With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the winter retail holidays quickly approaching, the competition is about to be fierce for retail and e-commerce marketers. Every brand will be putting their best deals and giftable products forward – so ‘tis the season to get creative with your e-commerce or retail marketing video strategies. Especially considering the popularity of creating and sharing the best marketing videos.
In fact, 84% more consumers feel convinced enough to buy a product after watching a brand’s video. And according to a study conducted by Wyzowl, 79% of customers would rather watch a video than read text anyways. All in all, video marketing is the best way to get consumers to buy-in to your brand, especially during the crowded and competitive holiday season.
Whether you want to get buyers to your brick-and-mortar shop on Black Friday, to fill up their e-carts with your product on Cyber Monday, or to continue choosing your brand after the holiday season is over, it’s important that you’re creating marketing videos with an equal balance of entertainment and brand promotion. Here are some creative video marketing ideas from leading e-commerce and retail marketing video brands to inspire your campaigns for the holiday season and beyond.
1. Birchbox
Unboxing is a trend that continues to gain popularity season after season. For holidays like Cyber Monday and Black Friday, giving potential customers a sneak peek at what you have to offer alongside helpful tips creates a well-rounded video. Given that Birchbox’s retail model is based on subscription services, it’s a wise choice to give viewers a feel for what they might receive and why. The “why” helps them understand that the sets are curated with help from experts and each item serves a specific purpose.
2. Cedato
New product announcements are a great way to stir up some excitement for the holiday season! Letting customers see what’s new and exciting in whatever they’re interested in. Announcing your newest product early can get your current fanbase to start spreading the word to their friends, and therefore bumping up the numbers of your audience. This video created by Cedato shows off a newly announced Pokémon game, and gives their viewers something to add to their holiday shopping list.
3. Travelink American Express
What better gift to give than a brand new experience? A great way to show off a product that requires a lot of organization is to let your audience know how they can prepare for when they actually dive into what you’re showing off. Travelink American Express does a great job of getting people prepared for their holiday vacations, wherever their audience decides to travel to.
4. Funimation
Unboxing videos are also a great way to get people diving into special editions of your products. Sure, you can let people know what makes the special edition unique by listing out the items, but being able to give someone the full tour of your product will give your viewers a better idea of the value in your newest collector’s item. This Funimation video shows off the newest collector’s item in their store, and goes deep enough to show off and explain each individual item that comes with their product.
5. GOBankingRates (ConsumerTrack)
In this example from the Wibbitz platform, GOBankingRates chose an event that is important to their client base (i.e. people who are interested in making smart decisions with their money) and made a creative video to market Black Friday deals. Follow their lead by making sure your own content speaks to the interests of your consumers and better their lives in some way.
6. Artifact Uprising
Talk about an excellent example of emotional marketing. From the lovable old man to the heartfelt message shows exactly how important companies like Artifact Uprising really are. While it’s not possible to copy this video, you can dig around case studies and testimonials to find stories that strike a chord. Film those and share it with your audience.
7. Purina
Although it would be ideal for us all to have puppies available to help us with our marketing videos, this Purina ad highlights an important point. Sometimes our customers tell the story better than we can. Also, notice how they didn’t have the actor talk about the product. Instead, they had a more creative video marketing idea and focused on the puppy (the literal consumer of the product).
8. Urban Outfitters
Like Urban did in this IGTV video example below, you can create a retail marketing video to be playful and engage audiences with a new twist on an old game. Not only does the origami paper finger game add a nice layer of nostalgia for their target audience, it also makes the interview experience feel like we are talking to a friend (since that’s what the game is commonly associated with).
9. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
This video immediately captivates viewers with its bright and fun music. It further draws us in as we begin to anticipate what might happen next. In this simple yet brilliant video marketing idea, the glory that is Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is explained without a single word of dialogue. Moral of the story: If you have a beautiful product, all you need to do is show it off.
10. Patagonia Korea
In an excellent showcase for the power of longform video content, Patagonia took what could have been an everyday customer appreciation moment and turned it into art. Their use of sweeping camera movements and emotional music added a cinematic quality to the piece that anyone can mimic.