Personalized Video Marketing: the Ultimate Beginner's Guide

Personalized marketing, which is super-targeted to individual prospects, is an obvious way to make that happen. This makes every interaction feel like a genuine, one-to-one conversation — but until recently, it wasn’t realistic or cost-effective to customize material to individual prospects.

Today, that’s changed. With a wealth of new tools available that makes creation fast and easy, it’s perfectly within reach, even for smaller companies, to personalize communications to their clients. It’s a powerful tool for lead-generation to newsletters, email, and social media marketing. 

One of the most exciting ways to leverage personalized content is through video. Video is one of the most popular, and effective forms of online marketing — last year, 96% of consumers watched more online videos, and by 2022, it’ll make up 82% of consumer internet traffic.

B2B marketing or direct to consumer, inbound or outbound, it’s a natural fit for an effective strategy. But what exactly does personalized video look like, and how can it help marketers reach their business goals?

What is personalized video content?

A personalized video is anything that’s highly customized — that could be prospects, clients, partners, or even influencers! These could be personalized to specific individuals, or to larger demographics within your target audience. 

They can include a client’s name, like a thank-you video for making a purchase or a customized birthday card. Or, it could be sales outreach recorded especially for your most important client.

3 key benefits of personalized video content 

1. Customers are more likely to buy from you 

What’s the easiest way to get someone’s attention? Mention their name!

People are hard-wired to like talking, hearing, and sharing about themselves. That’s why personalized internet marketing is such an effective way to make your brand stand out in an advertising world that’s more crowded than ever. 

When they’re interacting with brands, prospect clients want to feel like actual people, not just another lead. That’s why 75% of customers are more likely to buy from companies who know them by name, and give them personalized service in line with their buying habits and purchase history.

Personalized content works, especially in combination with video’s information-sharing power. In email, personalized video results in 280% higher returns, and 16x higher click-to-open rate than typical promotional emails. 

2. You’ll regain lost customers

It’s also a great way to recapture the attention of clients who may be drifting away from your brand. One study showed that personalized videos sent to inactive people on your mailing list are opened more often! 

3. Cost efficiency 

Personalized video content is an extremely cost-efficient strategy that’ll help you engage and attract new clients! 

When you target a specific public with personalized, relevant messages, you’ll maximize the impact of your budget. It’ll also help you increase your sales by engaging existing clients and regaining lost ones, which in turn increases your return on investment. 

They therefore reduce overall marketing costs while making campaigns more effective. 

10 types of personalized video to make

There are a few types of videos that are especially great for personalization.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Sales demos

These are all about making it crystal-clear exactly how your product works, and what makes it valuable! That’s why they work so well for personalization. Personalized sales demos give reps the ability to go beyond explaining why what you offer is great in general, and delve into how it can work for each specific prospect.

They are usually used at the bottom of the sales funnel, where the stakes are high and conversions are especially valuable. 

Check out this sales demo from PlayPlay!

2. Explainers

Video is one of the most effective ways to explain difficult concepts. But personalized explainers take it a step further!

If an explainer video is personalized to the person watching it, they’ll be able to understand the concepts in relation to their unique needs, and picture how it could be applied within their actual life.

This type works very well to move prospects forward through the sales cycle, like after they’re signed up for a free trial. Check out the blog article to learn more about video prospecting.

3. Thank you videos

A thank-you is most meaningful when it feels authentic and genuine. What would you find more special and memorable, a generic thank-you message blasted out to thousands of people, or a handwritten note written specifically for you?

A personal touch always goes a long way when you’re thanking clients for purchasing from you. 

Plan Canada made this thank-you video to emphasize the importance and impact of their clients’ loyalty. 
 

4. Case studies 

Since the whole point of a case study is to communicate value to prospects, they’re an excellent option for personalization.

While the case study video below isn’t personalized, it could easily be tailored to individual clients by adding a custom greeting, or notes about how different product features could address their needs. Oh, and it was made with PlayPlay!

5. Event invitations 

Who doesn’t love a personal invitation? Video invites that have been customized with the recipient’s details are a great way to build hype and interest for an upcoming event, whether it’s in-person or virtual. When showcasing events, the format of a video slideshow suits very well - by providing insights of last year's session.

6. Welcome videos  

Welcomings properly onboard clients by welcoming them to the brand in a friendly way. This leaves them with a positive first impression of your brand, and can make them more likely to buy from you. 

TrueCar does a great job at creating a welcome video for their clients by reminding them of how great their services are!

7. Anniversary videos 

An anniversary video is a great way to retain clients by showing just how valuable they are to you! You can remind your clients that they’ve stuck with your brand for a year, while encouraging them to stick around for longer. 

Facebook makes great anniversary videos for their clients. Instead of congratulating users for their anniversaries with the organization, they decided to make personalized anniversary videos for users and their friends on the platform. 

8. Appointment reminders 

When reminding customers that they have an upcoming appointment with your organization, you can choose to send them a video to make the reminder a memorable one! Your organization can send personalized reminders with details such as the customer’s name, their appointment setting, and finally remind them what options they have if they choose to reschedule. 

While this video from Zocdoc introduces their services of scheduling doctor appointments in an easy way, it shows that customers care about booking appointments, but also sticking to them!

9. Onboardings 

Onboarding videos are a great way to keep new employees informed of all the relevant structural information about your organization! Companies typically make onboarding ones to make the recruiting process smoother, by providing important information to potential and new candidates in a fun way. 

Adobe created this onboarding video to welcome their new hires and walk them through what it’s like to work at the organization. 

10. Tutorials 

Last but not least, tutorials are another type of video that you can personalize to strengthen your relationship with your clients! By personalizing them, you’ll explain to your clients how to use and make the most of your products and services. If you directly address yourself to each client, they’ll be more likely to listen and remember the important information about one of your products and services. 

Watch this video to see how Canva explains to new users how they can use the platform for their editing.

4 types of data that can be used for video personalization

In order to help you with your video personalization, you’ll need to find out a few things about your customers! There are 3 types you can use to make the most out of your personalized video, and make sure it resonates with each individual customer. 

1. Demographic 

This type includes finding out customers’ ages, genders, and locations. After finding out this information, you’ll be able to tailor to specific customer groups. 

2. Behavioral 

This type understands customers’ purchase histories and browser histories to understand their individual preferences and online behavior. If you know this about your customers, you’ll be more likely to meet their needs and desires when addressing them with video. 

3. Contextual 

Contextual data is great at providing insight into customers’ user habits. These habits include when they’re online, the device they are logging in from, and their location when doing so. 

4. Engagement 

This type includes customer watch times and interaction rates, which offer your company the tools necessary to improve promotional strategies. Customer watch times and interaction rates are useful for marketing and sales teams to effectively engage users. 

How to make personalized videos efficiently in 3 steps ?

Most marketers understand the value of personalization, yet many struggle to find the resources to make the most of it! 83% of marketers find personalizing their communication to be their biggest challenge, and for 46%, time constraints are the biggest barrier holding them back. 

1. Segment your audience 

The first step in creating personalized videos efficiently is to segment your target public and define your marketing objectives. 

Start by categorizing based on demographics, behavior, preferences and desires, and purchase history. This includes defining clear objectives for your personalization such as increasing engagement, driving sales, and improving customer experience. By defining these objectives, you’ll be able to focus on specific aspects of your video such as tone, or language.

Segmenting will guide your video strategy by helping you craft the right messages for each of your clients. 

2. Make great videos

The second step in creating personalized video may seem obvious - making great videos!

In order to do this, you’ll need to follow the golden rules of video creation: a clear video script, good quality footage, subtitles, and more. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a video expert to achieve this! 

Find out more by reading our blog article on how to make your videos look professional. 

3. Choose the right technology

To make personalized video creation more durable, try out video-makers like PlayPlay. Designed specifically for the needs of busy marketers, these tools come loaded with high-quality, professional libraries of templates, stock footage, text animators, and more. 

Tools like PlayPlay make the most challenging, technical aspects of video creation so easy that personalized video becomes a perfectly achievable objective for marketing teams. We suggest creating one master video to use as a template, then duplicating it and entering in your prospect’s personal information to effortlessly make a personalized viewing experience. 

One important rule once you create valuable assets: quality over quantity! More specifically, this means to repurpose video content. You just hosted a webinar? Post several short highlights of the webinar to make people want to watch the recording.

5 examples for when to use personalized videos for marketing 

1. Capturing customer attention

Personalization offers tailored content to these clients by aligning itself with their online preferences. 

They’re therefore a great way to ensure you’re capturing existing and potential customer attention. 

2. Onboarding and welcoming

If you’re onboarding and welcoming new clients to your brand’s communication channels, you should consider sending them personalized videos! 

This type can be used to greet them in a unique, friendly way, and creates a positive first impression that’ll make them more likely to stick around and listen to what you have to say. 

3. Customer retention and loyalty 

Personalized video content is a powerful strategy because it builds customer loyalty. This type speaks directly to individual clients, creating a sense of appreciation while enhancing their experience and building trust. 

4. Product recommendations 

Personalization also allows you to make tailored shopping experiences for your customers, each unique in their own ways. Using personalized video for recommendations is a great way to keep clients engaged and show them products that align with their needs and desires, which eventually leads to increased sales. 

5. Promotional campaigns 

If you’re looking to boost your promotional campaigns by implementing a creative strategy, choose personalized video! This strategy allows you to connect with clients in a way that feels personal, relevant, and memorable. 

Promoting your newest products and services in a personalized way will make each client more likely to purchase from you. You’ll have a better chance at selling to those who find them personable! 

4 ways to use personalized videos for marketing 

Here are 4 different ways you can use this content to keep your customers engaged!

1. Email marketing 

If your latest efforts include emailing your clients and prospects, you can include personalized video to boost engagement and forge deeper connections with them. Video is also a promotional strategy that is more likely to encourage clients to take action! 

A few email options include: 

• Personalized messages and greetings 
• Tailored recommendations 
• Event invitations 
• Organizational updates 
• Exclusive offers and promotions

2. Customer brand loyalty

You can also make personalized videos to increase customer loyalty and retention. Some examples include: celebrating customer birthdays, wishing them happy holidays, and thanking them for being customers during their client anniversaries. 

3. Invitations 

When sending out invitations for events such as webinars, summits, or any other organization event, try to incorporate personalization in the message! If customers feel as though they were invited personally through personalized messaging, they’ll be more likely to attend. 

So, make sure to include invitees’ names in your invitations to guarantee your message will touch them! 

4. Customer service and support 

In order to show your brand values to its customers, you should prioritize your customer service and support messaging. 

Create personalized videos with PlayPlay

The future of marketing is all about personal connection, and video is the tool to get us there. 

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use video creation tool, needing no previous expertise, choose PlayPlay! 

PlayPlay is the online video creation solution that enables marketing and communication teams to turn any message into a compelling video, and requires absolutely no prior knowledge of video making or editing. 

With PlayPlay, you’ll have access to a suite of video creation and editing features to make high-quality, professional personalized videos. Some other reasons to love PlayPlay include: 

• Our AI video assistant, which speeds up your video creation process! With this tool, you’ll be able to generate video first drafts from text prompts, so you don’t have to start from scratch. You can edit the draft to match your brand’s needs to ensure a high-quality final output. 
• Our premium stock library, which gives you access to millions of high-quality, royalty-free media. Use premium images, videos, and GIFs from Getty to enhance them, make them more engaging, and heighten their professional look. 
• Our multi-format resizing tool, where you can crop and resize your videos for each channel or social media platform. In just a few clicks, you can resize them into vertical, horizontal, or square modes without affecting the quality of your output. 

To make personalized video creation fun, creative, and accessible for your team, try PlayPlay’s 7-day free trial and get a taste of our entire platform — no credit card required.