I'm writing this post about explainer videos since we've just created a new explainer for Smart Insights, which you can see below. At the same time I thought it was worth showing how you could use explainer videos in your own marketing.
Here's our new explainer video created by First 10 Digital, it's part product description and part brand story telling since we wanted to give potential new users a flavour of why we exist.
We hope it works in conveying what we're about?
They're a major tool amongst all the content marketing options. Some might argue Explainer's are the tool in the content marketing toolkbox. They offer a way to capture and hold the user's attention, and communicate quickly and clearly. But, all explainers are not made the same.
Though they're popular and very 'now', the main reason they're talked about is because they work. They save the time-strapped visitor to your website a little time in reading and they entertain that same user - you've earned a little more of their attention than you might have done. The benefits are numerous assuming your video is done well.
There are a number of genres from training to educational, so I've listed some of the most popular iterations of explainers below to help spark ideas for your brand, and more importantly your audience…
Educational explainers are effectively animated infographics and where this idea seemed to really get traction across the modern web. They're extremely engaging when done well and so easily done badly. Simply because (like info graphics) they need serious planning. The classic that springs to mind here is by Socialnomics.
Product (or service) explainers are part promotional and help position a companies offering in a context. The Smart Insights video is part this. Below are two explainer videos that First 10 also did for two of our clients this year.
Conceptual explainers can be immensely detailed - I love the work done by RSA animate in this area. This approach is much more about supporting a narrative in a visual form with supporting audio.
Story telling is another great area of explainers, this was the angle that First 10 took with Tilda for the new Tilda Kids range. We created this animation to help Tilda sell (explain!) to head buyers in the supermarkets.
Start-up explainers are really a new genre that we're seeing as popular in the US but currently less so in the UK, this example I saw on Mashable is fantastic - using male humour to capture a male audience without loosing wider appeal.
You may also have seen this post by animations designer Mair Perkins on Smart Insights - she has other examples of video explainers.
What explainers have you seen and would recommend? Do you have experiences to share? Please let us know in the comments below.
By Danyl Bosomworth
Dan helped to co-found Smart Insights in 2010 and acted as Marketing Director until leaving in November 2014 to focus on his other role as Managing Director of First 10 Digital. His experience spans brand development and digital marketing, with roles both agency and client side for nearly 20 years. Creative, passionate and focussed, his goal is on commercial success whilst increasing brand equity through effective integration and remembering that marketing is about real people. Dan's interests and recent experience span digital strategy, social media, and eCRM. You can learn more about Dan's background here Linked In.
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