In the past 4 years, a lot of businesses have included explainer videos as a primary tool in their marketing arsenal. And needless to say, for every good reason. Due to its highly intriguing nature and ability to press upon the prickling nerves of the audience, it gets the brand narrative across without sounding any salesy. The result is more leads, more sales, and enormous traffic.
But yet, a lot of companies fail to garner the countless benefits of video marketing. Why is it so? What can you do about it? And what are the best types of explainer videos you can use to overcome this issue?
This and much more, we will be discussing in this keenly researched article. So just in case, you are one of our disappointed friends or someone ready to jump into the online arena of tough competition, let’s get you through the do and don’ts of explainer videos. Moreover, explain why your current approach might not be working.
Ready to start from the basics? Let’s jump straight into it…
What Is An Explainer Video?
An explainer is any short-form video that is used for marketing and sales purposes, highlighting a certain product or service of a company engagingly and persuasively. These videos are used for multiple purposes.
For example, some business websites host them on their landing page to turn leads into conversions, others use them for advertising their product or service on video sharing platforms like Youtube and Facebook.
An effective video is concise and readily relates with the intended audience from the very first second, diving them deep into your conversion funnel by referring to their tingling spots. To be a successful converter, it needs to creatively attend to the problem of the viewer (with interesting visuals), and how you can fix it; backed up by a strong call to action in the end.
The most commonly used explainer videos used in marketing are 2D, live action, kinetic typography, whiteboard animations, infographics, and screencast explainers.
Why Explainer Videos Are An Effective Marketing Tool?
According to data released by Google Analytics, about 6 out of 10 people prefer watching videos to reading text or watching television. Moreover, 82% of all consumer traffic will be generated by videos by 2022.
And that’s not all! As per data collected by Insivia, 90% of viewers say that video helps them absorb the message easily, among whom, 95% of people retain the message for a longer time compared to the 10% who read some boring copy. Also, 64% of buyers are more likely to buy a product or service by going through a video.
Now stop and think for a second… What does the data tell you? Yes, you guessed it right! Marketing through explainer video not only works like a charm but is a hopeful prospect towards a successful marketing campaign. Now the question is, what makes it so effective? Perhaps the following points will help you understand:
1. Instead of all the technical and often frustrating written jargon on your website, having a short explainer video on the homepage is more understandable and appealing to the visitors.
2. It intrigues them and increases the chances of going through full video with effective storytelling and visuals. You can easily integrate your message within the story without sounding salesy.
3. It breaks down explaining a complicated service or product into simple, comprehensible videos, assisted by practical visuals for better understanding. This ensures that the visitor isn’t overwhelmed by technical terms and information.
4. It substantially increases the conversion rate, if done the right way.
5. Videos are much easier to rank in Google algorithms. This gives you an edge over your competitors in terms of SEO.
Top 5 Reasons Your Explainer Video Is Not Working
If your explainer videos aren’t delivering results as they should, here are the top 5 reasons you need to look at:
1. Flawed Script
The script is the soul of an explainer video. If your script is rushed, your overall content will be flawed. You must make sure that the video keeps the audience captivated through effective structure and content from the very first second. If the script is not good, the video becomes unrelatable and quite boring, failing to get viewers to the end.
2. Excessive Information
When a visitor lands down on your site or watches your explainer video, he has almost zero knowledge of the product or service. Therefore, all he needs is to understand the basics. If you fill the video with excessive, difficult to absorb information, the visitor gets frustrated and confused, consequently skipping or leaving the video.
3. Lengthiness
In the world of explainer videos, anything surpassing 2-minutes is deemed lengthy. Therefore, the video should be kept as concise as possible. People are busy enough to be watching a 10- minute lecture on how you stand out from the rest. So provide them with what they need to know, up front!
4. Poor Quality
In a market where competition is at an all-time high, you must outperform everyone in every aspect to get to the top. And this can only be achieved if you put your heart into your work; explainer videos being no exception. The quality of the video represents the face of your brand. That said, nothing damages your company’s name more than presenting a low-quality video to your potential lead.
5. Poor Distribution
Making an explainer video is one thing, promoting it is another. If you think just uploading it to a Youtube channel will work; listen, bucko, that’s not how it works. You must make use of every platform that increases your video visibility. Making use of social media, blog linking, and paid ads will all do wonders for you (if you haven’t tried that before).
Tips On How To Make Your Explainer Videos Better
You can use the below-given tips to create a killer explainer video:
1. Work on the script
Your video is as good as your script. According to Neil Patel, a top web and marketing influencer, keeping the following aspects in check will help you create a “killer” script:
- Your target audience
- Explaining your service as concisely as possible, 2 sentences are ideal
- Highlighting the benefits of your service
- Explaining how the service/product works
- What tone would suit the audience best? A fun and humorous approach works like a charm
2. Keep it short
The shorter, the better. Keep your explainer videos as straightforward as possible. Avoid extra jargon that could confuse the viewer, and explain the Whats, Hows, and Whys, accompanied by a call to action within two minutes. It’s one of the most effective strategies to elevate your conversion rates.
3. Emphasize the benefits, not the features
Remember, you are convincing the viewer, not educating him. That said, emphasize what you offer to solve the visitor’s problem. It gives him a sense of importance and creates a psychological connection that urges him to trust your services/products. People are looking for something that can benefit them. And you need to make sure that the only thing that can do it for them is your service or product.
4. Keep it fun
Well, that’s something universal. With entertaining visuals and a funny yet relating approach towards your audience, they develop a bond with your brand on a personal level, assuring them that you totally understand their issues on the lowest levels. A simple smile will do more than you think.
5. Plan an effective launch
And this is the stage that puts all your marketing skills to the test. After you have created a powerful explainer video, it’s time to distribute it. For instance, you can increase the video visibility, as mentioned, by integrating it on your website, find great video hosting, and have a powerful marketing plan to make it go viral. You can take the help of blogs, newsletters, email signatures, and even ads.
3 Highly Effective Types Of Explainer Videos
Following are 3 best explainer videos you can use for video marketing:
1. Kinetic Typography Explainer
According to Explain Ninja, kinetic typography is one of the most trendy explainers of the day you can use to present your brand, services, or products to your potential prospective clients. If your service or product requires passing on technical or relatively complicated information to your audience, it is the best way to do it.
Kinetic typography makes use of moving fonts that explain the whole story, accompanied by a good voiceover. This technique is also used for attention-grabbing purposes, with a high-quality video playing in the background. It is as simple as you can imagine. You can use it for both ads and landing pages. As an example, check out The Story of Our Workflow, an award-winning 3D kinetic typography explainer, produced by Kasra Design.
2. Live-Action Explainer Video
Remember when we told you to keep it fun? Well, there’s nothing better than a live-action explainer for it. It’s basically an ad that conveys your brand’s message in an interesting and fun way, with real actors performing in the video.
The plus point is, if the video is executed brilliantly, there are greater chances of it going viral. A great example of it is set by the Dollar Shave Club Ad, a live-action explainer that broke the internet and amassed over 27 million views on Youtube. Solid huh?
3. 2D Explainer Video
A 2D explainer video pretty much works for every business. However, it will require some mind-blowing creativity to make a great 2D video. Since it is primarily based on characters and stories, it must be created in a way that the audience connects and relates with it to the smallest details. A simple approach is making the protagonist represent the viewer. You can take an idea from this Video.
Conclusion
And this sums up our article. We hope you learned what you were looking for with a bunch of useful suggestions. If you found it helpful, don’t forget to share it with your friends. Also, we’d be delighted to hear which of the above tips you are going to include in your next marketing strategy. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. Cheers!
