Any business owner seeing attractive animated videos around has come across a question, “what is an explainer video, and how can it help my business grow?” The answer is – explainer videos can be of immense help to any business. Every firm, no matter how small or large, always has a fascinating story to tell, which is best done in video format. So, in this article, we familiarize business owners with the concept of an explainer video, the process behind its creation, and the numerous business benefits they can reap from well-designed, appealing videos.
What Is an Explainer Video?
As its name suggests, an explainer video is a piece of animated video graphics aimed to explain something visually concisely to viewers. Modern users favor video content over all other content types, so your brand message will likely reach many more target users than tons of text would.
Using an explainer video, you can illustrate complex concepts and processes that your users may not comprehend at once. This way, you maximize the clients’ understanding of the unique value behind your products and service, thus increasing your marketing materials’ power to convert visitors to buyers.
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How Is an Explainer Video Produced?
Now, it’s time to uncover how explainer videos are produced and what stages they need to go through to see the world. As a rule, your order placed with a production company will involve the following creative phases:
- Market research. At this stage, the production company’s researcher starts analyzing your brand’s visual style, brand colors, and other elements to form a consistent style with that of an explainer video. They also take a closer look at the market trends to ensure that your explainer video will grab the users’ attention.
- Scriptwriting. Once the visual concept is ready, a script writer produces a more detailed storyline and narrative for your video. Otherwise, you can provide the script to the production agency if you already have an idea and only need technical realization. In this case, you can minimize the production cost, but we caution against amateur scripts as they may fail to appeal to your target audience. An optimal variant is to compose a script together with professionals who can advise on the most effective strategies and help you achieve maximum visual effects.
- Storyboard creation. At this phase, the storyline gradually takes shape as an illustrator makes sketches of your video and presents the images of characters, backgrounds, and objects to the client.
- Voiceover. Once the storyboard is over, you need to negotiate the voiceover. It’s usually performed by an experienced artist to give your video a professional sound. You can also try realistic text to speech software to add natural-sounding voice overs to your video to make it more engaging.
- Design and animation. The sketches drawn by illustrators are animated and turn into a well-combined flow.
- Sound creation. You can find free music in stocks or buy custom-created tracks for your video. The animated video and voiceover should have some background sound to create an organic, complete feel in the viewer.
- Montage of the entire piece. In this final phase, all elements are combined in a single animated video with well-flowing animation, illustrations, music, and an explanatory narrative.
As you can see, your animated explainer video goes through a lengthy path of creation and requires the concerted work of several creative professionals. Thus, such services are priced pretty high, especially among reputable production agencies.
How Can Explainer Videos Aid Your Business?
Now, let’s briefly recap what an explainer video can do for your business, thus helping you increase sales and convert more buyers in the end. What’s so great about the use of explainer videos?
- They build trust. Most explainer videos are meant to explain something – a service you’re delivering, a problem you can solve, your unique business approach, etc. Thus, if you do it well and achieve a better understanding in your users, they will surely see an expert in you and your business.
- They increase traffic. Videos are an effective tool for increasing website traffic because visitors may stay longer on your resource if they find a collection of engaging video materials there. This form of activity on-site inevitably increases your ranking and attracts more visitors.
- They capture attention. The truth is that only a handful of users are ready to read large technical texts to find new information. Visual delivery of educational and explanatory content is much better accepted by varied user populations, and your chances to grab users’ attention and make them stay with you are higher with stellar explanatory videos.
- They are a secret SEO weapon. If users stay longer on your website, its reputation rises. Besides, Google ranks websites with video content higher than resources without it. As a result, you achieve the combined positive effect of explainer videos, seeing your business outreach grow exponentially.
- Viral social media effect. Videos have much higher chances of going viral on social media, especially if they are short, entertaining, and informative. More people will share and like your video content, thus spreading word of mouth about your brand and doing free marketing for you.
- Email marketing assistance. Users feel more excited about exploring video content, and your chances to connect with users increase. Videos can also serve as a strategic email marketing tool, as the rate of video click-throughs in emails is higher than that of regular text links.
- Cost-effective competitive tool. Competition is fierce in the digital world today, and top-notch videos can become your secret weapon against competitors. If you engage users with memorable, appealing videos and your contenders don’t, your market position will be rock-solid.
- They are multi-purpose. The best thing about explainer videos is that they remain with you as universally relevant educational material. You can share their pieces with users via social media, post the whole video on the main page of your website or include links to videos in training webinars. They’ll always be valuable for newcomers.
Final Tips
So, the world of explainer videos is vibrant and diverse, giving businesses a rich set of tools for engaging users, communicating with them, and building loyalty and trust. One tip you may apply is the DIY explainer shorts suitable for social media buzz or email marketing. This way, you can save costs on professional production and still deliver top-quality video content to keep your target audience informed and engaged.
