Brands are constantly seeking creative yet effective ways to capture audience attention and drive engagement through video marketing.
Video marketing can be a powerful tool, but depending solely on single-use video campaigns misses a key opportunity. Imagine filming a commercial – you have the crew, actors, and the set. It's a perfect chance to capture not just the main spot, but also behind-the-scenes content or a quick how-to video.
This way, for a minimal additional investment, you take advantage of the existing setup to create valuable supplementary content. It's about capturing all the value you can from your resources, not leaving any potential untapped. Relying solely on one-off video campaigns can be likened to leaving money on the table and wasting resource potential.
This is where a holistic video marketing strategy comes in, creating a comprehensive content plan that goes beyond single uses.
The Power of a Holistic Approach
1. Content Working Together: By creating a series of interconnected videos, you tell a richer story and keep your audience engaged for longer. Imagine a commercial followed by a behind-the-scenes look that reveals the inspiration and work process to create the commercial spot, and then a how-to video that allows viewers to better understand your product features and benefits. This creates a more comprehensive, in-depth experience for the viewers.
2. Consistent Messaging: A holistic strategy ensures consistent messaging across all your videos. Your brand voice, tone, and visuals remain recognizable, reinforcing brand identity and building trust with your audience.
3. Builds on Multiple Touchpoints: The customer journey typically involves eight or more touchpoints for a brand to be remembered and recognized, not to mention to educate someone on the problem your brand solves. A variety of video formats allows you to connect with your audience on different platforms and at various stages of the buying journey. A short influencer video might be perfect for social media, while a more in-depth tutorial could live on YouTube.
At Black Box Productions, we see the value in marketing leaders developing a Holistic Video Marketing Strategy centered around what we term ‘The Video Stack.'
What is The Video Stack?
A Video Stack is a multi-platform content strategy that uses complementary video types to achieve a singular goal.
The videos 'stack' messaging from related content, allowing for multiple touchpoints along the customer journey, from awareness to consideration and ultimately conversion, a smart plan that will also increase retention and customer lifetime value.
The Video Stack is based on an integrated and holistic video marketing strategy, where each video asset builds upon touchpoints in the customer journey. Campaigns improve upon themselves by having a built-in feedback loop to measure, iterate and improve.
The Video Stack helps company leadership get alignment about their brand's video marketing strategy, and then relies upon video experts to carry out the production. This alleviates pressure from busy marketing directors and VPs, and benefits from a knowledgeable production team focused solely on vision and execution.
Benefits of the Video Stack
1. High-level Planning and Strategy
The Video Stack takes a global approach to planning and strategic execution of video marketing initiatives. By incorporating various types of video content, brands can map out comprehensive messaging that cater to different stages of the customer journey.
2. Efficient Resource Management
Brands can make the most of their resources and get the best value from their budgets. Using different types of videos together helps avoid repeating the same content and makes sure resources like time and staff are used efficiently. For example, filming various content formats in one day shoot, like commercials and behind-the-scenes clips, saves money while maximizing output.
3. Coherent Multi-channel Messaging
The Video Stack enables brands to maintain a consistent and cohesive messaging across multiple channels and platforms. By aligning content themes and narratives, brands can reinforce their brand identity and resonate with audiences across diverse touchpoints.
4. Increased Audience Engagement and Retention
By diversifying the types of video content, brands can cater to diverse audience preferences and consumption habits. Whether it's short-form content for social media discovery or long-form deep-dives for “true-fans”, The Video Stack ensures that brands can effectively engage with their target audience where they are.
Core Video Content Formats of the Video Stack
The Video Stack strategy revolves around three primary types of video content:
Let’s discuss each format one by one:
Commercials:
Commercial production is one of the most used formats of large-scale effective video marketing strategies. These concise yet impactful spots allow brands to portray their ‘ideal-selves’ to a wide audience with a polished, high production value, video. They are crafted to engage the widest range of audiences and deliver brand messages within a short span, typically 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
Using eye-catching visuals, clever script, and attention-grabbing hooks, the best commercials stand out among the advertising noise. They are distributed via broadcast TV and over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Roku, and YouTube, reaching a wide audience.
Whether showcasing product features or portraying aspirational lifestyles, commercials significantly influence brand perception and consumer purchasing decisions.
Benefits of Commercials:
1. Wider Reach: Commercials reach the widest audience in all formats across various channels, including television and streaming platforms, allowing brands to portray their ideal selves to a wide range of potential customers. Their concise format ensures that brand messages resonate with diverse demographics and customer segments.
2. Brand Recognition: By embedding key brand messages into memorable narratives, commercials reinforce brand identity and recall among consumers. Consistent exposure to effective commercials enhances brand awareness, brand affinity and purchase intent.
3. Driving Sales and Conversions: Commercials have the power to influence consumer behavior and drive sales conversions. Through persuasive scripting and visuals, commercials create a sense of urgency and desire, prompting viewers to take action.
Long-Form Videos:
In contrast to the short duration of commercials, long-form content offers brands an opportunity for storytelling and audience engagement. These extended videos provide ample room for exploration, enabling brands to get into narratives, themes, and experiences that align with their target audience and core values.
Many marketers focus on short-form content, but a recent study by TwentyThree found that videos longer than 15 minutes account for over 50% of all video engagement, but only account for 8% of all video produced. Long-form content keeps an audience engaged and builds trust, loyalty, and brand affinity over time.
Through thoughtful pacing, compelling visuals, and authentic storytelling, brands can build meaningful connections that extend beyond transactional engagement. Whether through documentary-style narratives, in-depth ‘how-to’ tutorials, or behind-the-scenes glimpses, long-form videos deliver value, thought leadership and entertainment to your brand’s true fans.
Follow this link for insights from Google about Building Brand Loyalty with Long Form Videos.
Benefits of Long-Form Videos:
1. Storytelling Depth: Long-form content allows brands to explore complex narratives, focus on product features, and showcase brand values in greater detail. By immersing viewers in authentic storytelling, brands can build deeper connections and create an emotional relationship with their audience.
2. Audience Engagement: Long-form content encourages active engagement and prolonged interaction with the brand. Viewers are more likely to invest time and attention in immersive narratives, leading to higher retention rates, increased watch time, and enhanced brand affinity.
3. Thought Leadership: Through long-form content, brands can establish themselves as thought leaders within their industry or niche. By sharing insights, expertise, and behind-the-scenes perspectives, brands can position themselves as authoritative voices and build trust with their audience.
Short-Form Social Content:
Short-form social content represents the heartbeat of modern digital marketing, characterized by its brevity, immediacy, and shareability. Tailored for popular social platforms like Facebook, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok, these bite-sized videos are designed to command attention and inspire action in the blink of an eye.
Short-form social content serves as a potent tool for cutting through the noise and capturing attention. By simplifying ideas into snackable snippets of content, brands can foster engagement, drive traffic, and ignite conversations in real-time.
Whether through eye-catching visuals, clever storytelling, or interactive elements, short-form social content takes advantage of the power of micro-moments to leave a lasting impression on audiences. From viral challenges to behind-the-scenes glimpses, these bite-sized videos empower brands to cultivate communities, spark conversations, and amplify their presence across digital ecosystems.
Short form social media videos can be made quickly and cost effectively without much resource overhead, allowing brands to be responsive and join the conversation for timely trending topics. While high-production commercials can take months to plan and execute, social media is fast paced, raw and authentic. Despite being easy to make, these videos still require thoughtful strategy, testinging and iteration to maximize results.
Benefits of Short-Form Social Content
1. Instant Gratification for Audiences: Short-form social content caters to the short attention spans of modern audiences, delivering quick bursts of entertainment and information. Its immediate impact and shareability make it an ideal vehicle for sparking conversations, driving engagement, and fostering community interaction.
2. Viral Potential: The dynamic nature of short-form social content lends itself to discoverability and shareability. By incorporating trending topics, challenges, and memes, brands can amplify their reach across social media platforms. These platforms increase discoverability by suggesting content to people with similar interests. Social videos can also empower audiences to become brand advocates in their own right through UGC content.
3. Faster Feedback Loops: Short-form content allows for quick feedback loops, providing valuable insights into audience preferences in real-time. Brands can utilize views, comments, likes, shares, and other metrics to gauge audience reception and iterate on their content strategy swiftly. This constant feedback loop enables brands to adapt their approach based on what type of content appeals to their audience, leading to continuous improvement and increased audience engagement.
The Video Stack In Action
Let’s look at one example of a prominent restaurant brand that effectively uses these three video formats to promote its brand. Panda Express is a fast food restaurant chain that specializes in American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,200 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States..
Let’s analyze their video stack and how they utilize video as part of their multi-platform content strategy:
1. Commercials - Panda Express utilizes high-quality 15-second commercials to promote their stores and food selections, aimed at reaching a large audience. The use of attention-catching humor and high-quality production make for a memorable viewing experience.
2. Long-Form Videos - Panda Express promotes its corporate social responsibility program, Panda Cares Center, and how it helps the community. They use long-form video to demonstrate how their program has improved the lives of its beneficiaries.
3. Short-Form Social Content - Their short-form content primarily on TikTok showcases the brand's efforts in engaging audiences by sharing relatable videos that portray common occurrences in their food stores.
Panda Express demonstrates the power of a well-rounded video stack. By using different video formats across various platforms, they reach a wider audience, build stronger brand recognition, and mark their place as a community-focused restaurant chain. This is a recipe for video marketing success that any brand can learn from.
At Black Box Productions, we specialize in developing and implementing a holistic video marketing strategy, from vision to execution. If you are looking for a trusted partner for your video marketing strategy, contact us today to grow your brand with The Video Stack framework.
