Video content is an incredibly powerful tool for reaching your target audience and driving conversions. But creating videos that truly stand out—and communicate your brand’s message effectively—requires strategy, creativity, and a clear understanding of your audience.
In this article, we’ll share key insights and tactics to help you create compelling, effective video content that resonates. We’ll also include ideas from top marketing minds at the latest SXSW Festival, highlighting the trends currently shaping how brands approach video.
Let’s dive in.
1. Show, Don’t Tell: Create Experiences, Not Descriptions
One of the most important principles in video marketing is showing your product or service in action, rather than just telling people why they should buy.
Audiences connect with experiences over explanations. Demonstrating a product’s value, showcasing how it fits into real-life situations, or telling a story that illustrates its benefits is far more effective than traditional hard-sell tactics.
No customer cares about your product and its fancy features; that’s a misconception we see most video marketing agencies make; people only care about what it can do for them or what they can achieve with it.
So, rather than simply describing your product or service, focus on demonstrating its value through compelling visuals and storytelling. Here are a couple of ways you can achieve that.
Make your videos relatable so that your audience identifies with them
Making your videos relatable to your target audience is not all about mentioning or highlighting notable features your product or service has.
It is a process that requires you to learn about your target audience’s pain points and then derive unique use cases of how your product can solve those pain points.
That way, you’ll be able to create a more in-depth video covering what your product can do for your customers and what they will gain from it. The result will be a video that touches on their emotions, and they will identify with it on a core level.
Watch this example we’ve created for Crews.
YYou want your audience to see themselves in your video—to relate, identify, and understand the value of your product. To do this, ask yourself key questions:
- What problem does your product or service solve?
- Why did you start your company in the first place?
- What pain points were you trying to address?
- What are the top three complaints people have before buying?
- In a competitive market, what makes your product the obvious choice over others?
Showcasing specific use cases that matter to your audience helps them connect with your video, understand your product’s value, and build trust. This approach creates a stronger first impression, increases adoption, and drives sales.
Remember: even in B2B, you’re not targeting companies—you’re targeting the people and decision-makers within those companies. Your messaging should speak directly to them, addressing their needs, challenges, and motivations.
Eric Berman, the founder and CEO of Hawk Media, says it better:
“…And I think it’s because they forget that there’s an individual making that decision. And who is that ICP? what do we need to do to target that person? … it’s, you know, who’s making the decision? What’s the emotional reason they’re making that decision? Why are they hiring so quickly? Why are they getting on one password? Like, what, what is that person’s pain point?”
Take Close-Up Product Shots
Close-up shots are a powerful way to showcase your product’s features, details, and benefits. Instead of just telling, you’re showing your audience exactly what to expect and how it can improve their lives.
For eCommerce brands or physical products that people want to experience before buying, close-ups are especially effective. They highlight quality, design, and craftsmanship, recreating the in-store experience online and building trust and credibility.
Close-ups also create desire and excitement — think sleek unboxing videos that leave a lasting impression. Taking the time to capture your product in detail shows your audience that you care about quality and their experience.
Finally, don’t just show the product — show the lifestyle it enables. Let your audience imagine how it fits into their lives and the value it brings beyond the object itself.
Show the Benefits in Action
Rather than just telling your audience about your product or making claims, show them the benefits in real-life scenarios. This approach helps people visualise how your product fits into their lives, making it easier to understand its value and impact.
By recreating the experience your product provides, you create a tangible representation of the lifestyle or outcome it delivers. This builds a stronger emotional connection, helping drive adoption, increase sales, and foster customer loyalty.
It also helps you differentiate your brand. Highlighting unique benefits and showing how your product improves lives creates a strong brand identity that resonates with your audience. In a crowded market, this clarity can help you stand out and attract customers who align with your values and vision.
Be Bold in Your Marketing Strategy
Audiences—both B2C and B2B—are bombarded with messages every day. To cut through the noise, you need to be bold, creative, and innovative.
Being bold means:
- Creating videos that stand out in a crowded market
- Taking risks and pushing boundaries that competitors won’t
- Challenging the status quo and being different
Competition is fiercer than ever, and audiences notice originality. Standing out requires a marketing approach that is strategic, daring, and visually compelling, ensuring your message captures attention and sticks.
“…a few years ago, you had Atlassian, and you had maybe two others. And now, every day, we see new companies pop up, and they’re bold, and they’re bright, and they’re trying to, you know, build their own brand. So it becomes more important than ever to differentiate.” Melissa Rosenthal, Chief Creative Officer of ClickUp.
There are a lot of ways you can set your brand apart. For example, while everybody is focused on creating marketing videos that only mention their product’s merits and urge the audience to buy, you can work on fun, user-generated social videos that help you connect with your audience at a core level.
We think ClickUp does this well. Basically, their strategy is to create fun social media videos for non-sales purposes, which helps them be different and create familiarity for their brand. Here is what Melissa Rosenthal, their Chief Creative Officer says about that.
“…like social is just such a huge organic opportunity to build brand to create funnels, we do it in a lot of interesting ways. We have a lot of different initiatives that kind of all tie in to social, …, like we really believe in people as channels. We’ve set up an internal influencer program, where we film our employees talking about both their jobs, the company, you know, more ICP focus things, but things that will engage and encourage people on LinkedIn to want to know more about clickup.”
This is a great way to build a community around your brand and get your audience involved in your video marketing efforts.
Also, you can show people that your company is about more than just selling by creating video materials that humanise your brand and show the audience that you care about making the world a better place.
Take Apple, for example. The company doesn’t just concern itself with creating tech products and only making millions of dollars. They’re also heavily invested in campaigns to fight climate change and improve our lives on Earth altogether.
Case in point, On June 1 2017, Tim tweeted:
The decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement was wrong for our planet. Apple is committed to fighting climate change. And we will never waver.
Doing so lets you differentiate yourself from the competition and make a lasting impression on your audience.
Collaborate to Stand Out
Another bold video marketing strategy is collaborating with another company or thought leader in your niche. Joint videos that highlight shared values and expertise can help you expand your reach, build credibility, and create new industry relationships.
Instil Quality Branding Throughout Your Videos
Being bold also means building a strong, consistent brand identity across all your videos. Quality branding helps:
- Establish credibility
- Build awareness
- Connect with your target audience
A bold approach ensures your videos incorporate unique visuals and a distinctive verbal identity, creating a memorable brand experience. When done consistently, this positions your brand as disruptive, recognisable, and hard to forget—making viewers more likely to engage with your content.
Hook Your Audience and Leave a Lasting Impact
With so much content online, viewers can lose interest in seconds. To prevent this, your video must:
- Grab attention immediately with a strong hook
- Establish relevance—why should viewers care?
- Build anticipation for what’s coming next
Make the first 15 seconds compelling.
We live in a fast-paced world with short attention spans. According to Brent Anderson, Global Chief Creative Officer at TBWA Media Arts Lab, the first 6 seconds can make or break your video. Nail this window, and you set the stage for higher engagement and better overall performance.
“…specifically as advertisers, we put all of our passion, all of all the care and the craft, we fight so many fights internally and then with our, with our clients to protect the work that we believe in. And then we offer it up to the world. And we have six seconds. Six seconds better be good. People are skipping if you’re in advertising, I mean people are skipping your life’s work in six seconds. It’s bleak….”
That’s simply because that’s the period where you have the best opportunity to grab your viewers’ attention and keep them engaged throughout the rest of your video.
So, how do you go about nailing those first few seconds in your videos?
We believe the best way to do this is to create a hook that’s both attention-grabbing and relevant to your content. Perhaps you can use an intriguing question, a fun or relatable story, a bold statement, pain point reiteration, an audience callout, a surprising statistic, etc.
Here is an excellent example where we focus on the audience’s pain point in the beginning to create excitement.
Whatever it is, it needs to be something that really speaks to your audience and gets them excited about what’s to come.
People shouldn’t watch the video and feel like it’s just another piece of marketing material. The first 15 seconds must set them up for an intriguing viewing experience.
Next, think about how you can visually engage your viewers in the first 15 seconds as well. You can consider creating stunning visuals or animations, showcasing your product in an interesting and unexpected way.
Here is a good example we produced with an attention-grabbing opening scene that hooks the viewer and immediately sets up the narrative.
While you’re at it, be sure to keep things concise and to the point — your viewers don’t want to sit through a long introduction (15 seconds) before getting to the good stuff.
Tell a Story
People love learning from other people’s experiences, which is why storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to hook your audience and guide them toward your desired action.
Stories connect with us emotionally, help us understand complex ideas, and make content memorable. Here’s how to tell a story effectively in your videos:
1. Have a clear structure
A compelling story has a beginning, middle, and end. Start with an attention-grabbing opening to draw viewers in. Build suspense, emotion, or tension in the middle, and finish with a satisfying conclusion that leaves your audience fulfilled or inspired.
2. Create relatable characters
Characters are the point of connection for viewers. Ensure your characters are relatable, empathetic, or aspirational, with clear motivations and goals that drive the story forward. Without this, viewers are more likely to disengage.
3. Use visuals to support your story
Visuals bring stories to life and amplify emotional impact. Storyboard imagery that aligns with your themes or emotions, and consider animation, graphics, or creative effects to add interest and clarity.
4. Keep it concise
Stories should be fun and engaging, but not long-winded. Respect viewers’ time by keeping your video concise and focused.
5. Deliver a clear message
Ensure every story has a takeaway or key message. This helps your video resonate with viewers and leaves a lasting impression.
Here is an excellent story-driven video we’ve produced, for example.
Share your videos and be active on social media platforms
It’s no surprise that everyone uses social media today. It’s the single most important place where people look for advice and reviews about products or services before making a purchase decision.
According to the 2022 GWI Gen Z report, 46% of Gen Zers rely on TikTok to find product and brand information, while 69% use Instagram.
So, having a strong social media presence is essential to make an impact. This means actively engaging with your followers, responding to comments and messages, and sharing your videos across various platforms.
One way to be active on social media is by leveraging your workforce or people as channels. The premise is simple: you’ll only have to empower your employees to create content on platforms where your audience spends time, which adds up to your overall brand reach.
“I like to think of people as media channels. And I think more and more companies are able to leverage their own employees to speak and have a voice and have a platform that all of a sudden starts to funnel back to the actual brand.”
Melissa Rosenthal, Chief Creative Officer of ClickUp.
By consistently promoting your brand, your product or service and engaging with your audience through the people working at your company, you’ll be able to build a loyal following and drive conversions over time.
Work with We Know Video to Create Videos That Stand Out
Let’s face it: the video market is crowded. Generic, cookie-cutter videos no longer cut it. To truly engage your audience, you need videos that stand out, make an impact, and leave a lasting impression.
At We Know Video, we specialise in creating bold, compelling videos that capture attention and resonate with your audience.
Our team of expert video marketers will:
- Develop projects that make your brand relatable and memorable
- Establish strong branding throughout your videos for consistency and recognition
- Craft content that effectively communicates your message while aligning with your brand values and goals
With WKV as your partner, your videos won’t just exist—they’ll stand out in your industry, connect with your audience, and drive results.
Talk to us to learn how we can help you achieve your video marketing goals and stand out in a crowded market.
