Ever wondered why some brand videos effortlessly capture your attention, whilst others leave you feeling like that’s 2 minutes of your life you’ll never get back?
In this blog, we’ll explore why animated promotional videos can be an insanely effective marketing tool. And moreover, how to utilise them effectively to boost your marketing strategy and increase sales. Let’s dive in.
Today, you’d be lucky to spend 5 minutes online before bumping into an animated promotional video. There’s absolutely no doubt they are incredibly effective marketing tools. Here are a few mouth-watering stats:
• 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video (HubSpot).
• Including a video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80% (Unbounce Video Marketing Statistics).
• Businesses that use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users (Vidyard).
Clearly, animated promotional videos work. But what we’re really interested in is why some work better than others. Is there a formula for creating high converting animated videos?
In short, yes. With the caveat that it’s a formula that needs to be very well executed. Oh, and if you want even more stats, you might like this blog: 53 Video Marketing Facts
Here's an example: MThree's explainer produced phenomenal results in converting website visitors.
Before we get into how to create highly engaging animated videos, we’ve got to ground ourselves in some basics. These are our foundations.
Answer: They believe the video will give them the information they are seeking quicker than searching your website. Why is this important framing? Because if the video doesn’t contain what they’re looking for, takes a long time to get to it, or is buried in a load of less relevant information… they aren’t going to feel like they achieved their goal.
Takeaway: Get crystal clear on what your audience actually wants to know. The more you add up and beyond this in your video, the more it’s going to hit your engagement rates, and it’ll cost you more to produce too! Check out our blog:
Answer: If your goal is more website sign-ups, then you’ll want to create a different kind of video than if your goal is a software demo. Likewise, if your goal is brand awareness, then again, you’ll want to create a video that’s most likely to achieve this. It seems obvious, but it’s something many marketers seem to skip over.
Takeaway: Don’t come at your video with content in mind first. Instead, get clear on what success looks like, then decide what content to include to be most successful in achieving your goal.
Answer: Where your video will be viewed has a big impact on how to approach the creative execution. For the web, the richest, most engaging and effective approach is using voice over and sound design. However, for social media, you’d be better placed to consider sub 30-second, soundless, looping videos. Being less than 30 seconds means they will loop continuously and create much higher engagement than long-form video.
Takeaway: Be clear on your primary channel for the video. That doesn’t mean you can’t use it (or better still, adapt it) for other channels, but it will ensure you’re maximising engagement.
OK, with the foundations laid, let’s get into the most effective approach.
At a very high level, we want to consider four key aspects:
• Relating to our audience
• Giving them a solution to their problem
• Showcasing that solution
• Clear CTA
The reason we focus on these four core principles is because it is how our brains are wired. We are drawn to those who seem to understand our problem. We are excited when we think we’ve found the solution. We want to act when we’re confident it is indeed the right solution. And we follow-through on the action when it has been made easy for us to do so.
Example: See how Vodeno's animated promotional video follow's this structure.
If you can’t answer this simply, it’s probably because you’ve made your audience too broad. The more tailored your video is to the viewer, the more engaging it will be, so don’t be afraid to hone in on a particular audience segment. The video will still relate to the broader audience, but also be highly converting for the target audience.
You can solve their problem, right? So say in a single line how you solve their problem. Don’t worry about getting into how you solve it, just sum up the promise, the dream, the end-goal, the solution.
If you’ve nailed the promise statement above, then chances are the audience will be eager to hear more. What they really want is to believe that the promise is true. Or moreover, how is it true. The danger here is that you throw a whole bunch of features/benefits at them because there’s so much that proves you’ve got the goods. This is a mistake and will hurt your engagement. Narrow the list down to just the aspects that will excite your audience.
OK, we’re at the final hurdle now. The CTA. If we’ve done our job right, then the audience should now feel like you understand their problem, and you have the solution. And because we kept the narrative nice and succinct, they are excited to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. In short, they have FOMO. They don’t yet have enough information to make a buying decision, but also they are excited enough to not want to step away and miss this opportunity. A clear, concise and easy CTA is all you need at this stage to seal the deal.
To delve more info this subject, you might like our blog on writing an effective explainer video script.
In future blogs, we’ll cover how to approach the creative process, including script, storyboarding, stylistic direction, visual storyboards, animation and sound design. And as for the age old question of cost, check out our blog: how much does an explainer video cost?
Or to see the creative execution in action, check out some of our explainer video examples.
