There’s video marketing and there’s video marketing.

How do you tell the difference?
Today I’ve got so much to talk to you about that I’m going to be Jack Webb from Dragnet. “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Dumm, da dum, dum…

The Two Kinds of Video Marketing

There are so many ways to do video marketing that they may all look the same. But they generally fall into one of two broad categories: Instant Video Marketing and Relationship Video Marketing. And if you confuse the two, you’ll really hamper your own efforts. So let’s see which one is right for you and get you profitable as soon as possible.

Do you rely on the kindness of strangers?
The first kind of marketing we’ll examine is identified mostly by traffic that comes from strangers. And where do strangers come from? Well, mostly pay-per-click or banner ads. These are also generally transactions with consumers. It might be a product or service, but it’s a relatively anonymous exchange. It’s based on the instant sale; taking a stranger’s credit card information right this minute. It’s sort of the internet equivilent of the street bazaar. You’ve got people yelling at you to buy, buy, buy.

And honestly, it’s very exciting. I’ve been in that crowd before wanting to buy something just because there was a crowd gathered around. And it must also be very exciting for the vendor to have all these strangers trying to throw money at them.

But can you trust me?
Here’s the problem in getting this party started.

Because you’re dealing with strangers, there’s always a trust issue to overcome. This is where a specific form of video marketing shines. Let’s take an example of a weight-loss product.

Enter Instant Video Marketing

What is working like gangbusters today is a kind of rough PowerPoint with a white background that sits on an ugly white web page. A wall of words are flashed up on the screen. A person speaks in time to these words; every single word you see, you also hear. The sound quality is fairly rough.

This kind of video makes a lot of money. Why? Because the consumer who views it assumes that the person who made the video is “just like me”. Instant bonding. The credit cards fly!

Sounds super simple, doesn’t it? Sure, there’s a bit more to it than this, but the point is, you can do it too, if you know how to write a sales letter and adapt it to video. So if you have a consumer market that doesn’t really need to get to know you and you sell a product or service that requires no personal contact, this is a powerful way to do video marketing and could drive your sales right through the roof!

Now here comes the un-bazaar
Now let’s look at the second type of exchange. It’s not the bazaar. It’s based on the relationship that you either have, or want to have, with your ideal client. This kind of encounter takes place many times over many months, or even years. The potential client may be there in the background, reading you, watching you and otherwise evaluating you for a long time before they actually become a client.

Because of these dynamics, this kind of transaction is also seen in the B2B (business to business) market. So that ugly PowerPoint that worked so well in the consumer market would probably be looked upon as unforgivably amateurish in the B2B world.

This exchange is based on the strength of the business relationship itself. In most cases, what’s being sold (or rented) is the provider’s time. So the buyer needs to feel that they can not only get along with this person they’re thinking about spending some quality time with, but that they might actually enjoy the experience above and beyond the value that is being delivered!

But where’s the excitement?
The problem in this scenario is that there’s no crowd-type energy urging your potential client to buy. Rather than a street bazaar, it’s more like sitting by a lake. It looks orderly, calm and peaceful. But no sales are really orderly, calm and peaceful. In fact, despite that placid-looking water at the surface, there’s a lot of roiling going on underneath.

In fact, the roiling is caused by your potential client’s deep desire to have, do or be something. But that thing can only be had by contact with the right human being. In other words, you may need to meet.

Enter Relationship Video Marketing
This is where Relationship Video Marketing truly shines. Because now the issue is not “trust” as much as it is “like”. So for these kinds of videos, it’s often best to put yourself on camera. Let’s use the example of a Realtor who wants to make inroads into her local market.

A Realtor’s success is based on the quality of her business relationships. To increase her referrals from other realtors, or attract quality clients, she knows she needs to nurture those relationships. But she also needs to start those relationships properly. So how might she use video?

How the Realtor wins
One way would be to post some informative videos on YouTube and her website about topics of keen interest to people who are getting ready to move. By the way she talks, her passion, her personality, and the quality of her content, she will surely attract the right people to her tribe. In this kind of video, the call to action is not to swipe a credit card, but to send an email, click on a free report, or make a phone call. Either way, the relationship is off on the right foot, and she is one step closer to making the sale.

The skills she needs to develop are using her persona, structuring a video for persuasiveness and the knowledge of other kinds of videos she can also make. In fact, video marketing of any kind, Instant or Relationship, is so potentially powerful, it could be the only form of marketing you might ever need.