An Animated Explainer Video To Introduce Your Business, Services, Company & Products
Animated Explainer Videos to Introduce your Business, Services, Company & Products, mastering the hottest video marketing trend today.
The importance of quality video content cannot be overrated today. Through quality animated videos, numerous companies and brands attract prosperous customers and investors, raise awareness about their products, recruit and educate the most appropriate employees.
However, there is a segment in the video content field that deserves particular attention. Explainer videos are a trend that only gains momentum today but seems to have a bright future and perspective, developing the digital marketing industry.
In this article, we shall overview the main types of explainer videos and give practical tips that will help you create an explainer video that will skyrocket your digital marketing campaign.
What is an explainer video, and why does a business need one?
From the very name, you may understand that an explainer video is a type of content that is supposed to explain something. In this case, through a short, engaging, often animated video, you provide a brief overview or explanation of your product or service.
Explainer videos usually appear on landing pages or the company’s front website pages. In other words – places where a prosperous customer or partner is supposed to make the first acquaintance with your brand or a new product you offer.
To understand the potential and importance of videos, let’s take a look at raw statistics. An average website usually demonstrates a 144% conversion boost after adding an explainer video on the front page.
So, if you are still hesitating whether your website needs an explainer video, the answer is definitely yes. However, the main concern is to get a proper one – content that will engage the viewer, inspiring him for a further conversation with a brand.
That is why it is essential to distinguish between different types of explainer videos and determine which one will be most appropriate for your target auditorium.
Types of Explainer Videos
Depending on the production means and expression, you may distinguish three types of explainer videos:
Live Explainer Videos.
Those are short non-animated videos that involve real actors and physical scenes. Some companies prefer this type of content as they believe that seeing real people on the screen explaining and demonstrating the benefits of a product will instantly establish an emotional connection between the viewer and the brand. On the one hand, it is true. But at the same time, live explainer videos come with lots of restrictions and obligations. First of all, they often come out much more costly as their creation requires the involvement of more people and resources. Also, they are most dependant on the notorious human factor, making the production process pretty unpredictable at some point. And of course, dealing with live actors and scenery, you are restricted with the bounds of the physical world. It means that once you want your characters to fly, for example, you may need to address costly aftereffects post-production.
Whiteboard Explainer Videos.
It is a type of animated video content where all the information looks to be written and erased on a whiteboard. This type of explainer content is pretty popular today for several reasons. First of all, it is the cheapest kind of explainer video content that allows any brand or business to benefit from the explainer video content on a dime. Also, this kind of animated content looks the most business-like. It makes whiteboard explainer videos particularly attractive for those brands and businesses that feel reluctant towards animated video content, feeling that it may send prosperous customers and business partners wrong message about the business’s attitude and professional capability.
Animated Explainer Videos.
It is the most popular kind of explainer video today. However, animated explainer videos are particularly popular among software developing companies and startups. Sometimes animated explainer videos manage to involve one or more physical objects. The best features of animated explainer videos are their creativity and simplicity. On the one hand, the expressive methods in this type of content are limitless. But at the same time, one can easily do all the necessary adjustments and add-ons throughout the whole campaign.
This is a very schematic classification of explainer videos. Before creating one, you should understand that there is always a possibility to mix and match various types. It will allow you to create truly original and engaging content while expressing the whole potential of the product or service you are presenting.
How to create a successful animated explainer video?
On the one hand, the process of creation of an animated explainer video may not seem that complicated as basically, it consists of only 5 steps. But at the same time, each step requires a certain level of dedication and effort focusing. However, following those 5 steps precisely, you are guaranteed to create an animated explainer video that will work.
Step 1
Writing the script
The script is the most important element for any type of video content. And when we talk about explainer videos, your animated explainer must be engaging and on the point, which is impossible without a thought-through and perfectly-polished script.
Even if you decide to address professional assistance, a person who knows the business thoroughly must be an active participant in the scriptwriting. In this case, you have the best chances to provide an animated explainer that will directly address your target auditorium, emphasize their pains and explain clearly how your product or service will resolve the issue.
The perfect explainer video script consists of the following parts:
- A brief overview of the product and its application;
- Problem description;
- Offering a solution through your product or service;
- A CTA part (Call To Action. Here, you will encourage a viewer to contact you immediately, subscribe for the newsletter, etc.)
- Providing trust signals. Those may be famous customers, awards, or media references.
Here are some tips that will help you write a perfect script for an efficient explainer animation:
- Keep it short – and engaging explainer video would not be longer than 90 seconds;
- Make sure to express the key message and explain the value of your product and service in the first 30 seconds of the video;
- Talk directly to the viewer, aka “You”, “Your”, etc.;
- Use simple language, especially if the explainer animation is aimed at a wider auditorium;
- Use a casual conversational tone. It will help create an emotional connection with the viewer.
Step 2
Voiceovers
It is one of the key features of the success of your animated explainer video. No matter how attractive and appealing the video is, the narrator will do the explaining part. After all, you know how everything starts to seem legit once explained by Morgan Freeman.
You may address various talent agencies or online services for freelancers. Make sure that you are entirely satisfied with the voiceover of your animated explainer before proceeding to the next step of production.
Step 3
Production
There are several ways you can go while creating and producing your animated explainer video. We shall the most popular and efficient directions:
- Addressing a professional animation studio.
On the one hand, this is the most expensive solution as professional studio services cannot be cheap. But on the other hand, you get a guaranteed result, efficient and polished production, and a chance to get exactly the type of content that will create the highest conversion rate for your website and revenue for the enterprise. So, basically, addressing a professional animation studio is an investment into an efficient campaign.
- DIY explainer video.
There is always an option to create an explainer video on a dime and go for DIY projects. You may find tons of software online and even phone apps that will allow you to create an almost studio-grade explainer animation. However, there are some pitfalls of this idea. Be prepared that your content won’t be that original and polished you might need. It may compromise the viewer’s impression of the idea. Also, such an approach will require some extra time and effort from you. Those are resources that can always have a better application, especially if you are just starting your enterprise.
- Hire a freelancer.
It is a perfect compromise for those who want to get professional-grade content but are not ready to meet studio price lists. The market of freelance professionals is gaining momentum today, revolutionizing the way we see working and professional collaboration. The main advantage of hiring a professional is direct and efficient communication, which saves a great deal of your time, effort, and money.
Step 4
Sound effects
Even if you managed to find the best narrator in the world and the animation looks perfectly polished, the whole explainer video will still feel flat and unfinished unless you introduce music and sound effects to it.
Once you are producing your animated explainer video through a studio, sound effects and music will be a part of the contract. The studio will make sure to take care of the copyright and other legal aspects. In case you are working on a DIY project or decide to do the search yourself, the internet is full of portals, offering various sound products. Some of them a royalty-free, which means that their use is licensed for any kind of use, including commercial. In other cases, you will have to make at least a one-time purchase or consider attribution or other copyright requirements.
Step 5
Analyzing the performance
Measuring video engagement gives you the necessary data to demonstrate whether the whole project is successful or needs any kind of adjustments. YouTube and Google offer various instruments that allow you to track viewers` reactions to your animated explainer video content.
What is the point?
It is pretty natural that you might think that explainer animation is a pretty resourceful project at this point. Yes, hardly an efficient explainer video is something you can do in half an hour using your smartphone. You will have to spend some time and money to get animated content that will bring those crazy conversion rates everyone is talking about now.
Let’s just go over the ultimate benefits of getting an animated explainer video for your website or landing page:
- It inevitably increases conversions;
- Animated content improves the SEO ranking of your website. At least 70% of the first-page search results for any topic contain an animated video on the front page;
- Animated content keeps visitors on your page at least twice longer than any other methods of engagement;
- Explainer animations are attractive and easy to share on social media, giving you access to a powerful promotion tool;
- Animated explainer videos are flexible. You can adjust them for any auditorium, product, or purpose. Whether you want people to make a purchase, contact you, or signing up, an animated explainer will deliver your message most efficiently.
Those are undoubtful benefits of animated explainer video content. Once you look at them from this perspective, all the time, effort, and money you will have to put into creating an explainer animation for your business or website turn into a safe and efficient investment. It will pay off almost instantly, raising awareness about your business or service and engaging people into further fruitful communication with the brand.