Marketing Video – 4 Things You Didn’t Know

Marketing videos are one of the hottest marketing tools if done correctly.   Websites are publishing them on conversion pages. Companies are using them at trade shows. Businesses are using them for pre-roll ads on YouTube and Instagram. While you could try to create a marketing video for your business yourself, there are a few reasons why hiring a professional explainer video production company to write, produce and deliver your animated explainer video to you is going to give you a much higher return on your investment. 1. Marketing videos are not meant to detail the minutia of your product. Many companies are so close to their product or service that they muddle their explainer video message with too many details. Your explainer video is most effective when it simplifies your message and gives the viewer a reason to take action.  Your marketing video is not meant to be a replacement for your website rather it’s meant to explain key features and benefits and give enough information to motivate the viewer to take the next step. Here’s an extra tip: while it may not be in your best interest to write your script yourself, you need to be involved in the process of creating your script. No one knows your company or your customer like you do. So if your explainer video production company says they can write your script for you without asking you to fill out a creative brief or at least a creative call, run for the hills.   Any marketing video or explainer video company that truly understands messaging will ask you to fill out a creative brief and hopefully ask to follow up questions after they review it. If you want your marketing video to convert viewers into customers, you need to keep your message simple. Furthermore, we have found that the sweet spot for a video that converts is somewhere between 60 and 90 seconds. Don’t try to fit every detail about your product or service into your explainer video and make sure you have a strong call to action in it. Give your viewers a taste of your product and what it can do to make their lives better. Then give them a clear path to getting more information or making a purchase. It’s as simple as that. 2. Opt for Custom over Stock or Templates……TRUST US!   Over the last few years, there has been a trend of these low-cost providers that have popped up and are offering explainer videos and marketing videos for dirt cheap.  We’ve seen ads for $200 explainer videos.  While it sounds appealing to spend very little on a marketing video keep in mind that what you are getting there is a template with a $5 voice.  It’s just like any other business investment, you get what you pay for when it comes to animation and video in general.  So, beware of offers that sound too good to be true.  A truly effective marketing video has to be custom made and it has to involve a detailed creative process.  Otherwise, it will just be a bland boring vanilla video that will not convert and most likely turn off your visitors and cheapen your brand.  We take a consultative approach here at Demoflick and try to always provide unique and interesting video content custom made.  We pay a lot of attention to the details and each step of the production process is very important. Scriptwriting is super important and the difference between a custom script and a template is immense.  It’s important to work with creative writers that understand storytelling and aren’t just regurgitating the same ole format on every script.  Voice –   It’s the foundation of the video. Voice-  the difference between a $5 voice and a $500 voice is usually very obvious.  While you can always fine cost-effective voice it’s important to realize that voice drives the tone and it’s a key component of an animation.  The memorable voice will suck the viewer in and keep them watching and engaged in your video content.  On the other hand, if you just go cheap you might get a voice that annoys people.   Old or Aging equipment is also a problem we are seeing in the voice industry.  These days most voice talent work from home.  But, the sound quality is as important as the voice.  No one want’s to hear a tin can voice. Imagery/Animation –  I touched on this earlier.  But, custom made graphics are sooooo important.  We have all seen those googly-eyed characters.  They are everywhere…why?  Because they are stock and cheap.  So, steer clear of someone who wants to just use a stock character.  We have seen a trend lately away from heavy use of characters and instead we are using icons and motion graphics to tell the story.  Both approaches can work.  Whatever approach you take the key is going to be the use of custom graphics.  Also, the quality of the illustrator and animator is another key aspect.  If you are using a newbie designer and animator you will be able to tell immediately.  So, you have to use designers that have skilled at their craft.  We only use designers with 10 years of experience, it take about 10 years to truly master this craft.   3. You can get valuable data from your explainer video. If you are simply posting your explainer video and aren’t tracking views or clicks, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to better understand your leads. You can use Google URL Builder to add parameters to URLs you use in Custom Campaigns. Then add those URLs to annotations inside of your video and you will be able to see when people are clicking on your videos and when they are not. Experiment with the landing page that your video lives on and gather metrics for each page. This data is a goldmine of insight into what your viewers find engaging and what entices them to take action.   4.  Shortened Marketing Videos make great Pre Roll Ads & Instagram Ads A great way to get more bang for your buck with your marketing video expenditure is to request multiple versions at varying lengths to use for advertising purposes.  Some can be used socially others can be used as pre-roll ads.  Either way, the more relevant content you push out the better and once a longer form Explainer Video is produced, it’s a relatively easy task to take that video and leverage existing assets and turn it into a shorter form video. Look for more useful tips on our blog. Here are two examples of custom-made marketing videos.  One with characters and one with motion graphics.  

Animated Character-Based Marketing Video:

Custom-Made Motion Graphics Marketing Video