Visit any marketing industry website and it’s clear that video is this year’s hottest game in town. It’s easy to see why. Mobile technology means consumers have unprecedented access to video viewing. Studies repeatedly show that they make full use of this option. Youtube alone accounts for over half a billion hours of playback every day. With this kind of reach, it’s no wonder that over 80% of online marketers either use video now or plan to do so in the coming year.

If you’ve not yet taken the plunge, you may feel in danger of being left behind. The good news is that dipping a toe into video marketing is easier than you might think. There’s no need for professional editing suites or Hollywood budgets, as the same technology that’s made viewing so easy also applies to production. All you need is some basic consumer hardware and software, a little time, and one of these ideas for inspiration.

Video Tutorials

Tutorials are a mainstay of video marketing and for several very good reasons.

They’re an ideal way to show off the capabilities of your products or the expertise of your staff. Millions of people search every day for solutions to technical or other problems. If your tutorial video solves it for them, they’ll be left with a highly positive impression of your brand. Tutorials also serve a secondary customer services purpose, providing a valuable support resource for answering common queries in depth. They’re inexpensive to produce, usually requiring no more than a single presenter, a single camera, a good script, and a little time with video editing software.

Your Products In Action

As a lighter-weight alternative to tutorials, a straightforward demo of your products can be an effective promotional tool. Simply show their benefits in a typical situation, and package it up into an easily shareable, short presentation. This will leave a deeper impression than any amount of carefully crafted marketing text.

Vlogs / Video Blogs

Despite the somewhat unwieldy name, vlogs are an excellent way of using video to humanise your company. Pick a suitable member of staff to show a behind-the-scenes view of your operation. You could also conduct a brief interview with an employee who has an interesting or unusual role. The production values don’t need to be spectacular. The whole idea is to show that you’re a real company staffed by real people.

Personality Interviews

You don’t need to restrict the interview idea to staff members. Videoing a chat with a prominent thought leader in your industry will be interesting as well as boosting your brand through influencer marketing. You could also interview a selection of your more videogenic customers, which not only provides an element of social proof for your company but can also turn the chosen customers into brand advocates.

Conference or Sales Presentations

If you’re already making a presentation at conference, or have put together a sales pitch for an important customer, why not re-use this content in your marketing? Simply record the presentation under camera-friendly conditions, then edit it down to the most impactful parts. Spruce it up with some music and a few simple graphics, and you’ll have an informative video that can spread the message way beyond its original audience.

Repurpose Existing Content

You probably already have a large amount of content in other formats, built up over previous marketing campaigns. It’s surprisingly easy to repurpose much of this. For example, blog entries can be voiced over slideshows of existing images or newly shot video. It may not result in the most innovative of cinematic productions, but it’s a relatively easy way to produce content for people who prefer video to the written word, and it also opens up new channels for distributing your content.

Although video marketing is currently surrounded by its fair share of hype, there’s every reason to expect it will stick around. It’s not necessarily suitable for every company, but with the barriers to entry being so low, why not try it out and see if it works for you?