Not sure how to promote your upcoming marketing initiative, sale, or event?
How about trying the good old promo videos?
They can offer you a refreshing change from the usual hard-sell tactics.
Instead of just pushing for sales, these videos focus on telling compelling stories.
They go beyond presenting facts and stats, creating a personal connection that can drive more business.
But there’s a lot more to promotional videos than meets the eye.
There are so many creative possibilities and details to consider to make them work for your brand.
That’s where this blog comes in.
Here, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about promotional videos—what they are, why they’re so important, the different types you can use, and how to create them.
Plus, we’ll share some examples to spark inspiration for your next video.
You’ve probably seen hundreds, if not thousands, of promotional videos by now.
But do you really understand what they are?
Typically, these are short business videos, anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, designed to promote a product, service, event, or brand to customers.
But don’t all marketing videos do that?
What makes promotional videos any different?
Well, the difference is in the way they approach sales.
They don’t hit you with a hard sell like, "Hey, this product is amazing—buy it now!"
They're not aggressive!
Instead, they take a softer approach.
Using storytelling, they try to bring in conversations around the product or the brand.
They aim to build a more personal level connection with the viewers.
Think about those videos you've seen where companies celebrate an achievement, wish you happy holidays, thank the customers, or share their brand story.
Those are all promotional videos!
They share the brand’s message without directly pushing you to make a purchase.
But in the long run, these kinds of videos are the ones that keep customers coming back.
I still vividly remember the promotional video for Cadbury I watched as a kid—its storytelling hooked me and made me eager to try their chocolate.
Even today whenever I see a video of theirs, it hits that sense of nostalgia, and I keep thinking of “chocolate as Cadbury”.
That’s the power of a well-crafted promotional video—it stays with your customers and keeps them loyal to your brand.
And that’s exactly what any brand would want, right?
But wait, promotional videos can do a lot more for your business than just build loyalty.
Learn about their other charms in the next section where we are going to discuss why promotional videos are essential for business.
Now that you have a basic understanding of what promotional videos are, let’s dive right into the benefits that make them essential for business-
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Today, it’s harder than ever to get the attention of people.
Everyone is constantly on their phone scrolling through content throughout the day.
But to make them stop and watch a full video of yours is herculean.
That’s where promo videos come in!
They grab your audience’s attention not only with the visuals but also with the story.
They are short too—they say whatever needs to be said before your viewer loses interest and scrolls right through your video.
They help brands make a memorable impression on their audience in seconds.
Videos naturally get more engagement than texts or static photos.
Apart from this inherent edge, promo videos are also masters at provoking emotions.
This helps them build affinity with their viewers and as a result, boost engagement rates.
Whether they're showcasing your product's benefits, sharing customer success stories, or offering useful tips, promo videos keep viewers interested and encourage them to engage with your brand.
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Social media is the biggest arena for marketing today.
The more your promotional content gets shared here, the more visibility and traffic your business gains.
Promotional videos are key to making that happen.
Whether they're funny, emotional, or just really memorable, these videos are exactly the kind of content people love to share.
When shared, these videos can reach far more people than any paid ad ever could.
And if one of the videos goes viral, your business, products, or services could enjoy free global exposure.
Additionally, promotional videos aren’t just shareable on social media—they work great on other digital platforms too, like online magazines and news sites.
Studies show that video landing pages boost conversions by up to 80%.
That’s huge!
Using promotional videos you can make this number a reality for your business.
They let potential buyers see your products or services in action, demonstrating how they solve common problems.
Customer testimonials in these videos can also build trust with your audience.
All of this works together to turn potential customers into actual ones, increasing your conversions.
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A great promo video has the potential to go viral!
When it does, it can reach way more people than traditional marketing ever could.
By leveraging social sharing and online communities, your video can spread naturally, giving your brand a big visibility boost.
And using promo videos regularly across your marketing channels helps build your brand identity and positions your company as a trusted expert in your field.
Video content can do wonders for your SEO.
YouTube, for instance, is the second largest search engine after Google.
So, having engaging videos can improve your website’s visibility in search results.
Plus, when you add promo videos to your site, they can keep visitors around longer.
This reduces bounce rates and lets search engines know your content is valuable.
All of this can greatly help improve your search rankings.
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Promotional videos can seriously up your email marketing game.
We all get swamped with emails, so just getting people to open yours is a challenge.
But if you put “video” in the subject line, you’re more likely to catch their eye and keep them from hitting unsubscribe.
Videos in emails can boost click-through rates by 200-300%, especially if they show how to use your product.
It’s a great way to make your emails stand out and get more engagement.
Now that you’ve seen how beneficial promo videos can be, let’s dive into the different types you can use for your business.
When it comes to creating promo videos, you’ve got endless options to choose from.
Here are some of the most popular types to consider—
These short videos, typically around 60 to 90 seconds, are perfect for showing your products in action.
They are made with a specific product in focus.
Product videos show what makes the product so unique and demonstrate how it works.
The whole idea behind such videos is to give customers a clear, engaging look at your product and nudge them towards making a purchase.
One happy customer can bring in many more!
With customer testimonial videos, you can share your satisfied customers' experiences with everyone.
In these videos, you feature one or two customers talking about their positive experiences with your product or service.
Having a well-known customer can make these videos even more impactful.
While there’s no hard and fast rule regarding their length, testimonial videos are usually best kept to around 1-2 minutes.
Using these instructional videos is a great way to promote your business.
They can walk viewers through how to use your product or service and can be really helpful.
There’s no set rule for their length, but aiming for 3 to 6 minutes is usually spot-on.
These videos are ideal if you want to clearly explain how your product works or quickly show it off in action.
A company overview video is a great way to introduce your business to potential customers.
It’s your chance to give them a peek into your company’s story, culture, and what you offer.
Usually, company culture videos are around two minutes long, but if you’re diving into your company’s history in the video, they might run a bit longer.
In short, it’s a perfect way to give people a warm introduction to who you are and what you do.
As the name suggests, an explainer video explains how something works.
It highlights a product or service in an engaging manner, making it easier to drive sales or sign-ups.
Explainer videos are also perfect for sharing information or educating people on topics like company protocols or health and safety guidelines.
Typically, they run between 45 and 90 seconds and use a snappy, conversational script with eye-catching visuals to keep viewers hooked.
A brand video is typically a short, under-2-minute piece.
It tells a story that connects with your audience and raises awareness about your business and what you offer.
It is more focused on promoting the company's overall brand instead of just focusing on its products and services.
Overall, it's a great tool to boost your brand’s engagement, reach more people, and drive conversions.
We have all seen commercials on TV, streaming services, social media, and other digital platforms.
So, essentially, we understand what they are.
They are usually around 30 seconds-long short video ads.
They are about showcasing your company’s mission, product, or service in a way that grabs people’s attention in an instant.
And, unlike detailed product demos or explainers, commercials only offer a quick snippet of what your company offers.
This brief look helps create an emotional connection and excites the viewers to look forward to more.
Typically, it is a 1 to 3-minute long video centered around an event with an aim to promote it.
It can be anything from a pre-event teaser to a post-event highlight reel.
Event videos can create excitement, share important details with the audience, and even increase your ticket sales.
And with event video, we end the list of the different types of promotional videos.
All the types discussed were amazing in their own ways.
But apart from these 10, there are many other creative possibilities too.
So, you shouldn’t restrict yourself to just these.
Think outside the box and you’ll find more ways to go about promotional videos.
And when you do decide the type to go with, use the steps below as a framework to make a promotional video.
Follow these steps to make a compelling promotional video
Trying to be all things to all people is a recipe for failure.
So never aim to reach every type of audience.
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Be clear on who you are targeting and who will be attracted by your offering.
The target group will have something in common such as
So, look for that commonality!
Understanding your target group will help make promo videos that directly address their concerns and provide relevant solutions.
Ask yourself some important questions regarding your goal-
Answer them and you’ll have a list of goals you want to achieve with the video.
Make sure the goals are specific and measurable. This way you’ll know your video has achieved them.
For example, a goal like ‘Grow Social Media Presence’ isn’t quantifiable, but something like ‘Increase Insta Followers by 20%’ is clear and measurable.
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You only have a few seconds or minutes to grab your viewers’ attention and get your message across.
So, be clear on what to say and how to say it.
Do you want to inform, explain, or persuade?
The message should be according to what you want the audience to do after watching the video.
You can’t just go with the message and shoot the video.
You need to make a solid script with a storyline that fits your message.
Your script needs to be concise and should highlight all the key points of the storyline.
However, if you think you have ended up writing an unnecessarily lengthy script, consider summarizing it.
For this purpose, you can use an advanced summarizing tool that is capable of understanding the text and extracting the most important points.
It is specifically helpful when you cannot summarize a script on your own or face a shortage of time.
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Once you’ve set your goals, clarified your message, and written your script, it’s time to storyboard.
This step helps you visualize how your script matches up with different scenes and images.
It brings your promo video to life on paper before it gets the chance to be on screen.
Storyboarding is crucial for turning your ideas into a clear visual plan.
It should be detailed enough so that even someone who hasn’t read your script can understand what’s happening in each scene.
After you are satisfied with your storyboard, it is time to create animated graphics.
These graphics and illustrations bring your message, story, and characters to life.
They give your video a much-needed depth.
In this stage of production, you may also need a variety of assets to meet the style and complexity of your project.
You may need things like characters, text elements, backgrounds to icons, etc.
In this stage, you also make decisions about the video style you are going to follow.
You can choose a style that’s detailed, minimalist, realistic, or cartoonish.
The style just needs to go well with your message.
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You need to decide what’s the best animation software for your project and the style you have decided to go with.
There are a plethora of options available, each with its unique characteristics and benefits.
Some of the most sought-after tools are–
Once this step is done, it’s time for the finishing touches.
After completing your animation in the software, refine it.
In this step, you add the finishing touches like music, sound effects, and voiceover.
Music can make the video more engaging and evoke emotional responses from the viewers.
Sound effects can highlight the key actions of the video.
Lastly, voiceover can give direction to your storyline and complement the visual elements so that your viewer isn’t overwhelmed by excessive visual information.
This last step of adding final touches demands great attention to detail in terms of synchronization and timing.
You need to make sure that all the visual and audio elements have merged together seamlessly.
Once the finishing touches are done, the next step is to render and export your video.
So, rendering is the process where your animated video is converted into a final video file.
Based on the type of software you are using, it can be a complex or a pretty straightforward task.
In this step, you just need to make sure that your render settings are adjusted in a way that you get the best quality file.
Its size and format should be suitable for its intended distribution platform.
Commonly, MP4 format first is used for general demands and MOV for higher quality demands.
Once rendering is done, it's time to export!
Make sure you set the export setting in a way that preserves the frame rate and resolution of your animation.
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Now the video is ready to be shared!
Start by publishing on platforms where your target audience has a massive presence—YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Vimeo are great starting options.
Just keep some things in mind while publishing—correctly optimize the title, description, and tags to boost searchability and engagement.
To maximize reach, also promote your video through email newsletters, blog posts, and collaborations.
And don’t just abandon the video after publishing it—keep tracking its performance.
Use monitor metrics to see what is working and what is not.
This way you’ll be able to refine your approach for the next videos.
And this ends our final step of the process, you’re now ready to dive into creating your own promotional video.
But before you get started with that, check out this list of the best promo video examples for some inspiration!
This 41-second 3D animation video is like fluid in motion.
It has the right pop of colors, elements, motions, quirky sound effects, and amazing background music.
Using abstract elements, it shows us the new Microsoft icons.
In the video, there are different floating elements that break and join together to form different icons like Microsoft Edge’s new icon.
Throughout the video, the constant movement and rhythm keep us viewers hooked.
And the best part about the video isn’t only the visuals.
The best part is how it doesn’t try to sell anything overtly.
It simply instills the brand personality of Microsoft in the minds of the viewers, which we know will generate more long-term business than any pushy sales video ever could.
This video is subtle but smart!
This 3D animation video is part of Mailchimp’s ‘All in a Day’s Work’ series.
In this animated series, every video showcases the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur or a small business owner.
In this particular video, a local grocery store gets a new noisy neighbor/competition.
The video perfectly uses expressive characters to display the fear and uncertainty small business owners feel when something like this happens.
Without words, the video says a lot.
It connects with many small business owners on a deeper level.
In the end, it shows that although there’s competition, small businesses still fend for themselves.
The community spirit prevails above all.
It ends with a message of hope to these businesses.
And the best part about the video?
MailChimp’s name isn’t even mentioned until the very last seconds.
The video primarily focuses on selling the story.
And this subtle approach makes this video one of the best promo videos.
This mixed-media video takes you on a thrilling journey with two FedEx agents racing against time to save something tied to Elvis Presley.
The story begins when a customer ships the original negatives of a classic Elvis movie, unaware that the film would disintegrate above 40 degrees.
That's when the agents jump into action, track it down, and save it from disaster.
This video was quite different.
It started out like a thrilling animated spy film and seamlessly transitioned into live-action, revealing the real-life agents behind the mission.
People love stories about those who work behind the scenes—they connect more with people than with brands.
And this video used that to its advantage.
It showcased how FedEx agents go above and beyond to protect what matters to their customers, building trust for the brand along the way.
Anime content is ruling the world, and anything with an anime twist grabs our attention.
This promotional video smartly tapped into that craze.
Using a classic 2D animated storyline, it shows two characters racing against each other to reach McDonald's and try their new sauce.
The video starts with them hearing about the sauce, and then dashing through the streets to the McDonald's outlet.
Meanwhile, we see McDonald's fries, drinks, and chicken nuggets being packaged.
The characters arrive and enjoy their meals with the new sauce.
Their blushing cheeks and classic anime waterfall eyes show just how good the sauce is.
In just 30 seconds, the video promotes a new product and piques customers' curiosity.
This heartfelt video from Airbnb is all about saying thanks to their customers.
It starts with the narrator sharing some amazing news—there have been 500 million guest arrivals on Airbnb around the world!
That really shows how big and connected their community has become.
Then this 2D animation shifts to expressing gratitude for everything customers do—from following house rules and being good neighbors to treating hosts' homes with care.
Airbnb appreciates you for trusting their hosts with your trips and for proving time and again that you’re reliable in return.
This thank-you message makes customers feel valued for those little acts of kindness that often go unnoticed.
It’s a great reminder of how much the brand cares about its users.
And the best part?
Without even mentioning their services directly, Airbnb still manages to promote itself beautifully in the video.
And that’s a wrap on our examples—well, almost.
If you’re interested in seeing more amazing promotional video examples, we’ve got another blog packed with them. Make sure to check it out!
And that’s a wrap on our blog about promotional videos!
While you might have been familiar with them before, this blog hopefully gave you a clearer picture of their technical and practical side.
You’ve learned here how these short videos are more about connecting personally with your audience rather than just pushing a hard sell.
With all this new knowledge and great references at your fingertips, start planning your next promotional video.
Don’t wait.
Great things are just a video away!
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