Designed to describe and explain brands and businesses, explainer videos literally explain and educate. Using animation, the video becomes compelling and engaging, grabbing the attention of the viewer.
Additionally, animation can help to cut costs, and it’s easy to add voice-overs. So why not try animated videos for your business?
About Animated Videos for Business
While straightforward videos are created from continuous motion films or film clips, animation involves the use of a series of frames or pictures that are placed to together to appear as if they were shot in continuous motion. Cartoons, created from numerous drawings, are made this way.
Traditional animation was created by hand. This is a time-consuming method that can be expensive. Today there is sophisticated software that can be used to create both 2D and 3D animated graphics that are ideal for animated explainer videos.
Check out this example from one of our more recent projects:
Tips to Make Explainer Videos Work
Well produced, an animated explainer video will engage potential customers and persuade them to try your products or services. So here are some tips:
- Start with a well-written script. You understand your business and know everything about it inside out. But that doesn’t mean you should simply have a conversation about it. It’s best to have a pre-written script, and essential that it conveys the message to your target market. You need to pitch the product or service, highlight its benefits, and ideally have a call to action at the end of the video.
- Keep it short. Conversations can go on for hours, but we don’t always remember everything we’ve discussed. To make a real impact, an animated explainer video should be as short as possible – and that could be only one or at most two minutes! Generally, the less you say, the more of your message people are likely to remember. A good explainer video will give a quick, fascinating overview that gets people hooked and wanting to know more.
- Keep it simple. Don’t ever forget the adage, Keep it Simple Stupid. The KISS principle is well known in the world of journalism where stories need to be told accurately and quickly. It’s an obvious principle to follow when making short, snappy animated explainer videos. In essence:
- Consider the problem customers are faced with.
- Present the solution, introducing your product or service as the potential answer.
- Describe very briefly how your solution will work.
- End with a call to action. Tell them to sign up, buy the product, or simply take another step.
- Stick to the benefits. For an explainer video to succeed you need to get the message out quickly and simply. So don’t start trying to explain all the features of the product or service, certainly not the technical features. Use simple language and throw out the benefits. Once the potential customer is hooked they will go and find out about all the features anyway.
- Choose a voice that sounds professional. Both visuals and audio must be good, and whoever’s voice is going to be heard has to sound professional. If you’re not sure what this means try listening to radio shows and analyzing the impact of presenters. It’s not just about voice quality but also the ums and ahs and coughs that irritate people and make them switch stations. When you make animated explainer videos you don’t want people to switch off, you want them to keep watching!
- Be entertaining. A sure way to keep people watching is to keep viewers entertained. Make them laugh and have fun. Animation is a really good tool to do this with.
- Keep visuals simple. You need visuals that will help to illustrate an explainer video, but they don’t need to be outrageously expensive. In fact, if you go overboard with visual effects you might just distract your audience rather than reinforce the message.
- Use music to set the tone. Like visuals, music shouldn’t be distracting but it may be used to set the tone of the voice-over and pace of speech. If you don’t have a preconceived vision of the music that will work with your explainer video, you can add it afterward.
- Choose a video host. There are so many video hosting options, but many people don’t even investigate these, choosing rather to stick with the best known – YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Flickr. Either way, you can promote the video on your website so that it is integrated with your overall brand or business message.
- Market your animated explainer videos. Many videos go viral but not on their own. You need to develop a marketing plan and use it to leverage your audience. Options include newsletters, events, and the various, hugely powerful social media channels. But don’t rely on only one option, combine them for maximum effect.
If you are in the market for an animated explainer video and need an experienced video production company to help you, the team at Atlanta Media Pros can help you stand out from your competitors. Contact us today to tell us how we can help you.