What Are Explainer Videos? And how can I use them in My Marketing?
Key Takeaways
Explainer Videos Simplify Complex Information: An explainer video effectively distill complex ideas into engaging, concise, and memorable content using animation, motion graphics, or live action.
Versatile Marketing Tools: These videos enhance marketing strategies by increasing conversion rates, improving SEO, boosting social media engagement, and enriching email campaigns. This is especially true when it comes to video marketing.
Effective Creation Practices: Successful explainer videos focus on audience-specific content, are concise with a strong opening, and incorporate high-quality narration and visuals to maximize impact.
What is an Explainer Video
Explainer videos are a standout tool in modern marketing, adept at distilling complex concepts into engaging, succinct, and memorable narratives.
These brief yet impactful videos, typically ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, employ animation, motion graphics, or live-action to effectively communicate ideas, products, or services.
Their versatility extends across animated, whiteboard, and live-action formats, each uniquely capable of capturing audience attention, boosting conversion rates, and elevating overall marketing strategies.
Why are they an Important Tool?
At their core, this type of video is about clarity and engagement. They excel in making intricate topics accessible and enjoyable, ensuring that key messages are not only understood but also retained.
Widely utilized in marketing campaigns, training modules, and online tutorials, these videos address customer queries and pain points with a blend of information and entertainment.
A crucial element of a successful explainer video is a well-crafted call to action (CTA), guiding viewers towards a specific response or action post-viewing.
In essence, an explainer video is more than just informational content; they are strategic marketing tools that combine educational value with persuasive storytelling. They stand as a testament to how creative communication can transform the way brands interact with their audiences, making them an indispensable asset in any marketer's toolkit.
Explainer Videos: Your Marketing Game Changer with a Twist!
Let's talk more about why these videos are the secret sauce for your business videos and marketing recipe.
These little gems are not just videos; they're your allies in boosting business outcomes. Here's how they add that extra zing to your marketing mix:
Skyrocketing Sales? Yes, Please!: A professional explainer video is like a sales magician. It doesn’t just talk about your product or service; it shows it in action, making it easier for potential customers to say, "Take my money!" This often leads to a sweet uptick in conversion rates and, you guessed it, higher sales.
Supercharging Your Content Strategy: Pop an awesome explainer video into your content mix, and watch your online presence grow. It's like giving your brand a megaphone on the digital stage, attracting new fans and keeping the old ones hooked.
SEO's Best Friend: Drop you own explainer video on a landing page or service and watch the SEO magic happen. Search engines love videos, so it's a nifty trick to climb up those rankings and wave hello to more organic traffic.
Pro-tip - If you use YouTube to host your videos, embedding the video onto your website helps send signals to Google. Optimize your YouTube video for SEO, and send traffic to your website from YouTube. The video also (typically) increases time on page for your website which helps with the overall SEO health of your site.
Social Media's New Star: In the world of likes and shares, awesome explainer videos are the cool kids. Shareable and engaging, they're perfect for jazzing up your social media pages, from Facebook to Instagram, getting more eyes on your brand.
Pro-tip - repurposing your video content on multiple platforms is a great way to maximize efficiency and test engagement.
Emails That Get Clicks: Boring emails? Not on our watch! Adding your best explainer video to your email campaigns is like sending a personal invite to engage. Expect more opens, more clicks, and yes, more conversions.
In short, explainer videos are your marketing strategy's dynamic sidekick, ready to take your brand's story and sprint with it towards success. They're not just about explaining; they're about exciting, engaging, and elevating your brand in the digital world. So, why not give them a starring role in your next campaign? 🌟🎥🚀
Various Types of Explainer Videos
Explainer videos come in various types, each with its own unique benefits and best use cases. Let's explore some of the most common types of these videos:
Animated Explainer Videos
Animated explainer videos are a popular type of explainer video that uses animation, motion graphics, and visual effects to explain a product, service, or concept. These videos are great for explaining abstract or intangible concepts, as animation allows for creative visualization.
An animated explainer video is a viable option for engaging a wide range of potential customers. They can be fun, visually appealing, and easily shareable on social media.
Additionally, animated explainer videos can be optimized for mobile devices, reaching a larger audience.
Whiteboard Explainer Videos
A Whiteboard explainer video, also known as video scribing, uses a real-time drawing process to explain ideas. These videos feature an animated hand drawing on a whiteboard, with voiceover or text explaining the content being drawn.
Whiteboard videos are highly effective as a call to action, encouraging viewers to engage with the content and follow along until the end of the video.
They are a great way to walk through different scenarios, demonstrate the main purpose of your product or service, and engagingly simplifying complex topics.
Screencast videos are a great option to keep your production costs low. A screencast video comprises screen recordings of users implementing a product or service online.
Live Action Explainer Videos
A live-action explainer video features real people, actors, or product demonstrations, making them a high-quality, authentic representation of your product or service.
These videos can create a personal connection with the audience, showcasing real people using or interacting with your product.
Live-action videos are a simple way to demonstrate the practical application of your product or service, making it more relatable and tangible for potential customers.
Why Explainer Videos are Effective
These videos have proven to be highly effective marketing tools. Let's explore some of the key reasons why.
Engaging Storytelling with Explainer Videos
One of the main reasons videos are so effective is their ability to engage viewers through storytelling. By crafting a compelling script, these videos create a memorable and emotional connection with the audience. A well-crafted explainer video script can resonate with your target audience, evoke curiosity, and build anticipation.
Utilizing sound effects, voiceover, and strong animation can further enhance the storytelling elements of explainer-type videos, making them more impactful and engaging. These key elements are essential for creating a great explainer video.
Enhancing Product or Service Understanding
Video content is often the best way to effectively demonstrate product features, benefits, and how your product or service solves customer pain points.
Videos provide a simple way to educate potential customers about your new product, making it easier for them to understand its value and benefits. An explainer video can efficiently present complex information in an easily digestible format, allowing potential customers to quickly grasp key points and make informed decisions.
Additionally, these videos can provide potential customers with a free trial of your product, allowing them to experience it firsthand before making a purchase.
Best Practices for an Explainer Video
Creating an effective explainer video requires attention to detail and adherence to best practices. Here are some key best practices to keep in mind.
Focusing on the Audience
When creating an explainer video, it's essential to tailor the content strategy to address the pain points of your target audience. Understand their needs, wants, and challenges, and create content that speaks directly to them.
Use motion graphics, animation, and visuals to convey complex ideas in a simple, visually appealing way. Consider optimizing videos for viewing on mobile devices, as mobile usage continues to rise.
Catering to various ways people consume content, such as animated, live-action, or a whiteboard explainer video, can also help you reach a wider audience.
Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that the explainer video is of high quality, both in terms of production and content, to effectively communicate a brand's value proposition.
Starting Strong and Keeping it Short
To grab people's attention from the start, begin your explainer video with a captivating hook or introduction. Utilize sound effects, audio files, or strong animation to enhance the video's impact and engage viewers.
Keep your explainer video short and to the point, respecting the audience's time and attention span. Cut out any unnecessary content or fluff, focusing on concisely delivering key information.
Incorporate a strong call to action at the end of the explainer video, prompting viewers to take action, such as visiting your website, signing up for a free trial, or making a purchase. Video on landing pages can quickly capture people's attention, yielding better results and higher conversions.
Powerful Narration Techniques
Utilize voiceover, possibly by hiring a professional voiceover artist or freelancer, to elevate the quality of your explainer video. There are also lots of new AI tools that will provide you with a voice-over for an animated explainer video, a whiteboard video or even a video with still images.
Voiceover adds depth and professionalism, enhancing the overall video quality.
The upside of an animated explainer video is that it will effectively convey complex concepts efficiently. An animated explainer video uses strong animation elements to visually enhance the storytelling elements of the video, and the voice-over or narration helps to get your message across.
These can also work great on social media because of captions.
Implement strong video scriptwriting, ensuring that the script maintains audience engagement throughout the video. Incorporate high-quality animation and motion graphics to visually enhance key points of the script, making the video more engaging and memorable.
Leveraging Explainer Videos for Your Marketing Efforts
Now that we have looked at explainer videos examples, their effectiveness, and best practices, let's explore how you can use them in your marketing efforts:
How Can AN Explainer Video Enhance Your Marketing Strategy?
Use your best explainer video as a viable option to introduce new products or features to potential customers, explaining their benefits and purposes.
Leverage an explainer video to explain the key features of your company's product or service, making it easier for potential customers to understand and see its value.
Utilize an explainer video as part of your content marketing strategy, creating engaging videos that educate, entertain, and inform your target audience, thereby increasing brand authority and customer trust.
Employ your best explainer video on landing pages, as they have been shown to increase conversion rates, keep visitors engaged, and improve SEO ranking, driving increased organic traffic to your website.
Include an explainer video in email marketing campaigns, as videos have higher engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversions compared to text-based content, effectively communicating key points and driving action from potential customers.
Implementation - Let's Talk about Where These Videos Should Go!
Website and Landing Pages
The Welcome Mat: Embed explainer videos on your homepage or product pages to give visitors an instant understanding of what you offer. It's like having a friendly guide who quickly walks them through your services or products.
Boost Engagement: Use these videos to keep visitors on your site longer, which can also positively influence your SEO rankings.
2. Social Media Channels
The Social Butterfly: Tailor your best explainer videos for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Each platform has its vibe – fun and catchy for Instagram, and more detailed and professional for LinkedIn.
Shareability is Key: Craft your videos to be shareable and engaging, encouraging likes, comments, and shares, which in turn expands your reach organically.
3. Email Marketing
The Inbox Surprise: Incorporate your best explainer videos in email newsletters or promotional emails. It's a pleasant break from text-heavy content and can significantly increase click-through rates.
Personalization Wins: Personalize the email subject line or content to hint at the video inside, creating a sense of excitement and curiosity.
4. YouTube and Video Platforms
The Dedicated Channel: Create a dedicated YouTube channel for your explainer videos. This not only serves as a repository but also taps into YouTube's massive user base.
SEO for Videos: Optimize video titles, descriptions, and tags for SEO to improve visibility on both YouTube and Google searches.
The great thing about explainer video production is that you can use the videos across multiple platforms.
5. Paid Advertising
The Ad Star: Use professional explainer videos as marketing videos in online paid advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads or social media ads. Videos can lead to higher engagement
Looking to Get Your Own Explainer Videos?
At A-List Studios we know how important it is to communicate not only your key branding messages but also information about your products and services. Explainer video companies can really help do that.
I'm so excited to hear from you and about the possibility of working together.
Click here and fill out the form. I offer a free discovery call and we can make a plan to help you with your video marketing.
