15 Video Marketing Examples With Critical Takeaways

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Thursday, November 02, 2023

If you’re looking up video marketing examples, you’ll soon see a Harmon Brothers video.

Their clients’ ads have been seen 1.6 billion times.

But here’s the thing.

Companies spend at least $500,000 to work with the Harmon Brothers.

The investment pays off…

But where does that leave small businesses?

Can you make a video that drives sales without a production studio?

Can you try video marketing without spending your entire cash runway?

You can!

Each of the 15 video marketing examples come with critical takeaways for businesses on a budget.

Video Marketing Examples on a Budget

Most blogs on video marketing examples forget that not everyone has a multimillion dollar marketing budget.

Take Android’s Friends Furever ad.

It was the most viral ad of 2015 with over 6.4 social shares… and it was created by one of America’s top video production studios, Droga5

It’s featured in nearly every blog about video marketing examples.

But what’s the critical takeaway except for ‘You need money to make a good marketing video’.

(In fact, there’s not even data on how much revenue Friends Furever made.)

Here’s a few reasons that actually support starting small with your video marketing:

  • A high-budget video takes time – if you need a marketing solution by next month then it will take too long
  • A high-budget video is a risk – you can’t A/B test with a high-budget video so if it bombs then you’ve lost money
  • A high-budget not the only solution – going viral with an high-quality video is not the only way to make sales

This blog post is different.

We’ve found video marketing examples that didn’t cost a lot of money upfront but still brought results.

And not just meager results…

Results that changed a businesses’ fortunes forever.

We hope at least one of the examples below will be the brainwave you’re looking for!

15 Video Marketing Examples With Critical Takeaways

Here’s a quick overview of niches we cover below:

  • ​SaaS
  • ​Affiliate marketing
  • ​Physical products
  • ​B2B
  • ​Design
  • ​Info productse
  • ​Books
  • ​Audiobooks

Not all of the video marketing examples will be directly relevant to your business.

But here’s the thing.

Video marketing is so versatile that you could take inspiration from any one of these examples and apply them to a different vertical or different industry.

Let’s get into it.

1. Dropbox – 70,000 Sign-ups From a 4-Minute Screencast

You might know Dropbox as the file hosting service that generated $2.3 billion in revenue in 2022.

But you probably don’t know how it all started with a low-budget marketing video.

Let’s go back in time to 2007.

The foundation story of Dropbox is the stuff of legend: founder Drew Houston forgot his USB stick on a long bus ride so he couldn’t work.

During that bus ride he began creating a file hosting service on the cloud.

By April 7, Drew had built a prototype of Dropbox and he made a 4-minute screencast walking viewers through how it worked.

It’s literally just a screencast (see below).

He released it
 on Hacker News with a link to join the private beta and got 70,000 signups.

But it gets better.

In 2011, Drew felt confident to spend $50,000 for a production house to re-make his explainer video and promote it again.

This new video brought in 10 million new customers and netted $48 million for Dropbox.

Takeaway

You can test your marketing video with a low-budget version first.

2. Orabrush – From $40,000 Wasted to $1 Million off a $500 Marketing Video

In 2009, Dr Bob Wagstaff invested $40,000 to make a TV commercial for his new tongue cleaner, Orabrush.

But it bombed.

The commercial brought in 100 orders and didn’t even cover the video marketing costs.

Dr Wagstaff tried the Orabrush in retail stores and tried selling the patent to other companies.

None of it worked.

As a final attempt, Dr Wagstaff spent $500 on a local college student to make a YouTube video… and Orabrush sold $1 million online in the year after launching their channel.

Suddenly the retail stores came knocking.

By 2011, Orabrush was stocked in over 40 countries and even in Walmart in the US.

Why did the video work?

The problem Orabrush had was in educating the market that ‘90% of bad breath comes from bacteria on your tongue’.

The commercial didn’t work because it hadn’t educated consumers.

But their success on YouTube came from teaching viewers about bad breath with a mix of a ‘tongue test’, humor and science.

(The original Orabrush video has been taken down but there’s a reupload below.)

Takeaway

A larger budget isn’t the answer to success if your audience doesn’t understand your product yet.

3. 6-Pack Abs – How a Few Sketches Sold $30-40 Million in eBooks

In 2006, Jon Benson was a struggling copywriter who couldn’t get his sales pages to convert.

Then he found a psychology study which changed everything.

The study said people are more engaged when reading and listening at the same time.

Enter the world’s first video sales letter (VSL).

Jon recorded a video with his simple sketches and a voiceover on top…

And on his second attempt at promoting an ebook called The Truth About Six Pack Abs by Mike Geary, he set the product in motion for $30-40 million in sales.

Fast forward to today, and Jon is known as the inventor of the VSL and his ideas are responsible for over $15 billion in client revenue.

And here’s the thing.

The production costs of a doodle video are a fraction of the costs of a studio production video… and is irrelevant to the revenue either can make.

Takeaway

The quality of the production isn’t as important as the quality of the message you’re getting across.

4. ClickFunnels – $100 Million in Sales from a Single Webinar

When Russell Brunson launched ClickFunnels in October 2014 he thought he would change the world of online sales forever.

But he couldn’t convince anyone to sign-up even for a free trial.

Then he discovered the ‘Big Domino Statement’.

As Russell explains in the book Expert Secrets, selling your product is easy once you convince your audience that your product solves their single biggest problem.

For example….

Russell had to convince people that a sales funnel was the answer to being successful online.

He created a presentation with this Big Domino Statement and closed 60% of his audience at a seminar on a paid ClickFunnels subscription.

Suddenly, everything changed.

Russell turned that presentation into a webinar and started running it 1-5 times a week.

By 2017, ClickFunnels had its first $100 million in sales.

Russell Brunson said the success came ‘off the back of that one webinar’ as he continued to use the same framework anytime he gave a live or online presentation.

Takeaway

Once you get one marketing video that converts well, you can repeat it again and again.

5. Pebble – $40 Million in Kickstarter Funding from 3 Simple Videos

Three of the top 10 most successful Kickstarters of all time are for the same product: the Pebble watch.

In fact, one of the three Pebble Kickstarters is the #1 most successful kickstarter of all time with over $20 million raised.

But it was Pebble’s first Kickstarter which made over $10 million that you’ll want to look at.

The campaign is based around a simple video of the founder talking about the Pebble watch over some simple b-roll footage.

So how did it create such a buzz of investment?

Pebble was the first smartwatch that could sync with both iPhone and Android.

Here’s a couple more things that Pebble was the first to do:

  • ​Cyclists could use Pebble as a bike computer
  • ​Runners could use Pebble to control their music and distance
  • ​Businesspeople could use Pebble to read important messages
  • ​Developers could use Pebble to build new apps and sell new products

All the video had to do was make the above clear inside a few minutes’ viewing time.

Takeaway

If you have an exclusive product that people can’t buy anywhere else, then your video doesn’t need a huge production budget to be successful.

6. Lag Shot Golf – From $0 to $1 Million in 74 Days

Garry Guerrero won a 2 Comma Club award within 74 days of launching his golf training club.

(The 2CC is an award for any ClickFunnels user who makes more than $1 million from a single sales funnel.)

The product was sold via a landing page with a short 4-minute.

But there’s a key to the video.

It featured three-time PGA teacher of the year Adam Bazalgette talking about how great the product is to help golfers improve their swing.

Adam is featured talking to camera and some b-roll footage of golfers taking a swing with the club.

That was enough to generate $1 million in sales in 74 days!

Takeaway

If you can get someone with authority in your industry to present your marketing video, then it’s much easier to convince viewers to buy.

7. Dollar Shave Club – A $4,500 Video and a $1 Billion Exit

The Dollar Shave Club story has become a business legend.

After launching just one YouTube video in 2012, the company received 12,000 orders within 48 hours of going live.

By 2016 Unilever had agreed to buy the brand for $1 billion.

But few people know that the original video cost founder Michael Dubin just $4,500 dollars to make and the shoot took just 1 day.

That’s the power of a low-budget video done well!

Many point to the clever use of humor and the engaging footage of Michael walking and talking to camera.

But the real secret of Dollar Shave Club is that it solved a recurring problem for its target audience: the difficulty of finding low-cost razors.

Without that, the video could have gone viral for its humor without generating sales.

Takeaway

Humor is a great multiplier of views for your video – but you can’t ignore driving home your core sales message.

8. Will It Blend – A $50 Video Series that Boosted Revenue 500%

Blendtec from Utah is another business in the video marketing video hall of fame.

In fact, their YouTube series became the 33rd most viewed ever after launching in 2008.

If you haven’t seen the videos…

They feature founder Tom Dickson blending a range of items from a golf ball to an iPhone to Justin Bieber DVDs and asking the camera ‘will it blend?’

If you have seen them…

You probably don’t know how much they transformed Blendtec’s bottom line.

In 2008, the Blendtec manufacturing team had a budget of just $50 to revitalize their brand in a saturated market.

They used that $50 to buy:

  • a domain name
  • ​a lab coat
  • ​a pair of safety glasses
  • ​a bag of marbles
  • ​a 12-pack of diet coke
  • ​a Mcdonald’s meal
  • ​a rotisserie chicken
  • ​a garden rake

And the Will It Blend? series was born!

By the end of 2008, the videos had driven sales of Blendtec’s $399 blender up 500%.

By 2010, the company was set to make over $50 million in sales.

Blendtec even started selling the blended dust for up to $901 on eBay (and donated the sales to a sick children’s hospital in Utah).

Takeaway

Feeding viewers’ curiosity is key to making viral marketing videos. But when the videos also demonstrate the effectiveness of your product? Then you can make sales too.

9. Woodway UK – Award-winning Sales Rep Boosts Booking Rate 700%

Matt Hall was a winner in the 2020 Vidyard Video in Business award.

His approach to using video to book meetings with cold prospects has made him famous in the B2B marketing space.

Here’s how it works.

Matt is a sales rep for a packaging company in the UK, and he began filming himself unboxing a cold prospect’s product and teasing solutions to save cost and waste.

The prospect was asked to book a call with Matt to find out how.

This video marketing example requires almost $0 budget to use (except for buying the prospect’s product) and doesn’t need any advertising spend.

All you need is a computer camera or smartphone camera.

But done well, it’s devastatingly effective.

Matt used to get 1 meeting booked from 40 cold calls… and with this 1-to-1 video marketing method he started getting 2 meetings booked for every 11 videos sent to cold prospects.

Takeaway

Giving huge value to a prospect is more important than spending huge value on a marketing video.

10. 12 Month Millionaire – $1 Million in Sales from a Pre-Recorded Interview

We’ve covered Russell Brunson earlier and the 2 Comma Club award.

But this video marketing example is the first time Russell actually made $1 million himself using his own ClickFunnels platform.

Both the product and the video marketing will be valuable for anyone selling a digital product.

Here’s how it worked.

The product was an audio recording of an interview Russell Brunson had done with Vincent James.

(James is the writer of the 12 Month Millionaire, which documents how he made $100 million in 23 months selling supplements through direct mail before the Internet.)

But there was an upsell.

Anyone who entered their payment details to buy the audio recording was taken to an upsell page with a video of Russell Brunson offering the 12 Month Millionaire book too.

Russell says that 30% of people who bought the audio also bought the book.

Together, these two products made him over $1 million.

It’s a great example of using video marketing not for advertising or to get traffic, but to upsell buyers onto higher value products or services.

And what’s even better?

The video (now taken down) was just Russell sitting on a desk and talking to camera with the book in his hands.

Takeaway

You can use marketing videos to make more money from people already buying a low-ticket product from you to increase your revenue.

11. CSS Tricks – Raising $87,000 With a Behind-the-scenes Video Offer

In 2012, the founder of CSS Tricks Chris Coyier wanted to redesign his website.

But he didn’t have enough money.

So he came up with a unique idea for a fundraiser.

In exchange for a donation, Chris promised to share private videos showing everything he learned and implemented during the website upgrade.

His initial goal was to raise $3,500.

But he raised over $89,000!

Chris improved CSS Tricks and a couple years later the company was bought for $4 million by Ocean Digital.

And what’s amazing about this?

The Kickstarter video itself is just Chris in front of a green screen.

But there’s another cool takeaway here.

Takeaway

You don’t only have to use videos to market your products and services. A low-budget video series could even be your end product by itself! 

12. Dustin’s Fish Tanks – Making $1 Million Per Year with Niche Youtube Videos

This video marketing example is a little out there.

But it’s perfect for anyone looking to run their own eCommerce or personal brand online.

Here’s why.

Dustin’s Fish Tanks is one of many businesses that rely almost exclusively on YouTube for sales.

In this case, Dustin makes more than $1 million per year for his one-person business selling fish, plants and accessories for aquariums.

He gets the traffic to his website from simple videos of him reviewing aquariums.

It’s a simple strategy that has a small market – but one that’s enough to provide 154k subscribers and a huge income for a solo business.

We repeat: the marketing videos are very, very simple in production.

Takeaway

You don’t need to target everyone with your marketing videos, just talking to one small niche is enough to earn 6-figures with a one-person business.

13. Ahrefs – Building a $50 Million SaaS Businesses with Zero Ads

Ahrefs sells a niche SaaS tool helping marketers improve their SEO game.

But they’re different from most SaaS and B2B tools – for the first years of their growth they spent nothing on advertising and didn’t even have a marketing person on their team.

Instead, they grew by posting helpful content on niche forums.

When they started to produce marketing videos, they continued this approach to create simple tutorials about topics their markets really wanted to study.

The most views their early videos got were 100k…

But since they used Ahrefs tools to explain SEO hacks – and since the standard pricing for an Ahrefs subscription is over $1,000 per user per year – it turned into a very successful strategy.

By 2020, Ahrefs hit $50 million in ARR with $0 funding and limited ad spend.

Takeaway

If your product or service helps your audience achieve a specific goal, you can create simple tutorial videos which give value while subtly selling.

14. Zapier – Growing a Tech Unicorn From Video Updates

Zapier is one of the better known tech unicorns in the SaaS space.

But if they have a huge budget to invest in YouTube video ads today, Zapier began as a bootstrapped weekend project.

In fact, Zapier managed to hit a $5 billion valuation with only $1.3 in funding over a 10-year period.

Their video marketing strategy is quite amazing.

Not for its production quality.

But because between 2013 to 2019 (when Zapier hit $50 million in ARR) their entire video marketing strategy consisted almost entirely of announcements!

Here’s why it worked.

Zapier’s use case was helping users connect up the different apps they were using.

And since they were the only business offering this service, it was easy to get users to use Zapier on a basic announcement of an integration alone.

In fact, these videos contributed to Zapier’s genius SEO marketing strategy too.

According to Ahrefs, the term ‘Zapier’ only gets 200 searches a month on Google.

But the Zapier website as a whole brings in 1.6 million hits every month through terms like ‘dropbox google drive sync’ and ‘google sheets integrations’.

Nothing fancy.

Just a huge volume of specific announcements.

Takeaway

If your product does something that no other business sells, you can get by with low-budget announcement videos.

15. Vygone – A Video Marketing Strategy that Works Without Making a Single Video

This video marketing example doesn’t have the revenue figures of others in this list.

But it’s included because of its genius.

It’s a video marketing example that doesn’t require you to record a single video.

Again, it’s from Russell Brunson.

In his book DotCom Secrets, Russell shares the story of how he bought a physical product for curing cold sores called Vygone.

He noticed that someone on YouTube was getting good traffic to a video they’d made about how great the product had worked for them.

So Russell offered them a payment if they could add a product link to the video description.

And it worked!

Years later, the YouTube video was getting Russell hundreds of hits per month to his Vygone sales page.

And he didn’t have to make a single video for it to work.

Takeaway

If someone else has a video about the product or service you’re selling, you can piggyback off their success!

Final Thoughts

The video marketing examples above are all from businesses that had a small budget, limited time, or were just starting out.

They’re also video marketing examples that are proven to work.

And you know what’s even better?

None of the examples here require the months of planning, recording and post-production of making a marketing video with an expensive studio.

They’re also just a fraction of the cost.

So you could take any of the examples here and set them in motion for your business by next week!

Oh, and by the way…

At Voomly we’re passionate about giving marketers and businesses owners low-cost access to the best quality video streaming on the Internet.

Voomly uses the same content delivery networks as Amazon Prime and Hulu.

And for a monthly price that’s lower than any other video hosting provider!

You can check out our pricing options here.

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