The history of animation traces back to times as ancient as 3000 BC., when humans started embodying their thoughts in sculptures and drawings. However, as we underwent cultural advancements, the use and nature of this exclusively expressive activity evolved, and so did the purposes behind it.
A source of communication for Egypt, a luxury in the renaissance, entertainment in the 1900s, and now a major tool to skyrocket your business, animation, perhaps, is something that has been subject to the most drastic evolution.
But that’s not the main subject here. If we analyze the current animation trends from a business and marketing perspective, what really stands out is an explainer video, a concise way to engage, persuade, and connect to your target audience.
Don’t know what it is? Let’s explain it to you in this simple article where we will discuss the significance of animated explainer videos in your marketing strategy, what it means, and what are the dos and don’ts you must remember when including them in your marketing!
What is explainer video animation?
An animated explainer video is a simple, concise, and engaging video that is used to break down abstract and complex ideas in an easily understandable way with the help of exciting and meaningful visuals.
According to statistics, around 95% of buyers prefer watching an explainer video to understand a specific product or service, and about 85% of marketers use it as their primary marketing tool. Animated explainers are often showcased on landing pages or are presented in the form of a social media ad.
Explainer video comes in many different styles. To learn more about the available trends, check out this video:
Before you hire an animation company, there are many things you need to do and avoid to get the most out of your animated explainer videos. Following are some of them:
What to do:
Do proper research: The online world is filled with hundreds of animation companies where each of them claims to be the best. To avoid being deceived by their exquisite copywriting, make sure to do your research. Check out their genuine customer reviews, portfolio, and anything you can get your hands on that can give you an idea of their quality of work. Plus, make sure that they have some relevant experience in creating explainers for your industry, or if not, an extensive portfolio for a variety of industries to prove their versatility.
Match your budget with expectations: Your budget decides the quality of the final product you will be receiving. This means it’s crucial to keep your expectations on realistic grounds. In other words, the higher the budget, the better the results. The same applies to low budgets. To avoid disappointment, you should always prepare a strategy that corroborates with your financial condition.
Know what you want: Many businessmen reach out to animation companies thinking, “eh…the animation guys will take care of it”. Well, they do, but as long as they know what you want out of the final product. Setting your requirements clear about the video will give them a proper direction in terms of creativity and guarantee the results you desire.
Set a realistic deadline: Just in case you don’t know, there’s a lot that goes into animation. So the time consumption will be a bit more than your average video production, about 4-6 weeks minimum to get a high-quality explainer. That being said, either you must be patient or simply choose some other medium to represent your brand.
Get involved, but don’t split hair: There are two types of businesspeople. The first type leaves everything in the hands of the animation company and relaxes, and the other gets involved to the extent of nitpicking. A piece of advice here is, don’t be both. Just stay in the middle ground. Let the animation company do their job, but make sure to be informed at each step and make necessary suggestions as per your requirements.
Keep it short: A successful animated explainer video is the one that propagates your brand message across in the quickest time. That being said, keep your video no longer than 2 minutes; people are too busy to spend 5 minutes listening to just your brand message. Remember, you must respect your audience to make the most out of an explainer, and a brief video just does that for you.
What not to do:
Pick the cheapest: While the most expensive service providers are rarely not the best, the cheapest ones are the worst 99% of the time. So while analyzing the quotes of different companies, go for the one that stays in the middle between both.
It will ensure that you get maximum value out of the deal. However, we would still strongly suggest hiring someone based on their portfolio and experience. You don’t want your investment to go down the drain.
Make it quick: Creating a perfect explainer takes a lot of creativity and time, as the process is full of trial and error. That being said, there’s no “quick way” here.
This means, setting a deadline that doesn’t corroborate the nature of the process is a straight no-no. As mentioned earlier, you can choose other mediums if you are in a hurry.
Set an unrealistic budget: As with any type of video production, there’s a huge team working behind the scenes while creating a perfect animation. Those include a creative director, copywriter, motion graphics designer, visual effects artists, animators, and many more, and they need to be paid.
This means you must keep all the expenditures in check before making a choice. The only thing you’ll get with an unrealistic budget is a disappointment, not conversion.
Intervene in the creative process: Well, do this and be ready to get an ultimate disaster in the end. As you may have heard, “a work suit in the hands of those who are skilled to do it.” So let the company handle this front of the project without any intervention. You just need to set your requirements as straightforward as possible.
Make it long: Before making an explainer, keep in mind that you are dealing with an audience with an attention span of less than a goldfish, which is 8 seconds. Therefore, making a longer video than a minute or two is just going to get you a “skip,” not a lead.
Focus on small matters: In a video as short as 2-minutes, your main priority will be addressing the actual pain spots of your target audience and providing a viable solution for that. There’s no room for addressing small matters, and if you still do, it’s only going to push the video unnecessarily.
Conclusion
To make a perfect explainer video, it’s critical to know your audience and provide them with what they are looking for, rather than what you would like to tell. That’s the primary key to luring them into your conversion funnel.
And for that, creating a balanced, engaging, and practically perfect explainer video is necessary. In this article, we shed light on some of the most important points that will ensure it. We hope you found this useful.