An Overview Of the Process Of Creating Explainer Videos

By Tom Seest

What Are Explainer Videos for Marketers?

These days, consumers have shorter attention spans than ever before. You have to constantly be figuring out ways to capture their attention and distill a lot of information into one small piece of content.
The Internet is full of competitors vying for the attention of the same target audience, and if you can find a way to stand apart from the crowd and fill their needs, you will be able to engage with the people who will contribute to the increase of your income.
Explainer videos are the perfect format that allows you to create bite-sized pieces of information that deliver concepts to your target audience in a succinct manner. You can inform and educate your viewers or give a demo of your products and services.
Explainer videos can be used on the home page of your website, on your landing page, where you build a list of subscribers, and even on social media platforms, where they can be shared with thousands of other individuals who are interested in the same topic.

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How Explainer Videos Can Impact A Business

Instead of having boring text and bullet points to convey the benefits of your products and services, explainer videos can deliver the information in a format that many consumers are turning to now.
In addition to helping you convert visitors into buyers of your products and services, it can also help you build your list of subscribers. Whenever someone comes to your landing page and is hesitant to exchange their name and email information, the explainer video can go the extra mile to put their mind at ease.
It’s also a great way to increase the branding and messaging of your company online. It’s harder to have the same impact with text when you’re trying to get your target audience to build an emotional bond with you, and explainer videos are a great way to weave storytelling and proof into your online messages.
You can look at how other businesses have used explainer videos to help them with branding and sales. Companies like GoPro, Dollar Shave Club, HubSpot, Poopouri, and even Wix have used explainer videos to their benefit.

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How to Create Explainer Videos That Are Effective

Now that you know the importance and effectiveness of explainer videos in general, it’s time for you to learn best practices and tips that can help you perform well with this strategy.
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that the length of your explainer video matters. They should be kept very short, no more than 90 seconds total. This means your audience will be getting a specific bit of information in a small format.
You don’t want to try to pack everything about your business in one 90-second commercial. You want to choose the right style that will fit your audience. For example, you might use animation or a person on screen, or even a whiteboard if that suits your business and brand better.
You can use visual aids like graphs or charts in your explainer video, but the most important part is to have some sort of call to action at the end that gives your viewers direction on what to do next.

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How to Storyboard Messages For Explainer Videos

Scripting your explainer video and coming up with the appropriate storyboard will help you get your message across more clearly. You don’t want to be flying by the seat of your pants when you are creating these marketing materials.
Make sure you have a goal in mind about what you want your audience to take away from your video message. Think about any visuals that you can tie in to illustrate your message better.
Remember to use the one problem, one solution approach so that you are not complicating your message and making it difficult for viewers to follow along. After you have your basic script, you can put it into a storyboard, which will show how each scene unfolds in your video.
When you are creating your video, make sure it is unfolding in a logical manner, where it begins with a problem and ends with a call to action. In the middle, you will focus on the benefits that your viewers will gain from following your advice or purchasing your product.

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How to Use Multimedia Effects in Explainer Videos

Explain are videos are actually more than just the video themselves. You want to tie in multimedia to your creations so that your viewer is stimulated and able to absorb information on a higher level.
For example, you may be using voice-overs to narrate your video and explain the concept. If you do this, you want to use someone who has a professional voice, and you can usually find those on sites like Fiverr if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself.
You can also use other audio elements in your explainer videos. These may include copyright-free music or even sound effects. Make sure they are not too loud or distracting from the overall message.
You may also be using some sort of animation to entertain your audience. If it’s not a drawing of a person taking action, it may be a whiteboard where you have a visual of a hand that is writing content.
And, of course, you can also have a text overlay that appears in the explainer video to emphasize certain points and guide your audience through the message. You don’t want your video to be distracting because it has too many elements, so only use them for enhancements.

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What Are Problematic Issues for Explainer Videos

As you learn to leverage explainer videos in your marketing campaigns, make sure you are avoiding some of the most common mistakes. We’ve already talked about having too much information or videos that are too lengthy.
Other problems may include diluted messaging, where the audience isn’t clear about what you want to accomplish. You also need it to come across as a professional creation comma and not something.
You need to know your target audience and what they expect in terms of language, visuals, and messaging. It must educate and entertain them so that they don’t click out and go elsewhere.
You also can’t just expect to share your explainer video to perform well for you if you are unable and unwilling on social media, your blog, in emails, and elsewhere. You want to drive traffic to it so that it can be shared by others.

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What Platforms and Tools Can Help With Creating Videos

One good thing about using explainer videos as an online entrepreneur is that there are a number of platforms and tools available to help you create polished productions. You can conduct a search and find video editing software.
You can also find movie maker tools and animation tools that can help you create videos that wow your audience. Different tools have different pricing plans, features, and special effects.
You’ll find some that have libraries of thousands of templates available for your storyboarding and scripts, as well as libraries that include music and images that you can include in your explainer videos.
This is a strategy that will be utilized for years to come. Make sure you are analyzing the results whenever you use explainer videos and split-test them to see which ones perform better whenever you tweak a single element within the video itself.

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