Online videos come in hundreds of various styles. Some work better than the others depending on the goal you want to achieve. Naïve marketers who are new to online video marketing must take time, consider the purpose of their online campaign and the product and service they are promoting to decide the style that will work best for their purposes.

Online marketers can create any of the following common styles of videos depending on type of their business and the purpose they want to achieve through their video marketing campaign. These common styles are:

• Testimonials

Testimonial videos are one of the powerful forces for marketing products, such as health products, personal care products, etc. The success of a testimonial video lies in the fact that it develops trust as the viewer believes the person giving the testimony. The positive comments of that person about your product carry far more weight than whatever you might say about yourself. Testimonial videos can work best if they carry real people sharing their experience of your product or services. It is better to shoot real people instead of paid actors, as it will look more reliable and trustworthy source.

• Humor

Humor videos are one of the most popular forms of online videos and can be used to gain popularity. However these videos can just serve general marketing purposes. Also it is essential for the marketer to remember that the purpose of the video is not only to create laughter instead the purpose is to promote the product or service. Sometimes humorous videos gain enormous publicity but the underlying question to consider is whether they drive traffic to the website to promote sales!

• Demonstration

If you really want to trigger sell of the product online, demonstration videos are the powerful source, especially, if your product is novice and complex to use to your target audience. If your product or service cannot be easily and clearly demonstrated for potential customers, it is really difficult to get sales. Demonstration videos are effective to enhance your online sales; this is the reason why internet is full of online marketing videos with product demonstration which serve as a powerful product guide.

• Feature short Films

Creative marketers can even take things a bit further, filming entire films (usually short films) to promote their brands. Famous automobile company BMW shot a series of short films to promote their brand. This is a perfect example of how using short film videos online can grab viewers and pull them in.

• Inspirational

Inspiration videos usually are targeted to trigger human emotions. Non-profit organizations appealing to generate donations can use online inspirational videos that serve best this purpose. Also various companies can develop these videos to foster charity generation as part of their special campaign in the time of some natural disaster for example a flood or a hurricane. These inspirational videos will not only work best to pursue their viewers to raise for the noble cause but also develop long term positive image about the company promoting it.

• Interview

Interview videos are also one of the most popular videos used by online marketers. The success of text-based interviews in marketing gave birth to the new layer of detail in a video interview, where you can see the person’s facial expressions and posture instead of just their words. Online marketers can either interview some experts that can promote the products indirectly for example pharmaceutical companies can post video interviews of doctors or even an interview of the company CEO can be posted to promote the business.

• Shock Videos

Some videos are created only to shock people. Shocking videos have a tendency to go viral just like humor videos. But again marketers should be well aware of the fact that they might not directly generate web traffic or sales.

• Commercials

Commercial videos are just like TV ads and are also one of the famous forms of online video marketing whose purpose is to advertise. Many marketers simply take an existing television commercial and place it online.

• Informative or instructive Videos

Videos aiming to educate the public about a particular cause, issue, or topic are usually informational videos. Informational videos are an effective form of marketing for colleges and educational institutions to promote their selves online. Generally informational video style works best to a person or company that is already considered as an expert in their field as most want to search for such information from a trusted and reputable source. It is also essential for marketers to understand that informational videos are not viral in nature and do not serve the purpose of entertainment. Hence marketers should avoid enticing those videos with extra attributes that might affect the reliability of the information and efficiency of your video.

Are these all the possible video style? Of course not! There are numerous other styles through which you can choose from. Also it is essentially important to mention that no one style works best for all. Online marketers should be vigilant to select one or a combination of style that works best to fulfill their purpose, as the type of video you create will help determine your eventual audience, their engagement with the video, and the conversion of that viewer into a customer.