

Updated January 3, 2025
Creating the right types of videos will make for a stronger video marketing strategy and smoother buying journey for customers.
Video content is a fantastic marketing asset. People love them, they get our points across easily, and you can keep reusing them.
There are certain video types within a video content marketing strategy that work best for certain goals in each stage of the buyer's journey.
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Your job, then, is to give people exactly what they want from you at the precise moment they need it.
Fortunately for you, part of the job is already done. We already know which videos work in each step of the buying journey and for which purpose, which you can read about below.
Educational videos educate the audience about a specific topic (an industry method, a new technology, a problem for a number of businesses in the same field, etc.).
These videos are like mini-classes that serve to understand a topic.
Marketing agencies use this kind of video to educate their audience about things such as inbound marketing, Instagram stories for businesses, or SEO basics.
For example, Tesla educates its audience about Ta'u island running on nearly 100% solar energy with 5,300 solar panels and 60 Tesla Powerpacks.
The video does not push any direct sale but is instead informative, educational, and clear.
People aren’t looking for your brand or service simply because they don’t know you exist.
That’s why you can use their common problems to reach out to them. Help them understand those problems and provide value for people to start seeing you as an expert in the field.
Thus, these videos are perfect for the awareness stage of your sales funnel, as they can:
Explainer videos use educational videos as a foundation and combines them with informational content. They are short clips that explain your service or product in a simple and compelling way while putting it as a solution to a specific problem.
For example, this video discusses the difficulty of organizing a family’s everyday life and provides a solution: Picniic’s service.
This video is a perfect example of an explainer video's structure: You have a problem laid out and the solution, all explained in a video under 2 minutes.
After people realize their problems and want to look for a solution, they’ll be looking for tools, services, and products to solve those issues.
Enter the consideration stage of your buyer’s journey, where explainer videos reign supreme. That’s because they let your prospects know why you are the perfect choice among your competition. Explainer videos are perfect to:
Product videos are part of a “show, don’t tell” methodology; videos showing your product in action tend to perform better than a basic list of features.
Instead of saying your vacuum cleaner has noise-canceling technology, let potential customers hear it in a product video.
If the vacuum also has accessories and a nice design, show them in the video. People don’t want you to read them a list of “amazing benefits”; they want to see for themselves.
Another example is Samsung’s video showing off the Galaxy Note8.
This is a complete example of what a product video can do. Using different audiovisual tools like text and animation, Samsung gives a detailed explanation of every feature the phone has, also adding some storytelling.
This is another video type that’s part of the consideration stage. You say your vacuum cleaner is the “cream of the crop” when it comes to working quietly - now show it!
Create a video to highlight that feature, or you can even use videos from your own customers using the product to bring an extra layer of authenticity.
Product videos are successful (especially for e-commerce businesses) because they:
You’ve already educated your audience, explained your service, and showed your product to them. It’s time to talk a little about yourself. Company videos are a way to show who you are and everything you stand for.
It doesn’t matter if you sell cars or a math app – putting a human face to the brand is one of the most effective ways to bridge the gap between your company and your customers.
Google expertly demonstrates what a company video should be.
In the video, Google gives a sneak peek at the people behind the Brain Team, showing what their hopes and dreams are and why they do what they do. That's the perfect way to humanize a brand.
Though they seem more fit for HR purposes, company videos add to how prospects see your brand. So, they can be used in the decision stage of the buyer’s journey (the last one) to give your potential clients the final nudge to become actual clients.
These videos do so because they:
FAQ videos are the video versions of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). With these videos, you address very specific problems about your product or services and give straightforward answers while showing them in action.
Though you might feel that FAQ videos should only work for a service-based company, they are great for any other company, from tennis racket manufacturers to coffee makers to McDonald’s.
In this McDonald's video, we can see how the company answers specific questions from the audience in a very clear and friendly way. Note how this approach to FAQs is a lot more engaging and personal than just anonymous text.
The FAQ section seems like an area reserved for current customers, but by providing answers to common problems, you are also reducing the uncertainty and anxiety of prospects by ensuring that your product or service fixes their problems. Thus, FAQ videos can:
Happy customers are the best way to convince prospects that you’re dependable and trustworthy. That’s why so many companies use customer testimonials - to show prospects that you’re reliable.
This is achieved by asking people to talk about their experience with your brand in front of a camera.
From a toy maker to a perfume manufacturer, nothing is better than a happy customer advocating for your brand.
Samsung also has an example of a successful customer testimonial. The video shows different customers talking about their experience with a particular Samsung product.
We see here a different approach to traditional testimonials: It's shorter, edited in a more dynamic way, and includes user-generated content.
Testimonials reinforce the idea that your brand can be trusted and that you will deliver what you promise. Such validation comes from customers who were once prospects, so these videos have a greater chance of convincing people to make deals with you.
In the decision stage, these videos also:
A subcategory of educational videos, how-to videos deserve to be categorized individually because of their popularity.
Their step-by-step explanation of processes is what sets them apart from other educational videos, even when they share the same goals: to educate the audience while bringing them closer to your brand.
With some creativity, you can use these videos as a powerful marketing tool.
For instance, you can promote your coffee shop by shooting an informative video on how to cold brew coffee, as seen in this Starbucks example.
In this video are all the traits a how-to video should have. Starbucks explains step-by-step how to cold brew it in a clear, straightforward way.
How to make the perfect macaroni and cheese, how to drive on a snowy road, how to dance The Charleston - they all address specific problems that can help you create awareness of your brand.
So, you can use a how-to video to convince your audience that you’re offering something different and unique to solve their needs. These videos will serve you best in the consideration stage. They can also:
Social videos can be explainer, educational, or how-to videos that are used on different social networks. The reason to categorize them individually is because they use a specific discourse according to the social network on which they are used.
Oreo does a great job at crafting a video specifically for Instagram.
It is short, formatted specifically for that social network, and communicates a concept that is complemented by the copy of the post.
You can use them in every stage of the buyer’s journey, simply because they are extremely flexible. You can use them to introduce your brand to a new audience, share a testimonial to your customers to reinforce your brand’s perception, teach a simple process to address a specific concern, and more.
Social videos will also help you:
Commercial videos (or video ads) are focused on the brand and the product or service. They are meant to sell and don’t try to hide it.
They are like traditional TV ads but are developed for the digital world.
Though you can advertise your products in the traditional TV ad sense (the best in the market, the cheapest, etc.), commercial videos are better when they aim to tell a story.
In this example, Buenos Aires Zoo promotes its product with an animation that achieves engagement through an emotionally charged story.
We can clearly see a traditional story structure with a beginning, middle, and end.
This is another kind of video that can be used throughout the buyer’s journey. From the awareness stage to the decision stage, commercial videos are great to:
The video medium is very flexible and can adapt to multiple tones, styles, and channels. That’s why we have so many types and uses for them.
Learning about each type of video will make a stronger video marketing strategy and will plant the seeds for a smoother buyer’s journey for all your prospects.
Víctor Blasco is the founder and CEO of the explainer video company Yum Yum Videos. He is also an audiovisual designer and video marketing expert.
Aside from running the business, he loves studying Chinese philosophy and is a real geek for science fiction films and comics! The force is strong with this one.