“If a Picture is worth a thousand words, a Video is definitely more than that.” - VideoZee
A number of marketing tools have marked their presence during the last few years. Among all of them - some earned hype, some amazed the masses and some did both, i.e. influenced as well as proved their worth.
Explainer videos are one such tool that fall in the last category, thanks to them being extraordinarily helpful and effective. If you are an investigating officer who is on a mission to get into every detail related to explainer videos, this post is your helipad to land upon.
As a matter of fact, the term holds its meaning in itself. In simple words, it refers to a video that demonstrates a concept. It narrates a business along with its products & services in a way that’s not just easy to understand but looks enticing and doesn’t bore. Purpose of these eye-catching videos is simplifying the life of the viewer by solving their problem.
Explainer videos make it easy to brief a company, products and services in a concise yet clear way. Whatever be the message of the business, it is presented in the best manner.
It was 2007 when these videos stole attention and got themselves stardom. Common Craft, with an intention to educate users how to use Twitter, created an explainer video. Despite plain graphics and direct language, 10 million views of the video depicted its success loudly. Realizing the worth of these videos, businesses of every size started leaning on them to kiss success & fame.
Now this is quite important to know. You just can’t sit in front of a computer with some idea in mind, create any video with few characters & content and call it an explainer video. Instead, you need to jot down the main features it constitutes of. Let us now dive into some mandatory features for every video.
1. Short Duration: Best explainer videos are short and up front. 90 seconds is the maximum duration.
2. Simple: No mystery, no suspense, rather a clear message in the simplest way possible.
3. Animated Characters: To add a fun touch that appeals & attracts to the audience, animated characters are the way to win hearts.
4. Target Audience: Finding the right audience and identifying its problems are two attributes too crucial to forget, as they make the customers feel valued.
5. Music: Because nothing can beat the right tune! When a video has the right music or sound effects, story is narrated in an interesting way and engagement rate boosts.
6. Unequaled Quality: No matter how useful the business is, how grateful the products are or how convincing the story line is, video must be high quality.
7. Appropriate Colors: Everything that has the right colors wins attention and explainer videos are no exception.
8. Professional Voice-Over: Clear, sharp and expert voice-over is the key to reveal everything that’s being presented to the eyes.
Creating a script that hits the right chords is an art that takes years to master. When writing a content that’s perfect in every way, there are two ways to go:
1. Understand the basics and build a powerful foundation.
2. Hire professionals who do it all for you.
Whatever path you choose, knowing the required tips for a compelling script is your right and you must grab it.
Charlotte Parsons, Executive Producer of Jumbla suggests going for a total of two key messages if the explainer video lasts for 30 seconds. If the duration is 60 seconds, four chief messages are good to be incorporated.
What to expect if more than the required number of messages are put? Of course, viewers will not absorb all the information. As far as other messages are there, they are good to be added as text. Other thing to be careful towards is ensuring that the sentences framed are brief and not lengthy. Since speaking here is the job of visuals, easy & short points are all that need to be focused on.
Watch your words carefully! Every word your script has can make a lot of difference. Having said that, try following the below outlined mantra:
For a video of 30 seconds, aim for about 70 words
For a video of 60 seconds, aim for about 150 words
For a video of 120 seconds, aim for about 300 words
Watch your words carefully! Every word your script has can make a lot of difference. Having said that, try following the below outlined mantra:
While a good script takes the sales up, a bad one obstructs the sales growth. Everything that’s being said in the video is supported by the visuals.
Defining the purpose behind creating an explainer video is something to be focused on before focusing on defining the main message. Viewers must know what action to take once they are done with watching the video.
Key messages must be written as bullet points to bring out the context and significance of the explainer video. Upon completing the script, it is always rewarding to confirm whether or not all the key points have been covered.
An apt beginning, an overpowering middle and a striking end are the essentials of explainer videos. To treat the audience with an effortless viewing experience, mind must be filled with the below explained guide:
Showcasing issues/problems faced by the customers or audience
Showcasing the solutions the business or its products/services can provide
Featuring benefits the products/services have
Instilling call-to-action or highlighting the key message
Every business, every brand and every video has its individual identity and thus, it should be evident in the script. Language used must connect with the audience as well as align with the business.
Whether tone of the voice is professional, relaxed, factual or friendly, it serves a huge role. The script has to be used and transformed in a way that the message is conveyed in an interesting storytelling way.
Audience won’t take the expected action unless it knows what the business is, what solutions it has, how helpful it is and more. Why it it so? Because majority of them no nothing about the business.
Making a place in minds & hearts of consumers starts with including the business name in the script. Besides this, purpose of the business, its products/services and how beneficial they are for the audience are the prerequisites to embed.
Email address and contact number can be featured through visuals. All and all, execution of the script has to be in a way that upon the end of the video, the audience knows what it needs to do.
This one is a golden rule to swear by. Animated video or explainer video must be kept free from any & every information that can change at any point. Reason? There’s no point in investing time, brain and money into something that goes outdated.
To bless your video with a full life, include information that’s forever.
For those who are short on time or are not sure about creating a professional explainer video, taking external help is a wise decision.
Doing this way saves time, creates a video that’s highly compelling and attracts the right people. Also, nobody but experts know how to work their magic and maintain engagement when there’s a lot to say with visuals sans excess content.
For those who are short on time or are not sure about creating a professional explainer video, taking external help is a wise decision.
Doing this way saves time, creates a video that’s highly compelling and attracts the right people. Also, nobody but experts know how to work their magic and maintain engagement when there’s a lot to say with visuals sans excess content.
Yes, it does! A website with an animated video makes its audience stay for long. No matter who the viewer is, when they come across a video, play button is clicked for sure. Google checks the time spent by users on a website; hence, more time means viewers found the video interesting. As a result, Google rewards the website with higher ranking in the search results.
On an average, explainer videos are known to boost the conversions by 20%. Now that’s an amazing reason to get hands on these super-effective visuals.
Believe it or not but sales videos are performers in their own way. It’s easy to make the viewers take action in any desired direction. Sales videos are so captivating that just by adding a call-to-action, asking users to fill forms, subscribe to the newsletter, downloading a documents, etc. turns easy.
Videos are more likely to be shared since people love sharing information that is useful and is fun to the eyes.
During the past few years, one thing that has seen tremendous increase is rise in mobile video views. People are connected with their phone 24/7; hence, are always hungry to gulp every information that’s online. Compared to text content, videos appeal more to the mobile users.
Content communicated through video is easy to understand, easy to recall and easy to consume. As content is beautifully supported by the visuals, it creates a strong impact.
With the arrival of online videos, Google algorithm assures staying in tune with latest trends, thereby, emphasizing websites that are involved in making outstanding as well as dynamic content for the visitors.
That being said, web page that has minimum text but more explainer videos will enjoy a better rank.
When talking about these videos, it is wise to know they can be live acts as well as animations. Through this post, it’s now time to discuss the various types of videos and find out how engaging they are. Before moving on to them, feast your ears with the news that these explainer video types are great for both, B2B as well as B2C businesses.
As the name says, this style of video handles the job of blending motions with emotions and presenting them into graphics. In place of graphics elements, the video has graphic elements, which brilliantly portray the business message through movement.
Perfect for:Businesses with complicated products/services
From cartoon style to animated flat design, this form of video allows doing everything. Moreover, it is fun, enticing and pro in grabbing user engagement.
Perfect for: Startups
Its unbeatable high quality and high cost of production make it more suitable for commercials as compared to explanatory purposes. Not only it succeeds in getting the attention but also leaves the audience astonished.
Perfect for: Every business that’s not confined by budget issues
This particular video refers to visuals presented in black and white and recorded by artists who write keywords and draw illustrations on a whiteboard. Recently, these explainer videos have turned digital without losing the charm of their simplicity.
Perfect for: Businesses that look forward to explain their process or service
Here, attention is grabbed by fusing animation and real human act together. Upon recording the video with a camera, animated elements are incorporated later. To make the final output nothing but exciting, these videos show real people communicating with the animation.
Perfect for: B2C companies who want to establish strong bond with the customers
Styling of this video is dependent on using single or multiple typography fonts that are turned into animated in an interesting way. Though a number of styles can be combined but usually, it is the plain typography video that catches attention of the viewers on the text.
Perfect for: B2B companies if focus is highlighting figures and data
Putting it in simple words, an infographic video is no different than a typography video. To showcase the information in an appealing way, it has images and characters.
Perfect for: B2C companies that want to provide information in an enchanting way
Series of illustrations or pictures are the center of attraction in these videos. Played in a particular sequence, they are played with an intention to convey movement.
Perfect for: B2C companies or startups looking forward to create an unforgettable impression
Since these are kind of stop motion videos, they need a camera that shoots either digitally drawn images or paper cut hand-drawn ones. They produce animation effect when assembled in sequence.
Perfect for: B2C companies
This one is an absolute delight. It can be created easily, requires less budget and is undeniably popular. A video of the mobile or computer or device screen is recorded to narrate the working of a process or software or product.
Perfect for: B2C companies
Videos are unbiased; thus, work equally great for established brands as well as startups. No matter what type of business it is, with a carefully created video, wonders can be done. Take a look at some of the most popular explainer videos on the planet to discover why every business needs them.
Perfect for: B2C companies
Without a doubt, this one is a legend in itself. Utmost clarity with part product & part animation.
Keeping a fun and modern theme, spotify’s explainer video has clean text, happening tune and bold colors.
One of the most popular videos, it has elaborated screenshots with motion graphics that are in every way captivating.
First things first, this one is a funny video. With a humorous feel, this explainer video explains how to steal glares.
Meeting expectations of the viewers in the initial seconds, the video has been made keeping in mind what makes the audience hit likes and shares.
Pitching the product perfectly in a short video, Dropbox has kept together the best features and pieces.
This video is so damn perfect that nobody can ignore it. From the beginning until the end, it keeps the focus of the viewers intact.
This was it! Hopefully you are now well-versed with every minor & major detail about explainer videos. Take your time, analyze your business needs, memorize your goals and expansion plans and conclude whether your business needs its own explainer video or not. In case it days, keep everything explained above in mind and then only move towards gifting your company its explainer video.
