Let's skip the preamble and get right to the list of 5 video marketing tips to boost your brand.

Side note: How come recipe articles don't do this? They make you scroll through a long-winded article before they post the actual recipe at the bottom of the page.

This isn't one of those articles.

But if it was, it would probably start out with a long-winded metaphorical backstory. Something like...

I'm reminded of a time when I was a young boy in New Jersey... wait... I'm writing one of those articles!

OK, I'll stop.

AND NOW...

5 VIDEO MARKETING TIPS TO GET MORE CUSTOMERS

While there's nothing we abhor more than overdone, "default" creative, there are a few tried and true video ideas that seem to work more times than not. This list is not meant to be grab and go for you, but rather use these concepts as a kicking off point. And before you think of any video concept, you'll want to make sure you have a well-thought-out strategy that the concept aligns to.

Idea #1: The Hero's Journey

Joseph Campbell's book The Hero's Journey outlines a step-by-step template for how a hero goes through his/her journey from status quo to resolution. For your purposes the customer is the hero, the status is your product/service, and the resolution is them purchasing your product/service.

This pattern is seen all over the place from Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings to sales videos like Chatbooks. It works because it takes your viewer on a journey - and not just any journey, their journey. The Hero's Journey is a great way to demonstrate a ton of empathy for your prospect's struggles.

Try inserting your customer into the template. Odds are, an entertaining video will write itself before your eyes.

Idea #2: Personify your technology

Since we're in the age of AI, algorithms, RPA, and a bunch of other tech that works silently in the cloud, it's hard to see our products/services sometimes, especially in B2B video marketing.

A great way to overcome this challenge is to personify your technology. So in the same way Inside Out personified emotions as creatures, you can personify your machine learning solution as a group of people working on a task together, for example.

Maytag has done this for years, personifying their appliances as the Maytag Man. This warms people up to an otherwise impersonal cold machine.

Idea #3: Use an analogy

If you're selling a complicated product or service, I bet you already have a great analogy in your back pocket, e.g. "our financial service is like having a caddie that recommends stocks just like they would golf clubs."

You usually use this analogy to explain what you do. And odds are, it works.

There's your video.

Simply bring your analogy to life through a video and now you can kick off meetings, post the video to your homepage, link to it in your email signatures. Now in 60-90 seconds, your audience knows exactly what you do. And if the video is entertaining enough, they perhaps laughed or even cried along the way.

Idea #4: Align with your customer's mission

Sometimes the easiest way to gain a customer is to give them a huge dose of empathy. Simply aligning your company's mission with theirs is a great way to do this.

For example, say you sell pet medication to veterinarians. A great way to become top-of-mind for this audience is to tell a story, real or not, about a veterinarian who stays up all night to care for a sick dog. Or tell a story about a vet who was inspired to care for animals because when they were a kid they had a pet who was cured by a vet.

The idea is to let your audience see themselves in your story. You're elevating your brand above, "we want to sell you something," and making it more, "we get you." This may seem super simple and easy and yes, it's that straightforward. However, it just takes guts and a lot of internal alignment on your team because there's not such an overt sales message. It's a softer sell, but you have a better chance of your audience connecting with and remembering your video.

Idea #5: Inspire questions

Great marketing doesn't answer questions, it inspires them. One of my favorite videos is this spot for Palms Casino.

The entire time you're watching this you are scratching your head thinking, "What the heck is this video about!? Are they endorsing vandalizing their hotel!?" Finally, at the end a simple line of text wraps the whole thing up.

What questions can you make your viewers ask? How can you agitate their brains into a more active, question-asking mode instead of a passive, information receiving mode? Because when your customers are in this mode, guess what? They're engaged with your brand!!

There are limitless video ideas to get more customers. The right way to go about this is to develop your video's goals and then work from there to develop a strategic and creative approach. Whatever you end up doing, make sure it's authentic, entertaining and above all else, serves your prospective customer.