Making an outstanding animated explainer video is an art form, but it need not be overly complicated. As long as you follow some best practices and keep it engaging, your animated video should earn back its cost by providing you with increased leads, better brand recognition, beefed up SEO and more sales. To make an effective video, it’s just as important to know what not to do with your video so you can avoid mistakes that are sure to doom a video. With that in mind, here are seven things you absolutely must avoid when creating an animated explainer video for your brand.
Making it too Long
whateverjames/FlickrWe’ve talked before about the ideal length of an explainer video and what makes it an ideal length. Some people believe in hard caps of a minute or 90 seconds, but it all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with the video. A quick reference guide is:
Overview/Intro to brand: one minute or less
Explanation of process/product/service: Between two and three minutes
Education or training: No time limit necessary, but if it’s too long, consider splitting it into a series of videos.
One thing you definitely don’t want to do is make your video too long. An introductory video to your brand shouldn’t be three minutes and explaining your products or services shouldn’t be five minutes, etc.Say everything you need to say as succinctly as possible while keeping it coherent.
Using a Template
Mike Seyfang/FlickrCustomization is key to making an explainer video stand out. Every business is different and each one needs to create videos according to its unique needs. Even if your business is creating multiple videos for a series, you should avoid making them all exactly the same. Templates are undoubtedly useful for many things, but not explainer videos. Keep ‘em original and populate them with characters your customers can identify with.
Having a Jumbled Script
Caitlan Regan/FlickrExplainer videos don’t have an official formula to follow, but you need to keep them coherent. This is where storytelling comes into play. Most of the time, you’ll want to introduce a character that experiences a problem that your customers also experience. Then, you introduce the solution to the problem (your product or service) and then highlight the benefits to the customer via how it helps your character. This is a good formula to follow because it will keep the video logical and move it along nicely.
Using Low Quality Visuals
thedailyenglishshow/FlickrIf you have a low quality video, it’s going to stand out — for the wrong reasons. Professional-grade animation and a professional voiceover are essential when so many businesses are starting to use animated explainer videos. Cheap looking videos reflect poorly on the brands that use them. Don’t be one of those cheap-looking brands. Get your video professionally done. There are plenty of good business animation companies around. Oh, look, a call to action …
lucyfrench123/FlickrYou have to indulge people’s selfishness with your explainer videos and that means telling them how your products/services benefit them. People don’t want to hear about the bells and whistles, they want to know how the bells and whistles make their lives better. Later on in the buyer’s journey, people may be more interested in the processes behind your products and services and they may want to get to know your brand more, but to get them to that point, you have to start by telling them what you can do for them. No: “Product X features this stunning new bell app with realistic ‘ding’ and an amazing whistle that can reach the highest of pitches.” Yes: “Product X’s new bell feature summons any store employee immediately regardless of where you’re shopping and the whistle immediately drives them away if you don’t want to be bothered while browsing.”
Lacking Entertainment Value
Banalities/FlickrPeople like to be entertained, even when they are learning. Tossing out facts and figures in your explainer video is fine, but you should balance it out with some entertaining content, too. This is where storytelling comes in. Characters and situations your customers can identify with will bump up the entertainment value of your video. If you’re in an industry that lends itself well to humor, even better. People love to laugh and if you can get someone to laugh, you are having a positive impact on them. So, don’t just explain, explain in an entertaining way.
Failing to Use a Slogan
Mathias Klang/FlickrMost brands will have some kind of slogan to help people remember them and including that in your explainer video is just as important as using your brand’s logo and color scheme. If you have your own copyrighted jingle, you can also include that. Anything that will get people to remember your brand in a positive way is worth including as long as it fits with the overall tone and theme of your explainer video.The best way to avoid these seven explainer video faux pas is to work with a professional animated explainer video agency. We know an excellent one to work with if you’d like some suggestions. Oh, look, a call to action >>>>>> Click here to get started on planning and pricing your very own 2D animation video.
Time to take a look back at the year that has gone by and check out the best, most informative and most useful articles about video marketing that can be found on this here internet. This crop of articles includes guides, predictions, glimpses into the future, trends, triumph and tragedy (minus the last two).
If you are looking for useful reads regarding video marketing, check out these six articles:
1. Video Marketing: The Future Of Content Marketing
Hyokano/Flickr
The title is a bit of a misnomer because video is so clearly the present of content marketing. Although, it’s also the future, so the title is technically still accurate. Anyway, the point is this Forbes Agency Council article takes a good look at the numbers behind video and why it’s such a good medium for content, especially now.
If you still need to convince someone in your business that video is the best way to be marketing, start with this article.
2. Video Marketing: The Complete Guide to Creating a Video Marketing Strategy
Thomas Angermann/Flickr
It’s always nice to have a guide for your first foray into video marketing. This guide is about as comprehensive as it comes. It even goes through technical stuff like ISO and white balance and depth of field and all that stuff.
It’s easy to read, easy to navigate and it’ll make video production super easy, too. It goes through the types of videos you should make, how to make your first one, cameras you should use and how to use them, what equipment you need for a studio and how to set one up, editing video, hosting video, the sales funnel for your video marketing strategy and measuring the results.
This list wouldn’t be complete without a look ahead to what’s coming up next year. This prediction post is actually from back in October, but it’s still a good gauge of where video marketing is headed next year.
Especially interesting is the first entry on the list; projection mapping. It’s probably not something that small businesses would use, but an interesting look, nevertheless, about a new trend that bigger brands are using. Maybe by this time next year it’ll be cost effective for small brands to use, too.
4. Automated video creation startup Wibbitz raises $20M
Simon Davison/Flickr
Wibbitz is maybe the most important new technology when it comes to video. It’s an AI platform that takes written content, matches it with appropriate images and creates short video content out of it. If this technology becomes cost effective enough, it means people won’t have to spend hours editing videos. They’ll just be able to create videos out of their blog content automatically.
The fact that the startup has raised $20 million from backers says people are interested in it. Look for more AI inspired video platforms in the future.
Knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do and with that in mind, this article focuses on the top five mistakes brands make when using social video marketing. They’re all easily avoidable mistakes, so this article is good to have a peek at while you’re getting your video marketing strategy in order.
The article goes over targeting, bidding, tailoring and more. If you know what not to do, it’ll make you even better at what you need to do.
6. 4 Companies That Use Humor in Marketing (And How You Can Too)
Nathan Siemers/Flickr
This one is not exclusive to video, but it features two memorably funny video ad campaigns and tackles a subject that a lot of marketers are a little wary to take on: humor. Of course, humor is really subjective, but if it suits your product, then it can be incredibly effective. You just have to know who to target and how to wield the humor well.
The more you know your audience, the better you’ll be able to tailor your humor specifically for them. Much like dating, if you can make them laugh, you have a much better chance of success. (A successful relationship, we mean.)
If you’re looking for more amazing articles about video marketing and video content strategies, you can always just stick around this blog ‘cause we’re constantly putting up helpful articles for businesses. Speaking of being helpful, we can assist you in getting started with your very own animated explainer video. Click here to get started on planning and pricing your very own 2D animation video.
If your company relies on explainer videos to act as a brand ambassador to your company, then that video needs to convert viewers into customers. A mediocre video simply won’t do. It’s got to be good or, better yet, great.
Here are seven common mistakes to avoid in your explainer videos that could prevent it from converting viewers into clients or customers.
No Hook
Travis Isaacs/Flickr
An explainer video can’t afford to have a slow start. We talked last week about how you have approximately three seconds to hook someone with your video, particularly when they’re watching on a phone. While you don’t need to necessarily make it overly flashy, it should be engaging because you only have a tiny fraction of time to grab a viewer’s attention.
No matter how long your video is, the first 10 seconds are by far the most important part. It’s not a movie or a book or a TV show where you can set the scene and ease into things. You’ve got to get to the hook quickly.
Overselling
Martin Abegglen/Flickr
While it’s tempting to approach your explainer video as an ad, that’s going to be a huge turn-off for a lot of viewers. Your video should give the viewer some value. That value might be letting them know your company exists and what it does and how it does it better than your competitors, but don’t make it too sales-y or you’ll lose the viewer with an eye-roll and a disgusted sigh.
The Viewer Isn’t Considered
Beatrice Murch/Flickr
While you may have a grand vision for your explainer video and you’ve bounced that idea off everyone in your office and they all love it, have you considered who the video is actually being made for? It’s not being made for you or anyone else in your office. It’s not even being made for your company. It’s being made for the viewer and everything in the video should be considered from the viewer’s perspective.
You may know all the terms used in the video, but will the viewer? All those statistics you’ve poured into it might be utterly fascinating to you, but will they interest the viewer? Will someone who is unfamiliar with your business and maybe even your industry find it appealing or will they just feel overwhelmed and confused?
Your video can’t just be a bunch of highlights about your business. It has to connect with viewers and draw them in.
Poor Branding
IZATRINI.com/Flickr
You don’t need to have your logo in the very first frame, but your video should be branded so people know it’s your company. Aside from your logo, incorporating your brand’s color scheme and other visual elements that differentiate your brand from others will help identify it as your video and not some third-party advertisement sitting on your site.
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How you say something is just as important — maybe even more important — than what you say. A funeral home with a cartoon mascot would convey the wrong tone to prospective clients, just as a tax-themed children’s restaurant would. The tone of your video helps viewers decide how they should think and feel about your message as it’s being explained. Is it a serious message? One of hope? Frivolous? The tone will help convey that.
Inconsistent Feel
Eden, Janine and Jim/Flickr
The video should feel cohesive and have a certain flow to it. Even if there are different scenes, the look, message and tone should all be similar between them. Although you can put in some surprises to keep things intriguing, everything should look like it belongs in that particular video. Handle these moments with greater care to make sure you’re keeping things consistent.
Lack of CTA
John Eisenschenk/Flickr
You can’t just assume that viewers will know what you want them to do next, so it’s imperative that you have a call to action at the end of your video. It can be calling a number, clicking a link, using a hashtag or a number of other things, but give them an indication of what they should do next.
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