How to Tell Your Brand's Story with Full Funnel Video

​​Most brands are already investing in video, but few are optimizing it across the entire funnel. That means missed impressions, wasted budgets, and fragmented stories. It’s time to rethink how video fits into your strategy—from first touch to final conversion.

A full-funnel video strategy ensures that your brand tells a consistent, compelling story with sight, sound, and motion—whether your audience is discovering your brand for the first time, exploring your offerings, or ready to take action. From awareness-driving storytelling to performance-driven creatives, video helps marketers meet users where they are with the right message and format.

Video ads can be tailored to each stage of the customer journey—from punchy awareness hooks to trust-building consideration content and conversion-focused creatives. With automation and AI-powered tools, brands can now scale video production efficiently, meeting platform-specific demands and personalizing content without draining creative resources.

Understanding Full-Funnel Video Advertising

A full-funnel video advertising approach involves tailoring content to address the specific needs and behaviors of consumers at each stage of the marketing funnel:

1. Awareness (Top of the Funnel): As you look to capture attention and introduce the brand to a broad audience, your content should be engaging and informative, focusing on storytelling that resonates with viewers' interests.
   Example: Brand films, UGC-style videos, influencer collaborations.
   
   
2. Consideration (Middle of the Funnel): To engage potential customers who are already aware of the brand, provide deeper insights into products or services, showcase unique selling propositions, and build trust. B2C marketers can effectively incorporate reviews and creator content, while B2B brands should lean into testimonials and case studies.
   Example: How-to videos, testimonials, explainer videos.
   
   
3. Conversion (Bottom of the Funnel): At the bottom of the funnel, videos should encourage decisive actions such as purchases or sign-ups. Include clear calls-to-action, highlight benefits, and use personalized content to drive conversions.
   Example: Shoppable videos, personalized offer videos, video Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) tailored to individual shoppers with relevant products.

The Importance of Video in Modern Advertising

Video allows brands to convey messages effectively, combining visuals and audio to create immersive experiences. It enhances message retention and engagement, making it a powerful medium for storytelling throughout the customer journey.

Implementing a Full-Funnel Video Strategy

To effectively tell your brand's story through a full-funnel video approach, consider the following pillars:

1. Produce: Automate Video Content Creation

Challenge: Producing video content manually for thousands of SKUs or formats is costly and time-consuming.

Solution:

• Dynamic Video Templates: Convert static images into high-performing video ads at scale.
• AI-Powered Video Editing: Repurpose existing video to multiple short clips, remove and generate backgrounds, and auto-crop to different formats with ease.

Example:

A leading online bank partnered with Smartly to develop a full-funnel ad campaign, resulting in a 60% increase in average click-through rates and the creation of hundreds of personalized ads. 

2. Personalize: Tailor Video Ads for Maximum Engagement

Challenge: Consumers expect personalized experiences, but static creative often falls short.

Solution:

• Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): Automatically adjust video creatives based on data, such as browsing history or purchase intent.
• Cross-Platform Personalization: Scale video across social, programmatic, and CTV while maintaining brand consistency.

Example:

N26, a mobile bank, utilized Smartly's automation tools to create hundreds of video ad variations tailored to different stages of the funnel and regional markets, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of their advertising strategy. 

3. Perform: Optimize Video Ad Effectiveness in Real Time

Challenge: Advertisers struggle with tracking performance across multiple channels.

Solution:

• Cross-Channel Reporting: Gain a unified view of  performance across social, programmatic, and CTV.
• AI-Powered Budget Allocation: Shift spend dynamically toward top-performing campaigns or channels.

Example:

Samsung leveraged technology to view upper funnel metrics and deduplicate efforts across channels in real-time, resulting in a 100% reduced frequency waste. 

Best Practices for Full-Funnel Video Advertising

A well-structured full-funnel video strategy ensures that your brand’s storytelling remains cohesive and impactful across different stages of the customer journey. To maximize effectiveness, it’s essential to align content with funnel stages, optimize for platforms, test continuously, and leverage AI-driven automation. 

Consider the following best practices:

1. Align Video Content with Funnel Stages

Each funnel stage requires a different approach:

• Awareness: Capture attention with short, engaging brand stories (6-15s), optimized for autoplay with captions—without overlooking audio.
• Consideration: Build trust with product demos, creator or user-generated  content (UGC), testimonials, and educational content that answer customer questions.
• Conversion: Drive action with clear CTAs, urgency (limited-time offers, social proof), and seamless ad-to-checkout transitions.

Example: Samsung’s cross-channel video insights reduced cost per reach by 12.5% and cost per completed view by 49.7%.

2. Leverage Platform-Specific Features

Different platforms require tailored video content:

• Meta & Instagram: Vertical videos (9:16), short-form storytelling, video DPA.
• YouTube: Hook viewers in the first five seconds, longer storytelling, YouTube Shorts for quick engagement.
• TikTok & Snapchat: Fast-paced, authentic content with text overlays and trending audio.
• Pinterest: Lifestyle-driven short-form content. Optimize for viewing without sound.
• CTV: High-quality, cinematic storytelling with clear branding and strong CTAs.

Example: A global retailer used Smartly’s automation to dynamically adjust creative formats for Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat, optimizing performance.

3. Continuously Test and Optimize

• A/B Test different video elements like CTAs, length, and messaging.
• Use AI-powered insights to identify top-performing creative variations.
• Automate real-time adjustments to maximize effectiveness and conversions.

Example: TUI Fly reduced their cost per purchase by 36% using AI-driven creative testing.

4. Scale with AI and Automation

• AI-generate video variations and turn static images into dynamic video ads or long-form content to short-form clips.
• Ensure videos fit each platform’s specs with templates, channel overlays and AI-powered cropping.
• Use predictive budget allocation to automatically shift ad spend to top-performing channels or campaigns.

Example: Foot Locker re-shot 10,000 product images into video ads in seconds using AI automation.

By embracing a full-funnel video advertising approach, brands can effectively narrate their stories, engage audiences at every stage of the customer journey, and drive meaningful business outcomes with a format consumers prefer.

Winning with Full-Funnel Video

To stay competitive in the evolving digital landscape, brands must adopt a data-driven, AI-enhanced video strategy that balances creative excellence with automation. By aligning video content with funnel stages, optimizing for platforms, embracing continuous testing, and leveraging AI-driven automation, businesses can tell a compelling brand story that converts audiences into loyal customers.

Smartly simplifies and scales video advertising across social platforms, online video and CTV with automation, AI-powered creative tools, and actionable insights — reducing complexity, saving time, and maximizing performance.

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