Explainer Videos

Remember the early days of the World Wide Web - page after page of eye-sedating text, brightened only by the occasional clip art or - strap in! - photography? Companies on the cutting edge of "e-commerce" did little more than throw their print marketing online and let consumers live the digital dream of reading on the 'puter! Thankfully, those days are behind us: today's Web is a noisy, colorful multimedia soup, chock-full of exceptionally well-produced content. And if the Explainer Video geniuses have anything to say about it, it won't be long before we're showing it to our kids (okay, the interns) and saying "You see what we had to work with?"

Explainer videos operate on a fairly simple - and proven - concept: people would rather watch videos than read text. Text is boring. If you're reading it in English, it only comes in twenty-six shapes. Video draws your potential customers into a world where you've already solved their problems, they're more successful and happy, and life is considerably more awesome thanks to the benefits of your product... in fact, life even has a catchy little soundtrack to it!

Most people respond better to visual and verbal learning cues like video production, so explainer videos aren't just prettier and more fun; they're actually more effective for teaching your audience about complicated services or applications you'd need a ton of text to communicate(whiteboard videos are especially great if you need to "take'em to school.") In fact, another benefit of using explainer videos on your website is that explainer videos work with your website to engage the audience and get them to "click through" and learn more. It's a perfect synergy: your website supports your video, and your explainer video boosts the profile of your website.

Speaking of boosted profiles, explainer videos are a key ingredient to boosting your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is what any new business with a Website eats, sleeps and breathes (at least, it's what their Marketing department eats, sleeps and breathes, when they sleep). If you had to guess what the world's leading search engine is, you'd of course say Google (unless you've been under a rock for ten years), but did you know that YouTube is Number 2? Today's Web is increasingly ruled by video, and the fastest way to find video is... that's right, YouTube. Video is the easiest online content to share, and in the age of social media, sharing is what it's all about. Create an explainer video that manages to go viral, and you've hit the online marketing jackpot.

Say you're sold on the idea of explainer videos, and can't wait to live out your Scorsese fantasies - time to hire some actors and make video production history, right? Slow down. Traditional "film-style" videos - live performances with actors and scripts - are just one option for explainer videos, and not necessarily the best. It all depends on your product, your goals, and the people you're trying to reach. Make sure you take the time to define ALL of these points before you let the creative juices flow. Whiteboard videos are a great option for simplifying complex subjects, just as if you were actually drawing on the whiteboard for your audience. Animation videos up the creative factor and give you more options: stop-motion for your nostalgic hipster clients, or snappy new visuals that look straight out of the Cineplex. Whether you outsource video production or have your own team, there's a design aesthetic that speaks to your customers at your price point... so let the storytelling begin, and start living in video.