Types of Business Video Production and Their Benefits

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Read on to learn everything you need to know about business video, from what it actually entails to the many different types you can use to guide you through this new exploration of content production.

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Why Businesses Need Different Types of Video Production Companies

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The average consumer today is overwhelmed with information. To break through the clutter, companies need to express themselves in a purposeful yet engaging way. And yet this is where video production thrives. Videos can describe complex concepts in easy-to-understand bites, move the emotional needle, and establish a strong rapport with the audience. But a video's form is dictated by its purpose. A video explaining a new software feature will look very different from a video that showcases a company's culture. 

By understanding the various types of video production, businesses can intelligently choose the medium that will be most effective for their message and achieve a return on investment. Whether you are an emerging startup or a massive multinational corporation, knowing how to create and distribute video content is essential in modern marketing.

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What is Video Production? Meaning, Phases, & Types

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Video production is the process of producing video content. It spans from idea to delivery. Though they may look a bit different in practice, the vast majority of video production projects pass through 3 key stages:

• Planning: This is the time for developing ideas, crafting stories, searching for talent, and scouting locations. Good pre-production is crucial to the success of videos.
• Production: This is the stage of filming or recording, where everything you've planned comes to life as the cameras roll and the video is captured and recorded. This is where the concept of the video production takes form.
• Post-Production: This involves editing the film, adding graphics (titles), special effects (SFX), music, and sound design to produce the final, polished version of the film. Professional post-production is an important aspect of any video production.

Knowledge of these stages is the key to understanding the effort which goes into different types of video production. Finally, let's explore the various ways these productions can be framed.

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Explainer Videos: Simplifying the Complex

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Explainer videos are brief, engaging animated or live-action video content pieces which explain complex products, services or concepts. They're designed primarily to teach and inform, so they're an important part of the video production strategy for many companies. They're great for demonstrating how something works or why a solution is required.

• When to use them: To announce a new product, demonstrate a complicated service, break down a unique value proposition, or onboard new customers.
• Key features: The copy is concise and clear, often creative through the use of animation or motion graphics, problem-solution oriented, with a clear call to action.
• Example: A tech company uses an animated explainer video to demonstrate how its new project management software works. It is a normal video production.

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Product Demo Videos: Showcasing Features in Action

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Product demo videos are more than just an explanation – they actually show the product in action. These are videos that inform potential buyers how a product works, what it does for and to them and its user experience. One of the most powerful factors that can influence your purchasing decisions through video is a great product demo.

• When to use them: Virtual display of a physical product, showing how software works, and demonstrating the benefits of using a product in real life.
• Notable features: Visual demos and screen-by-screen walkthroughs often involve a user interacting with the product, accompanied by a clear voice-over.
• Example: A tech company producing a video that guides viewers through the user interface of their new mobile app, and shows them how and why to use certain features. That is an essential type of video to make for sales.

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Corporate Videos: Defining Your Brand Identity

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Corporate videos are a general term referring to any video that companies/firms use for internal or external corporate messaging. These pre-recorded videos are designed to convey a company's values, mission, culture, and successes.

• When to use them: Company culture, internal communications, investor relations, annual reports, recruitment, and brand storytelling.
• Key Traits: Professional look/feel, focus on brand messaging, may include employee or executive interviews, and high production value.
• Example: A factory manufactures and releases a video expressing its commitment to sustainability and employee well-being, featuring interviews with staff members. This is a "must-do" variety of videos that have been finished and will be used for reputational management.

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Different Types of Video Production for Business

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Yet beyond these main types, there's other kinds of video production that businesses use for different reasons. Both have their own benefits in terms of audience engagement.

1. Testimonial Videos: 

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Testimonial videos are recordings of satisfied customers discussing their experiences with a product or service. This style of video is extremely effective for establishing trust and authority – people tend to believe the recommendations of real usage.

• When to use them: Sales, Brand reputation lift, overcoming scepticism, and customer success stories.
• Key features: Real interviews, honest reactions – often shows the customer actually using and caring for the product, with benefits-oriented content.
• Example: A fitness brand which profiles customers who have had a successful weight loss journey with the assistance of the product. This is a highly effective form of video production!

2. Training Videos: 

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Training videos are learning resources that train employees, partners, or customers across multiple areas of knowledge, such as how to use a software application or implement safety practices. This type of training video also provides a single message to ensure the same information is presented every time – and may save thousands in travel expenses.

• When to use them: Employee onboarding, product training, compliance training, skill building, and customer support.
• Key features: Explicit instructions, accompanied by visual demonstrations, which may be illustrated with video or images, and can be interactive.
• Example: A retail chain that produces multiple videos about the best way to provide customer service and how to operate its point-of-sale system for onboarding new hires. This is an effective form of video production for in-house efficiency!

3. Social Media Videos: 

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A social media video is a short, attention-grabbing video designed specifically for use in various social media platforms. With massive video consumption on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, this type of video is what it takes to reach a wider audience.

• When to use them: Brand awareness, traffic generation, engagement, contests, events.
• Key characteristics: Briefer in length, eye-catching, typically with text overlay and quick clips tailored for mobile consumption.
• Example: A fashion brand producing rapid-fire, trendy "reel" videos of new outfits on Instagram. This is another important form of video production for online marketing.

4. Live Stream Videos: 

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Live stream videos enable real-time interaction with your audience. Now, the immediacy and genuine feel of this kind of video production create a strong relationship with viewers.

• When to use them: Q&A sessions, product launches, webinars, online events, and behind-the-scenes content.
• What they are: Unscripted, or lightly scripted, direct interaction with audience members; can be lower quality than pre-recorded video.
• Example: A tech company holding a live Q&A with its CEO to respond to questions on an upcoming product launch. This is a new kind of video.

5. Animated Videos: 

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An animated video uses different types of animation (2D, 3D, motion graphics, stop motion) to narrate a story or illustrate something. This type of video making offers vast creative possibilities and can visually clarify complex concepts.

• When to use them: Explainer videos, marketing campaigns, brand stories, education-based content, whenever live-action isn't practical.
• Key features: Original visual layouts, able to communicate abstract ideas, playful and engaging.
• Example: A charity producing an animated explainer video about how climate change affects countless human lives on Earth in a visually stunning way. This has been a very flexible form of video production.

6. Event Videos: 

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Event videos help businesses promote trade shows, seminars, and other events. Such professional video production enables an event to reach a broader audience beyond those who were able to attend in person, and also serves as valuable marketing footage.

• When to use them: After planning a grand event, post-event recaps, promotions for future events, documenting company culture, and highlighting key speakers.
• Key features: Showcases key moments, frequently featuring interviews with attendees and organisers, and dynamic editing.
• Example: A conference organiser is editing a highlight reel of their annual industry summit, showcasing keynote speakers and testimonials from attendees. This is one of the most effective methods for online video production in brand promotion.

7. Recruitment Videos: 

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Recruitment videos convey a sense of the company's culture, work environment, and benefits, helping to attract potential candidates. This type of video production offers a more authentic, engaging glimpse into what it's actually like to work at a company than a traditional job description.

• When to use them: Talent attraction, employer branding, demonstrating company values, and onboarding new hires.
• Key features: Current staff, Office environment, Company perks and culture.
• Example: A tech company creates a video featuring their engineers discussing their work, brand culture, and their collaborative approach to working. This is strategic video making.

8. Branded Content Videos: 

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Branded content videos are sometimes intended to entertain or inform while subtly promoting a brand (or, at the very least, its values). It's an innovative form of video marketing that refrains from being a direct sales pitch and focuses instead on storytelling.

• When to use them: Developing brand affinity, thought leadership, niche audiences, storytelling.
• Key features: High production quality, narrative-focused, light on branding, entertaining or informative (unless good storytelling is the product).
• Example: A sportswear brand putting out a short documentary on an inspiring athlete (with their products being subtly referenced). This is a high-tech form of video making.

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Choosing the Right Type of Video Production for Your Business

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With so many different types of video production out there, how do you know what's best for your company? And that depends on whether your video strategy is, in some way, shape, or form, congruent with your larger business goals.

• Establish Your Objective: What are you looking to accomplish with your video? (e.g., drive sales, establish brand, inform customers, attract talent). The video needs to be oriented and content-driven.
• Understand your audience: Who are you speaking to? Who your audience is and how they look, who's popular with them, and what they view will affect the style, tone, and format of what you make.
• Defining Your Message: What is your message? Keep it concise and focused. It's a clear message that one must deliver to make videos that work.
• Consider Your Budget and Resources: Filming is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor that requires careful planning to ensure all aspects align smoothly. Avoid spending too much on videography and be realistic about what you can afford for these types of services.
• Distribution Platform: What is the video running on? Social media, your site, email blasts, or in-house platforms? They also suggest the ideal video length and format, which will influence the type of videos you create.

When you put all of this together, it paints a broad picture of the types of videos your business should focus on to get the most bang for your marketing buck. And in fact, creating a professional video can be an investment that transforms so much about what you're doing with that money of yours.

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Conclusion

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Business video production is a broad and general term that has given rise to many subcategories. Whether it serves as an explainer video that enables a business to understand how to operate with new products, or as real evidence that showcases the best type of work, high-quality video production can make it happen. Understanding what those differences mean enables companies to convey their message effectively, connect with their audience more authentically, and support their business.

For companies seeking to navigate this process and produce relevant videos, hiring a professional video production company can be invaluable. This is what Simply Thrilled does best. Capitalising on an acute awareness of the differences between video production styles, Simply Thrilled helps companies to develop a strong visual narrative that speaks directly to their desired demographics. 

From initial concept to final delivery, Simply Thrilled provides a honed skillset and creativity to every project, guaranteeing that our video production not only fulfils your brief but also surpasses expectations. Leverage the power of video and have Simply Thrilled help tell your story in a way that both captivates and converts.

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Faqs

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1. What is the average price of a commercial video?

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It's really hard to say what the cost of video production is, as it ranges significantly based on the type of video being produced, its length, details, type of equipment being employed, amount of talent involved, and the level of talent, along with the company's experience. It could be a few hundred dollars for a new college graduate with basic tools and software, who creates Instagram videos on a budget, or it might cost thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — for an experienced freelancer using more professional equipment to create a higher-end corporate or commercial video.

2. How long is a business video supposed to be?

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The ideal business video length depends on several factors, with the purpose and platform on which it will be shared being two key considerations. Short explainer videos are typically 60-90 seconds long, social media videos range from 15 to 60 seconds, and corporate videos are usually between 2 and 5 minutes long. The trick is to keep it as brief as possible while still telling your story effectively – no easy task in any video production.

3. What is the difference between video production for animation and live-action?

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Live-action video is the process of photographing actual people, places, and objects. Animated Video Production utilises illustrations, graphics and motion design to convey visual stories. Live action television can feel real and relatable, but animation allows for more flexibility — to visualise simple ideas with no limits in the real world. These are both legit types of video production.

4. Can I create business videos myself to save money?

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Basic videos can, of course, be made using a smartphone, but professional video production offers a much better quality of visuals, sound, editing, and storytelling. Self-produced videos may be suitable for most casual social media postings, but when it comes to serious marketing/sales/branding work, having professional video production done almost always improves the return on investment in terms of quality and effectiveness.

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