10 BEST VIDEO RESOURCES
plus Choose your video tools – how to get into movies
There’s no doubt that video is a tremendously powerful tool. It can help drive traffic to your website and power-up your social media.
For brand-building, it adds another dimension, positioning your brand higher up the leadership ladder.
Video allows you to demonstrate in a way no other communications media can. If you want to communicate brand benefits, follow the old adage: ‘Don’t tell – show!’
Why video and movement?
- 55% of people watch videos online every day (Source: Digital Information World)
- 90% of users say that product videos are helpful in the decision process (Source: Hubspot)
- Top three most effective types of video content: Customer testimonials (51%); Tutorial videos (50%); Demonstration videos (49%) (Source: Curata)
- 80% of users recall a video ad they viewed in the past 30 days (Source: Hubspot)
- Including video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by 80% (Source: Unbounce)
- Businesses using video enjoy 41% more web traffic from search than non-users (Source: SmallBizTrends)
Is it really worth creating your own videos – isn’t it hard work?
Good question! There is no doubt that skilled videographers, animators and motion-graphics designers can create stunning results, and probably far faster than you ever will in-house. But if budgets are tight, there are many great tools that can be used to achieve surprisingly good results with a little effort and practice.
There are even some very effective free tools, but most are well within the range of small and medium business owners.
Having said that, you do need to be prepared to put in some learning time, and to experiment to find the best tools to suit your needs.
With that in mind, we’ve assembled a list of tools suitable for business owners on a shoe-string to aspiring movie directors, some new additions for 2022.
So, let’s get started.
For beginners, Apple’s free video editor is an amazing tool and it’s a great place to start. For quick Facebook or Twitter movies, it’s a tool with some surprising features. Our own videographers often choose it for fast video edits. Mac only of course.
This is approaching professional level video editing – and with a free version this is amazing. There is a steep learning curve, but pretty well nothing you can’t acheive. If you want to add motion graphics Resolve does it all.
There are a number of platforms for creating marketing videos, quickly and simple. In fact many animation platforms incude them. We find Lumen 5, one of the best. Its great advantage is that you can just add your script – blog post text if you wish. Then Lumen 5 selects suggested media and creates a whole video. Of course you need to go in and make your own adjustments, but you have masses of flexibility.
We’ve just come across this one. In many ways it’s similar in operation to Lumen 5, but also with some significant differences. Where Lumen can be used for quite long videos, with multiple film clips, Promo is best for short, fast high-impact clips. Where Lumen 5 has a great entry level pricing, including a free-for-ever version. Promo has very attractive pricing in its higher plans. One to watch.
Everybody needs stock video at some time, and Plexels are one of the most reliable sources to give your video that professional edge. Both free and premium product.
Whiteboard animations are still going strong, and Videoscribe have one of the smoothest and most professional platforms. Easy to use and reasonably priced if you intend doing a lot of whiteboards.
A very easy-to-use tool for creating cartoon atyle explainer videos – drag and drop!
We started looking at Powtoon as anothe option for creating cartoon style explainers. But now the platform also builds whiteboards, marketing videos and much more. If you need to create in multiple styles it’s a cost effective option.
Premiere Pro is the industry-leading video editing software for film, TV and the web. With Premiere Rush you can create and edit new projects from any device. Expensive and a steep learing slope to get the best out of it – but worth it if you are ready to go for pro-level.
Need to get into animation? OpenToonz is software for producing a 2D animation. This kind of animation takes a bit of learning – but the results can create unique brand assets. Open Source. Industry level for free.
If you want to out-source your project. Try our sister company. Animators, motion-graphics, explainer animations and more. Give life and movement to your brand communications.
Need to get into 3-D animation? Blender is the free and open source 3D creation suite. For the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing and 2D animation pipeline. Takes time to master – but can add real ‘wow’ factor to your brand communications