feedback when addressing areas you’re unsure of. 

Make sure your outlines and expectations are clear, and don’t be afraid to make refinements where you see fit. Creative teams will be more than happy to discuss their perspectives and re-work areas to form exceptional outcomes.

Ready to Get Creative?

Now comes the best bit. It’s time to work out your course of action and get brainstorming. 

If you’re getting started with corporate promotional videos, try starting with the areas you know best. These could be product explainer videos, about us videos or recruitment videos. As you progress in video production, you can get more experimental with your approaches going forward.