Top Nine Video Marketing Tools for Marketers

It is a fact that video has taken over and become the king of content. The latest digital marketing trends confirm that in 2020 video will continue to be on the rise. The trend keeps growing and the predictions for 2021 are that on average a person will watch videos 100 minutes per day.

Videos are a great way to interact with your audience and increase your engagement rate. Data says that videos are shared on social media 1200% more than images and text combined. A survey conducted by Hubspot and Wyzowl shows that 88% of video marketers report a positive ROI.

If you haven’t planned to include video in your digital marketing strategy you are missing out on huge opportunities. Although creating videos is not something everyone can do easily. This is why we are presenting you a list of nine tools you can use to start creating engaging videos.

The list provides information about pricing and the main features of the video tools. The free options are highlighted, however, keep in mind that almost every free version of a video creation tool leaves a watermark.

1. Lumen5

Lumen5 is a great video creation platform and easy to use. Its most attractive feature is that you can automatically turn articles into a video. It’s a great opportunity to repurpose your blog content in an interactive way.

To turn a blog post into a video, you just need to submit its URL and the AI-powered script will pick the headlines of the article along with the images of your blog post. Then you can customize and change layouts, photos and fonts. Of course, you can start your own video from scratch as well.

The platform has different templates, copyright-free images, animations and music tracks you can choose from. Also, you can import your own images with drag and drop.

One of the coolest things is that in the free version you can add your branded message. However, you still have the Lumen5 watermark at the end of the video.

Lumen5 can be used across most social media. You can choose among different formats depending on the channel you want to share your video – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, LinkedIn, Pinterest or custom format.

Using the free plan you can create up to 5 videos per month with your logo which you can export and share across your social media channels.

The paid plans start from $19 to $149 monthly.

2. Biteable

Biteable is an online video maker where you can create videos really fast. The main advantage of Biteable is that it has templates. This is extremely useful for beginners or people who want to create simple videos. There are various template categories like business, animated, educational and more. You can customize them by adding text and choosing music.

It’s a great tool for social media video posts. It has templates for Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and you can directly share your video across social media channels.

Biteable has a pretty engaging Youtube channel where the company shares examples of videos and features the tool has. It’s also a good source of inspiration.

The free version has a watermark and unfortunately you can’t download your video. You can only share it via a Biteable link.

The paid versions start from $19 for the starter plan; the pro plan is $49 and the unlimited plan is $99 monthly. There are also yearly plans available which are more economical.

3. Animoto

Animoto is a drag-and-drop cloud-based video maker, easy to use and you don’t need previous editing experience to create your own videos. It’s a really nice choice for marketers or vloggers who want to create close to professional videos and share their content in an interactive way.

You can choose from the stock images, music library, storyboard templates, texts, fonts and colors. You can add your own photos and videos. In the paid version you can even add your brand logo.

You can sign up for free and start creating your videos. The pricing plans start at $5 per month, the professional and the most popular plan costs $33 per month. There is also a plan designed for teams at $49 per month.

4. Wistia

Wistia is video marketing software which helps marketers build a connection with their audience. The service is combined with video hosting. There are nice video editing guides for video creation. It is user-friendly and suitable for people that don’t have any experience in video editing.

Wistia is a powerful video marketing tool because it has an inbuilt analytics tool to track your video performance and campaigns. You can track user behavior, monitor your outreach and retarget viewers with ads across different social media channels.

One of the best features appreciated by marketers is the option to add a clickable call to action button and track its conversion rate.

Wistia has a free version that has limitations, but it still is a good start. It has the possibility to create three videos you can embed and one channel where you can share them via a link. The free videos have a Wistia watermark.

The paid plan gives more freedom, but is relatively expensive – costs $99 per month. It is suitable for marketers who often create video ad campaigns and need to track and improve video performance.

• Related article: How to create videos that convert

5. Animaker

Animaker is an online tool for creating animation and live-action videos. The platform is suitable for non-professionals and beginners who want to create simple videos with animated images.

Animaker is easy to use because it has a drag and drop video builder. It offers various video types such as cartoons, birthdays, advertisements, holiday, etc. It also has 100M+ stock photos and videos to choose from and more than 1000 templates. There are diverse options to build your character so you can be sure it will be unique.

With the free version of Animaker, you get unlimited downloads with a watermark, you can use HD quality videos, build two custom characters, download ten GIFs and choose from ten free music tracks.

The paid plans are Starter at $19 per month and Pro for $39.

6. Ripl

Ripl is a mobile and desktop app used to create short videos (30s – 60s). It’s a great option when you want to quickly communicate something to your audience – a sales promotion, the launch of a new product, greetings or inspirational quotes.

Ripl has collaborated with the main social media platforms so that after you create a video and share it, you can track its performance and engagement with real-time analytics. Such a feature allows you to easily share videos on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn. It also has templates that you can customize according to your needs.

With the free version you can create 30-sec videos and you have access to 10 designs. You can select from 3 music tracks, include up to 8 photos, use your own logo and share directly or schedule your social media accounts.

The pro plan costs $14.99 per month. It offers not only more flexibility in its design options but 60-sec long videos.

7. Shotcut

Shotcut is a free, open-source, cross-platform video editor. It’s an offline desktop tool. You need to download it so you can use it on your Windows, Mac or Linux device.

Shotcut has a lot of possibilities for editing your videos: video and audio effects, color correction, trimming, and easy-to-use cut, copy and paste operations. It supports a wide range of formats. Also if you are a Linux user and you are struggling to find a desktop video tool this might be the solution.

As an open-source tool, Shotcut is a forever free video editor, there is no paid version. You just need to download it to start creating your videos.

• Have you read: Video Marketing for Business: The Definitive Guide

8. Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing tools out there. Similarly to Shotcut, it’s an offline desktop tool. However, it is not free.

Filmora provides users with much more freedom of use and possibilities. You can create interactive videos and impress your audience. You can use it on both Mac or Windows devices.

Filmora includes several desktop tools, serving different purposes. Filmora9 is suitable for everyone including beginners. The professional option is FilmoraPro. FilmoraScrn is for screen recording which can be used when creating tutorials. There is also a mobile app FilmoraGo which presently is compatible with iOS devices. The Android version will be available soon.

With Filmora, you can adjust colors, brightness or add custom effects. You can choose music, filters, overlays or texts. It is easy to trim, split, make transitions and move between clips, choose the best ratio for your videos and adjust the speed of your clips.

For the different Filmora tools, there are different payment plans. For each of them, you can chose to pay for a year or for a lifetime. Prices vary from $19.99 to $149.99 yearly depending on which plan you choose.

9. Adobe Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro is a professional video editing software for all kinds of video formats: web, TV and film. Like most Adobe software, it’s the industry-leading tool and one of the best tools for editing and creating videos.

With Adobe Premiere Pro, you have tons of possibilities and countless features so you can turn every idea you have into an amazing video or a film.

Since this is a professional tool, keep in mind that you need to invest time in learning how to use it. If your marketing strategy requires creating professional commercials or films, it’s worth investing in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Adobe Premiere Pro is supported for a wide variety of platforms and you can use it under both Windows and Mac. It complies with almost all popular video formats, so you can edit, record, import or share your videos everywhere.

The software supports HD formats, storyboard mode, unlimited audio and video tracks and more. Some of the top new features released in November 2019 are auto reframe, graphics, text and audio enhancements, and others.

The software is paid only and costs $20.99 per month. There is a free trial for 7 days.

Wrapping up

There are tons of video tools that you can use for different purposes. But if you are a marketer who wants to start engaging more with customers using video, we suggest you start with something simple.

If you want to promote your blog, start creating video articles with Lumen5. If you need to track your engagement, Ripl and Wistia will help you with tracking users’ behavior so you can improve your campaigns.

If you want to create an outstanding video or a short film that you can share across social media channels, go for Filmora or Shotgun. Leveling up to a professional Adobe tool, should be the last step to take after you have some experience.