Why use an Animated Explainer Video in your Business?

Check out our Animated Explainer Video. You’ll learn how it may be perfect type of video for your business.

As marketers much of what you do centers around getting your prospect’s attention and then helping them understand the important information we have to share. Attention and understanding.

Of course, the most important part is the actual information that you’re hoping to get them to understand. For example, you could walk up to them, hold up a print Ad (or video, or whitepaper) right in front them and make sure they read it, but, if your message is off-point it’s a waste of everyone’s time. So, first and foremost we must get the content, for that particular moment in their Buyer’s Journey, spot on.

I’m a big believer in added text and other helpful graphics to Live Action Videos (where actual humans are filmed) but an Animated Explainer Video is extremely helpful in certain types of marketing situations.

Definition

First, a quick clarification for what I’m talking about when I say “Animated Explainer Video.” It’s an animated video, that uses cartoon-like or illustrated people and graphics to tell a short story. These are different than a Whiteboard animation (where you see a hand drawing things on the screen) or a text-based animated video where the focus is on words moving around on the screen.

Use Cases

Here are a few business situations where an Animated Explainer Video may be perfect:

Is yours a complex or intangible product or service, or unusual Brand Story?

If you offer an intangible or digital product, say website design, an App or financial advisory services, it can be difficult to convey your message in a Live Action Video, but an Animated Explainer Video can bring the process to life by telling, and more importantly, showing your prospects about your process and how they’ll benefit from using your company’s service.

Or, let’s say your product is in healthcare or science and is software that helps labs be more productive. A fantastic way to explain this complex process is with animation because it can take abstract concepts and bring them to life in a clear, concise, manner. An animated video can not only tell, but show these concepts with graphics that make it crystal clear what’s on offer.

Let’s say that your company offer dolls from the turn of the century. Now you could make a Live Action Video using costumes and actors but it might be more powerful to use an Animated Explainer Video to help your prospect time-travel back and forth between the past and the present.

What if you’re service offers results that could be shown best in an infographic? Charts and graphs are easily animated in an Animated Explainer Video and when you combine that with appropriate sound effects and a great script, viewers will come away understanding exactly what points you’re trying to make.

Almost any storyline can be told with an Animated Explainer Video so it’s a really versatile marketing tool to keep in mind when you’re trying to explain something to your audience.

Increased Attention

Ok, so now that we know more about the type of content or stories that can be told with an Animated Explainer Video, we can talk about another reason why they’re great to consider: they are amazing at getting and keeping your viewer’s attention.

There’s something a bit disarming about an Animated Explainer Video. Cartoons are fun, right? So, right off the bat, more people will be willing to at least begin watching your fun cartoon that just happens to be explaining how great your service is, too. It’s kinda like tricking someone into learning something. Learning while having fun is the best.

Another feature on animated videos is that they normally have a ton of visual activity on the screen. Items flying in and out, animated people talking or walking, plus all sorts of interesting backgrounds and other visual elements. All of this activity on the screen keeps your brain very engaged while watching.

When’s there’s action on the screen our brains reset and this resetting process helps to keep us engaged. Animated Explainer Videos are almost always very active in this way so they’re a natural for keeping viewers watching.

Other Considerations

Update-ability

How often might you need to update your video?

Most types of videos can be updated but if you have a Live Action Video that’s a bigger production, with actors, etc. it can be very costly to bring all those pieces of the pie back together to re-shoot. (Although, if you’re video relies on in-house talent, i.e., your co-workers, it’s not normally a huge problem to reshoot.)

With an animation, it can be a quicker process to make small updates to your video.

Budget

How does your budget impact whether an Animated Explainer Video the right choice?

Everyone has a budget but it’s important to remember that video is often a marketing asset that can last for several years. Starting with that mindset, there are a wide range of production types and that’s why when you ask how much a video costs, they answer is usually “it depends.” For a 2-minute Live Action Video, a video production company could charge between $1K and $100K+. Yep, true story. It depends on many factors and normally the more complicated the piece, the more it will cost.

For an Animated Explainer Video, the cost varies widely, too. I just Googled “Animated Explainer Videos” and the first two Ads had prices of $249 and $8K. What’s the difference?

Factors that Impact the Price

Often the difference comes down to service and the level of personalization of your video. Some shops will offer the entire process and some will offer only certain parts, like just the animation. You’ll also be able to get more customization of the graphics (original art work that’s just for your company) from the pricier services. You will usually get more experience and the possibility of better marketing or sales outcomes when your investment is higher. No matter which type of animation studio you choose, the most important part, clearly, are the words. Words tell the story and without the right words, it’s always gonna be an uphill battle to win over those viewers.

Words Matter

Having just told you that the words are the most important, let’s get you closer to choosing the right words, or the right animation studio to craft those words.

Although, you can use an Animated Explainer Video for many different things in your business, let’s take the straightforward case of a Sales Video where the objectives are for the viewer to understand your product or service and eventually make a purchase.

The most important part of a writing a script for your animation is to approach it from your prospect’s point of view. Here’s a weird aside: Most of the Animated Explainer Videos that I see, get this right. The weird part is when a company creates their Brand or Overview Video, they get this terribly wrong and talk mainly about themselves, sometimes without even mentioning the prospect at all. Crazy!

So, make sure that your scriptwriter will use this prospect-centered approach. We all want to know what’s in it for me (WIIFM), so if you don’t start your video from their point of view, you’ll lose them immediately. Tell the story of the prospect, their challenges as it relates to your service and how you are the best guide to help them transform into a success and you’ll keep them watching and learning about your company. Good writing usually costs more but it’s worth it.

Pretty Pictures

The second main factor in pricing your Animated Explainer Video are the graphics – everything you see on the screen. Broadly, these can be stock images, semi-custom and custom art. The more you customize the work, the more it’s going to run you. If you’re a big brand, then custom graphics are definitely worth because having something that is perfect for your brand is vital. For projects with lower budgets, semi-custom or even stock images with be just fine, especially if you’re a local business. Can you make a really good Animated Explainer Video with stock graphics? Yes, but it may not fit your brand.

Audio

After the script and graphics, there’s the three audio components: narration, sound design (the various sound effects you hear) and music. Each of these things are important, of course, but not critical. In other words, will having a certain piece of music or narrator make or break your video? Likely not. Can any of these last things create a poor video? Yes, definitely, but they just aren’t as critical as the script and graphics.

Your Video’s Length

Your video could be anywhere from 5 seconds to 2 or 3 minutes in length and since everything in your video must be created in some way, longer videos require more work. Simple. Social Media videos tend to be shorter, training videos tend to be the longest. The most popular type of Animated Explainer Video, where your company/product/service is explained to the viewer is normally 90 seconds to 2 minutes in length.

Service Considerations

Another big factor in pricing is the service side of things. Are you getting a proper consultation beforehand to make sure that an explainer is the right choice for the particular business objectives that your company is trying to achieve? Did the studio work with you to truly understand your company, your prospect and service? Does the studio have the ability and willingness to send over Storyboards or examples of the vision they have for your project? Will they keep you up-to-date on the progress of your video? Will they give you an opportunity for revisions including the script and anything else in your video? How many? Over what period of time? Is the studio willing and able to help you increase the number of people, in your target market, to view your video? Do they offer any sort of guarantees on their work?

As with most things in life, you usually get what you pay for and just because your friend chose a certain studio for her Animated Explainer Video doesn’t mean that they’re the right fit for you and your specific needs. Hopefully, I’ve given you enough great info to make a solid choice of an animation studio.