Video Marketing — I don’t think anyone spoke about this term 3–4 years ago. But with the advent of smartphones and super fast internet connectivity literally everywhere, Video Marketing is a hot buzzword nowadays. And as always, marketers have latched onto the trend. Videos are one of the effective weapons in the arsenal of every smart marketer today.
As always, let me back my statement with some solid and amazing facts (Source):
- Aberdeen Group study says video marketers gained 66% more qualified leads per year and 54% increase in brand awareness.
- According to the Content Marketing Institute, 60% of B2B and B2C marketers are using video marketing.
- As per HubSpot research, 45% of people online watch at least 1 hour of video.
- Last but not the least, Wyzowl says 84% of consumers have made purchasing decisions after watching videos.
What do you think of these statistics? I don’t know about you; but as a marketer, I am super bullish about video as marketing content.
I have my own reasons for being so excited about this which includes:
- With video, storytelling is much crisp and clear
- With video, you can strike an emotional chord with our users
- Videos are a quick way to get your message across
- Videos bring in the visual and audio factors together
Having said all this, jumping onboard of the video train is not that easy. Every entrepreneur or marketer needs to plan it well with the right tools and content. As a starting point, it is best to make use of free tools like Facebook Live, Twitter Live and Instagram Live to test waters. These tools are freely available in the app on your smartphone, so give it a whirl.
But, having done that, one needs to move their video marketing to the next level. For that, as an entrepreneur, you will need some tools. So here are the 5 super easy and useful video marketing tools for your content creation.
Note: Some of these are new and some have been around for a while. But trust me, these are awesome tools.
1. Lumen5
Lumen5 is my favourite tool for a while now. I have been using it for my videos as well as some of my clients. Lumen5 helps you create videos using an URL (maybe your blog post or a webpage) or even from any content which you paste into the platform.
It looks like this:
Here’s a sample video which I have created using this tool:
Why do I like Lumen5?
- It is super easy to create videos using this tool
- Videos are highly customizable; adding video background, soundtrack etc.
- It is highly economical
- Best for content repurposing (Create a video of your blog post by just adding the URL to the tool).
Pricing: It’s free for up to 480p resolution videos; Pro plan is for $49/month & Business plan is for $99/month.
2. Animoto
Animoto is another super cool and super easy tool to use for your video marketing needs. This tool comes with pre-built storyboards or video templates for you to just plug and play. All you have to do is bring your images and videos and incorporate them into these templates. And the tool does the rest of the magic. And you can even create square videos for social media.
Here’s an example of a video made using Animoto (Source)
Why do I like Animoto?
- Animoto makes video creation super simple
- Amazing collection of video templates and background music
- Plug and Play and highly customizable
- Perfect for churning out videos quickly
Pricing: Animoto provides a free trial for 14 days; Personal plan is available at $8/month; Professional plan at $22/month; and the Business plan is at $34 per month.
3. GoAnimate
The way video marketing slowly came into a marketer’s lives tells us that maybe it would have started with animated intro videos and whiteboard explainer videos. Do you agree?
Animated Videos are used by millions of companies to explain their product/services, showcase customer testimonials and much more. Animated videos used to burn a big hole in every entrepreneur’s pocket whenever they opted for it.
Enter GoAnimate. These guys made animated videos a kid’s play (literally). Even for a non-tech person, making animated intro videos is an easy task now.
GoAnimate comes with prebuilt templates for scenes you want in your videos. It is best to make your company intro or product intro or training videos or even customer testimonials.
Here’s a sample video which I have made using this tool:
Why do I like GoAnimate?
- GoAnimate’s pre-built templates are pretty comprehensive covering almost all aspects related to business and personal
- Good collection of background score, characters and other ingredients to make an awesome animated video
- Highly customizable even the emotions of characters
- Perfect for telling stories about the organisation, products or services, training videos and much more.
Pricing: GoAnimate plans are GoPublish at $39/month; GoPremium at $89/month and GoTeam at $159/month.
Quick Tip: Take a monthly subscription of GoPremium and create how much ever videos you need at one go.
4. BeLive
Going live on social platforms is a rising trend nowadays. Have you gone live anytime soon? It’s fun, isn’t it? What makes live streaming interesting is the instant reactions from your audience, anytime anywhere possibility and engagement with your audience.
Here’s a quick fact for you — Over 360 million Facebook users watch Facebook Live regularly and for Instagram, the figure is about 200 million. Staggering, isn’t it? (Source)
Even though you can go live natively on these platforms, I would like to introduce you to an amazing tool which helps you to have your own live show on Facebook.
Enter Be Live.
Using belive, you can broadcast yourself in 3 modes — Solo Mode (Your own live show), Interview Mode (Where you can interview a guest), and a Talk Show (where you can host up to 4 people). This tool allows you to share your screen, reply to comments from the audience, share images from your Facebook feed and much more.
One of my favourite people in the digital world is Joel Comm and he rocks it on BeLive. Here’s one of his awesome sessions:
Why I love BeLive?
- It can help you build a live show for your audience with ease
- User-friendly and simplicity built-in
- The easiest way to run an interview panel with experts
- Ideal for building a following on social media
Pricing: Pricing for BeLive are Lite plan at $12/month; Standard plan at $20/month and Enterprise plan at $500/month.
5. Loom
Last but not least, Loom is one of the best and my super favourite tools for making videos. Loom is perfect for making screen recording videos. It is a simple tool with a chrome extension. You just have to log in and start recording your videos. You can record your screen, your screen with you or even you alone. How cool is that?
Imagine the possibilities with this tool. Your next training videos, client onboarding videos, customer presentation, sales pitch (and the list goes on) can be made using Loom.
Have a look at Loom use cases here.
Why do I like Loom?
- Super super super easy to use
- Lots of use possibilities
- It’s FREE
- Available right on your chrome browser via a plugin
Pricing: FREE, FREE, FREE
So here are my favourite 5 video marketing tools for you to kickstart your efforts. Videos are the BIG thing in digital marketing right now and they are going to remain there for a while. So you might as well try your hand at it while creating some awesome video content in 2019 and onwards.