Explainer Video 101: Business Edition

Let’s talk about business.

We spend money on businesses because we need their products or services.

Businesses can be boring, dull and you might think all they do is take your money. But the truth is if we don’t feel like we need their products or services we wouldn’t even consider purchasing anything from them.

But how do they get to convince us to purchase their products?

Welcome to business explainer video 101!

What is Business Explainer Video?

The business explainer video has the same definition as what an explainer video is, however in a business context it relates to the introduction of that particular company’s products and/or services.

If you have followed our previous posts, we’ve explained that explainer videos are arguably the most effective advertising method.

Let’s continue where we left off.

Why Do Businesses Need Explainer Videos?

For Large Scale Companies:

If you’re a well-known brand where customers have faith in your products/services that they have become loyal, repeat customers, it’s easier for you to launch new innovation and educate your customers on your products/services.

Bigger companies tend to have bigger budgets for their product/service advertisements and because your product is already well known, you do not have to worry about people not knowing who you are and if your product/service can be trusted.

So as long as you know what your product/service is and your target market, you have previous experiences on what’s the best explainer video style to advertising your product/service. And word of mouth is an invaluable asset and a very effective method of advertising, use it wisely.

For Start-ups and Small Businesses:

For all of you that are a start-up or smaller companies, we hope this article will help you. There are 4 questions you need to think about:

1. What are my goals?
2. Who am I targeting?
3. What is the message I want to deliver?
4. How much is my budget?

As start-up companies, you will have the least advantage in terms of experience on how to promote your business and introducing your product to the public.

You might also be unsure of how the market will react to your product.

For smaller-scale companies, you might have some experience in promoting your products, however, you are wondering about how to increase your sales and the audiences’ knowledge towards your product.

Make Sure You Consider…

1) Setting Company Goals

The first thought that comes to your mind might be things such as: selling your products/services, being a highly recognized product that becomes everyone’s go-to product or even earns lots of money. However, your answer must honestly be in a broader context.

You need to specify, whether you want to educate your customers, explain complex services, engage with your customers or to increase conversion. These goals will then help you to choose what type of videos you truly need for your company.

2) Defining Your Target Market

This is a very crucial step in the video-making process. Choosing your target market normally relies on choosing your age groups. Let’s show it to you in an example to better understand the situation.

You’ve just released a new model of a smartphone that you want to introduce to the market. Ideally, you want to target millennials, also known as Generation Y (born in the early 1980s to early 2000s) as a market.

The way you talk and explain your product in your video will be completely different compared to if you’re marketing an item for someone that’s already in their 70s. You might explain in your video how the young millennials will make their life easier for work and to maintain their social life at the same time.

On the other hand, there’s a very good chance that people in their 70s will completely ignore your product. Not that they’re rude, but because they don’t speak the same language as the millennials.

They can’t relate to your product and as a result, they think that they do not have the need to own your product. People that are at least 70 years old have less exposure to the digital world, therefore placing your video on Youtube (as an example, or other websites) will not reach these baby boomers generation.

3) The Ultimate Message

The message that you want to deliver in your video is also as important. Your message will determine the style of how your message will be delivered.

If you want to educate your audiences, try putting a lot of survey numbers, facts and statistics. It will make your video look more realistic and people will have more faith in you because of real-life evidence that backs up what you say.

4) $$ Budget $$

Just because you have a limited budget doesn’t mean you cannot produce a good video. Explainer videos are more expensive compared to if you try to market your product/service using flyers or pamphlets.

However, we all can agree on how videos are more attractive than flyers as videos help to engage better with the audiences in so many other ways compared to what flyers can do. Therefore, we can safely say that it’s part of a good investment.

In making your videos, there are a lot of things to consider but always keep an eye on the quality and customization of your video.

Explainer Video Styles to Consider

After you have considered the 4 questions above, there are a few animation styles that you need to consider for your explainer video.

There are a lot of styles that exist in the digital marketing world. After some sorting out, we will only discuss 5 styles. Here are 5 styles of business explainer videos and a brief explanation of each:

2D or Cartoon Character Animation

Popular due to its simplicity and tends to be colorful and funny. This style of video imitates the type of videos that kids watch, which gives adults a sense of familiarity and they tend to be more positive and relaxed.

Due to this reason, they lower their physiological defenses and your message easily reach your audiences and they will have a positive reaction towards your product.

Motion Graphics

This style is suitable for businesses that are trying to relay a complicated message to the audiences.

This style incorporates animated graphics, to explain the complex part, with 2D animated characters, to support the emotional qualities.

Whiteboard Videos

This style shows how illustrations are drawn like a whiteboard that can showcase complex products, but at the same time introduce human touch for the familiarity of classrooms or work meetings.

Beware to not expect any branding opportunities as this video style consists of black and white animation only.

3D Animation

This style can be very pricey as it is very complicated to produce, but they offer endless possibilities and high impact.

There are not many examples of this video style because it’s very hard to do an update on it, therefore you must be very certain before making a choice of using this animation style.

Stop Motion

This style takes photos and plays it one after the others and in a fast sequence, it will appear to be moving. This method can be very engaging, however, it will be extremely difficult if you want to update this video for future use.

If you still can’t decide which explainer video is the best option for your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

So which explainer video style is the best option for your business?

Let us know in the comment box section below!