5 Strategies for Building Brand Trust Through Video

How to build brand trust through video marketing

Building trust is more than aiming for customer satisfaction. It’s a commitment to fulfill the customer’s needs over the long term and deliver a quality experience. Here are five ways to use video to build trust and ensure customer loyalty.

1. Tell your brand’s story through video.

Specific videos in your marketing campaign are  called cornerstone videos. They build the foundation of your brand’s identity, voice, mission and goals by telling your brand’s story — what it’s about and why it was created. 

Here are some tips for creating storytelling videos: 

• Tell your customers what they can expect. Storytelling videos likely don’t highlight specific products or services. Instead, they tell your customers what they can expect from your business and how it’s different from the competition.
• Create a narrative about your business. Customers don’t want to hear a list of facts about a business. They want a narrative — how the business originated, how it grew, and what struggles it faced. These elements create a memorable, relatable and compelling brand story. 
• Introduce your employees, customers, and relationships. Storytelling videos can include information about your employees and customers — your business’s environment and its impact on the community. 

Storytelling videos will inform your other advertising messages, creating a foundation of crucial, timeless content you can use throughout your brand’s marketing efforts.

2. Create customer testimonial videos to build trust.

Customers naturally build trust with other customers. This is why third-party review sites and word-of-mouth advertising are so effective. Once customers know about your business, they want to know how others feel about you. 

Video testimonials are a valuable tool to show that your customers trust your business. A good video customer testimonial contains the following elements: 

• Explain the initial problem. The customer should begin by explaining a problem they faced.
• Share how the business helped. The customer should discuss how the business worked with them to help fix their problem.
• Show the solution. They should wrap up by highlighting the product or solution’s ultimate results and discussing how they feel about the business. They can say why they value the business and their relationship or why the product or service differs from the competition.

Above all, a good customer testimonial must be earnest and can’t seem coached. It must come from real customers with real problems. 

To find people to create video testimonials, reach out to customers with whom you have excellent relationships. They’ll be your most valuable advocates — they may even become the cornerstone of a future brand advocacy program. 

3. Engage your customers directly with video.

Video shouldn’t be a one-way street. The more interactive and engaging your videos, the more your customers will know and trust you. Your customers may feel disconnected if you distribute videos without context or engagement. 

Here are a few ways to improve your video engagement:

• Answer questions in video format. If you receive questions from your customers, post a follow-up video and address them directly. Answer questions and post clarifications or corrections as needed. This response helps customers feel like they’re part of your video community.
• Start using live videos. Live video streams are an excellent way to interact with your audience. You can see comments and reactions as you record on many platforms, such as Facebook Live Q&As. Use the live video for question-and-answer sessions or to show customers your daily routine. Consider making explainer videos or showing customers a behind-the-scenes look at your company’s processes. 
• Always respond to comments. Most video-posting platforms allow comments. Responding to comments shows your personality and establishes you as an expert in your products, services and industry.
• Share videos directly. Share appropriate videos when customers ask questions about products, and share relevant videos on social media. Sharing videos increases your audience exposure.
• Respond to other videos. If others make videos about your product or service, chime in with helpful tips, corrections or additional promotions. Never respond harshly or take feedback personally. Criticism will happen; how you respond is crucial to how others see you. 
• Interact consistently. Don’t post videos and forget they exist. Focus on continually interacting and sharing with your audience. The more your audience interacts with you, the more fond they become of your company. You’ll create memories associated with your business and positive impressions customers will discuss in the future. 

4. Use video to highlight your industry.

Industry highlights are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Here are some tips for industry-highlight videos. 

• Partner with other businesses. Work with other non-competitive businesses in your industry to highlight their products and ask questions about their processes. This gives your audience more information about products and services they’re likely interested in and provides additional content for your company. Additionally, creating industry-highlight videos can help you forge valuable partnerships with other companies. Increase your reach by swapping videos with a network of supportive businesses. 
• Create videos about trends. Highlight industry information as it grows and changes, including recent industry trends, new product styles and tech innovations. Conventions are an excellent resource for this video type. For example, you can record live videos at a convention and post information, news and tidbits you discover. If you’re a conference speaker, post a video of your presentation. You’ll be able to provide industry updates while establishing credibility. 
• Interview brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors are independent individuals who know a lot about your industry and products. Reach out to them and request additional information about how they use your products and why they feel your business is unique. Interviewing brand ambassadors is a great way to build trust with customers and gain insights into their thoughts.

5. Always be authentic in your video marketing.

Above all, your video marketing campaign must be authentic. Customers are savvy to overly polished advertising messages and don’t respond as well as they would to a genuine message. 

Here are a few ways to be authentic in your videos. 

• Show your company, flaws and all. Use real people — customers and employees — instead of actors, and show what really goes on behind the scenes. Customers are usually willing to embrace the company’s minor flaws as long as they feel the business is being honest.
• Consider your customers and their needs. There’s such a thing as being too clever in video marketing campaigns. Instead of trying to manipulate customers into a sale, genuinely consider what they want and how you can fulfill their needs. Approaching from this perspective will inform your videos with honesty and help you speak directly to your audience.
• Use focus groups to ensure you’re being genuine. Trying too hard be authentic can result in a very inauthentic outcome. Consider testing your videos with small focus groups to see if anything strikes them as inauthentic or artificial. Focus groups are a great way to gauge how customers will receive your videos. 

Video marketing mistakes to avoid

Video is a powerful medium, so it’s crucial to get it right. Be sure to avoid these video marketing mistakes.

1. Don’t create videos without a clear goal.

You should establish an overall goal for your video marketing; within that, each video should have a specific goal. Decide how many videos you want to create for each objective, and set a topic for each. 

For the trust-building part of the customer journey, consider creating videos about the topics below:

• The company’s history and founding
• Company values
• The company’s behind-the-scenes processes
• Customer testimonials
• Industry videos 
• Videos that cover common questions 

To show authenticity, feature the business’s owners, managers and key employees on screen.

2. Don’t create videos without knowing your target audience.

If your company has been in business for a while, you should understand your customer base well. But if you’re new, research your audience and discover what interests them. 

For example, if your audience is full of people experienced with your product category, avoid videos on basic topics. If your audience contains mostly new users, create explainer videos. You can make video series for different customer personas to address each group’s needs.

Watch your direct competitors’ videos to discover topics that may appeal to your target audience. Additionally, ask your customers to share their problems or questions so you can address them in videos.

3. Don’t make your videos too long. 

Ideally, each video should be between one and two minutes long. According to Animoto, nearly 60 percent of viewers will watch a one-minute business video to the end, but their willingness to watch decreases with length. 

If you have very long videos, you’ll lose viewers’ attention — and they’ll be less likely to return for more video content. You can always make another video if you have more information to cover. Bite-sized video content tends to work best. 

4. Don’t neglect video SEO.

Like your online written content, video content should be part of your SEO strategy. Video can give your entire website an SEO uplift if done correctly because search engines value video. 

Here are some tips for optimizing your videos for SEO: 

• Ensure the title and description contain your relevant keywords. 
• Include captions and transcripts. 
• Make your videos mobile-friendly.
• Have a captivating thumbnail image.
• Use relevant tags.

5. Don’t forget to tell viewers what you want them to do.

Just as every video has a specific goal (such as creating awareness, building trust or answering product questions), each one should also include a call to action (CTA) — something you want the viewer to do after watching it. 

The CTA may be to watch another video, visit the website, call the company, make a comment, fill out a form, or make an appointment. Your CTA can be at the end of the video as a next step or included throughout the video.

6. Don’t bore your video viewers.

Even if your product isn’t terribly interesting, find something about it or your company that is exciting. For example, you may deliver a truly delightful customer experience or efficient customer service. You may offer an exceptional warranty or have a longstanding track record in your industry. Viewers may find it interesting if your company is family-owned or if your products are the first of their kind. 

To liven up your videos, choose an engaging presenter who’s comfortable in front of a camera. Use visual aids and live video feeds to avoid talking head syndrome. Finally, humor can always make a video interesting and memorable.

Connecting with your customers through video

Adding video to your marketing plan isn’t just about brand and product exposure. It’s a way to foster trust and build a long-term relationship. A well-executed video marketing campaign will help you establish a rapport with customers and slowly build trust over time. This trust will pay dividends as customers return to your business and spread the word about your company.

Jennifer Dublino contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.