Explainer Video is at the cutting edge of online marketing, yet few business people are aware of them.
So what exactly is an “explainer video“? Quite simply, the explainer video is a unique and compelling way to explain your product or service to your customers. An explainer video is an explanatory online video that grabs attention and creates an impact in the minds of the viewers. While many of us have become accustomed to sliders and pop up boxes on website home pages, we are only just starting to see the emergence of the explainer video. According to Forrester Research, “You are 53x more likely to appear on page 1 of Google’s search results if you have video on your website.” And while this is in and of itself a pretty compelling reason to consider using an explainer video on your website, did you also know that people will retain 58% more of your message if its explained visually?
An explainer video uses animation to simplify complex ideas. This represents a powerful and entertaining way to bridge the communication gap between your business and your customers. The explainer video is basically an incredibly engaging and persuasive direct response marketing tool. Through the creation of a script, storyboard, illustrations, voice over, custom sound effects, music and motion graphics, the explainer video can deliver many of the elements of a very precisely written piece of sales copy in just a couple of minutes.
We have included our own explainer video on this website, as a way of engaging with small business people who are online looking for the set of services we provide. We refer to our explainer video as our “Julie video”. 
As you will see if you watch our explainer video through, we start by introducing our character, Julie. In this explainer video, we have chosen to make Julie a typical small business person who wants to take her small business online. She is a personable, friendly looking character that people in business could easily relate to.
The next part of our explainer video is where we outline the problem. This is really important, because we want our viewers to empathize with and relate to Julie, and be able to identify with the frustrations and challenges she is experiencing. As our explainer video plays through, we go to great pains to really pick at the ‘emotional pain points’ Julie is dealing with. As with any other piece of direct response marketing, we do focus on the negative aspects of this scenario, because this is what people are more responsive to.
Having agitated our viewer by outlining the problem, the next phase of our explainer video is to present the solution. We then use our video to showcase the various options we can offer clients, to help them resolve their problems and challenges. In our own video, we use a combination of photographic images, drawings, written script and music to create a multi dimensional experience for the viewer. It is this careful combination of media which tends to make the explainer video so compelling.
The final part of our explainer video is a strong call to action. We want our viewers to get in contact with us, and take the next step towards getting their business online.
How the explainer video storyboard process looks for you.
The first step in planning an explainer video is to ask yourself before you even start to storyboard include “What do we want to accomplish with this video?”. Once you figure out the goal, content, length, tone, and medium of your explainer video, you can then move on to storyboarding. Storyboarding is an important step in creative processes such as these because it is much easier to visualize the end product before putting any real technical effort in.
By getting a storyboard of your explainer video down, you may realize it’s too long, too boring, not informative enough, or lacks a strong call to action; you can determine these flaws by showing the storyboard to anyone unfamiliar with your product and then use their feedback to make alterations. This is the point at which you can decide what mix of media you would like to use to really tell your ‘story’. There are so many options available to achieve your goals here. From still photographs, to a video of real people in real time, to simple line drawings or animations, you are limited only by your own imagination. To further enhance your explainer video, you can use sound effects and voice overs. A voice over can lend a very human, emotional quality to a hand drawn animation, and together are a powerful way to get your message across to the viewer.
On that note though, always keep the end objective of your explainer video at the top of your mind (to have your viewer take a specific action as a result of your message). You do not want your message to be lost in a haze of special effects. It is the simplicity of the explainer video that makes it so effective at conveying a particular message. And remember to always use plain English to explain key concepts. Do not be tempted to use industry jargon or technical language. This only serves to confuse people, and you can run the risk of coming across as patronizing. The explainer video is for your potential customer to gain a better understanding of what you can offer them, it is not a soap box for you to talk about yourself.
If you think an explainer video would make a powerful addition to your business website, you can contact Tanya at outridegmedia@gmail.com to talk about how to use an explainer video to put your business website ahead of your competition.
