Explainer videos are proven to be one of the most effective ways to publicize your business. Even big brands like Mcdonalds, Airbnb and Venmo have used explainer videos to enhance their branding. Explainer videos may look simple and easy, but to achieve a successful video to catapult your brand to stardom takes more effort than you think. There are many intricacies involved in a great explainer video. Things that you need to think about includes more than your objectives, your target audience and your budget.
Here we have a checklist of questions that you should answer before embarking on your first animated explainer video, which by the way, you should totally make because they will change your life.
Do you have a video objective?
Is your video to educate, convince or convert? What do you want your audience to takeaway at the end of the video? Answering these questions is the key to creating a video that is clear and effective. If you have several objectives that you want to hit, filter them out into a single clear objective. Having one overarching objective is better for messaging than numerous, complicated messages. It will be all over the place and it’s harder for your video vendor to interpret as well.
Knowing your objective clearly will also save the process a lot of unnecessary changes. When your objective is clear, for example, getting views and shares, you probably can’t have a long, boring video more than 90 seconds. The average attention-span of humans have declined vastly over the past years. The longer your video is, the more challenging it is to retain your audience’s attention. So how long do your videos should be?
What problem is your video trying to solve?
Knowing your brand’s purpose is crucial. What is your position in your industry? What are you providing: a software, a new system, or a service? What is the market gap that you are trying to fill? A need for a product, service, or technology? Understand the problem that you are trying to solve, and try to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Consumer research is also very crucial in this step. Putting yourself in the shoes of your audience helps to make your video relatable. Your explainer video is a brilliant way to illustrate to them how much their lives can be improved through your offerings.
What is your brand’s visual style?
If you are a brand with a distinct brand identity, this part will be a breeze for you. However, many companies do not have a clear identity, which can serve as problem when they ask for an explainer video. If possible, bring along colour palettes and mood boards to your first production meeting. Knowing the creative visual direction you want to go in will save your video vendors a lot of time and effort. It would also set the ground for easier communication, as both parties are now clear of the visual direction to go with.
Some of our clients even discovered a new visual style while creating their explainer videos, incorporating the new style into their main branding. Whichever way you go, remember that an explainer video will always reflect your main branding and it’ll become more effective for years to come.
What is your brand personality?
Brand personality is more important than you think. If you’re a corporate investment firm, you don’t want a cartoon child pitching your complex system and algorithms to potential clients. Or maybe you do. Brand personalities vary, and videos help to portray that personality to make your brand memorable in the minds of your audience. Be sure of your branding choices to avoid sending the wrong message to your audience.
What are your audience’s demographics?
Knowing your audience is not enough, you have to understand them. Understand their lifestyles, values, personality traits to truly reach out to them. Identify the decision maker in your target audience. From there, you can find out their needs better and know how to cater to them. Are you targeting fashion-savvy millennials or housewives from high society? Understanding your audience will make it much easier to determine the style and feel of the video.
Here is a sample of a market segmentation that you can use to better target your audience:
What is your call to action?
Your call to action is one of the most important parts in the explainer video. When people spend 2-3 minutes of their time watching your video, you have to include the desired action that you want them to take. Especially when your objective is to convince and convert viewers, your call to action helps to drive action. Even if your objective is to educate, your call to action can be asking your viewers to check out a website. The right call to action can drastically improve your video’s conversion rates and ROI. Think about what you want your viewers to do and include it in the video.
Enjoyed reading this article? Read our article about 5 Reasons Why More Businesses Are Using Explainer Videos In Singapore
