Creating an explainer video that resonates with your audience and effectively communicates your message can be a game-changer for your brand, especially in industries where clarity and impact are paramount.
In the competitive marketplace, every marketing manager, product marketing manager, or brand manager faces the challenge of capturing and retaining audience attention.
At Vidico, we understand these challenges well.
Before you dive into video production mode, we’re here to share the do’s and don’ts for explainer videos—practices honed by leading video production companies.
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Important Do’s & Dont’s of Explainer Videos
Do’s
1. Do: Keep Things Sweet & Short
Ensure your video is concise and to the point. The good rule of thumb for the timeline of an explainer video is between 60 and 90 seconds.
Shorter videos can convey the key messages before the viewers stop watching [1]. Focus on the main points and avoid overwhelming your audience to increase your video’s chances of being remembered.
2. Do: Target The Right Audience
Identify and tailor your video assets to your specific audience. Understanding your viewers’ demographics, interests, and challenges helps create an explainer video that resonates and engages [2].
Customize the language, tone, and content to align with what appeals most to your target group so the audience feels you are focusing on them.
3. Do: Use Interesting Visuals
Incorporate engaging and relevant visuals that complement and enhance the narrative. Good animation simplifies and makes the content more memorable.
Choose a visual style that reflects your brand and resonates with your audience, whether it’s seamless animation, live-action, or a mix of videos.
4. Do: Create a Compelling Script
Write a script that is clear, captivating, and structured logically. Your script should clearly define the problem, introduce the solution, explain the benefits, and conclude with a call to action.
Every word counts in keeping your audience engaged and moving them toward the desired outcome. Internet magic can help, but you should have your own hook.
5. Do: Test Your Video
Continuously test your video for effectiveness before and after its release. Gather company reviews and feedback from a sample of your target audience, and be open to making adjustments.
Testing good stuff can help you understand what works, what doesn’t, and how the entire message is perceived.
6. Do: Create a Clear Strategy
Plan a coherent strategy for your video, defining its purpose, key messages, and desired outcomes with your own explainer video strategists.
A well-planned strategy ensures that every element of your video—from the script to the visuals and distribution—will help you speak your audience’s language and hone your message appropriately.
7. Do: Understand Your Audience
Know who you are speaking to and what they need. Deep insights into your audience’s preferences, pain points mentioned, and expectations will guide the content’s direction and presentation, making it more impactful and appealing.
8. Do: Plan Your Distribution
Strategize how and where your animated explainer video will be shared to reach your audience effectively. Consider cyber security space where fine folks spend most of their time, such as social media, a landing page, websites, or creative campaigns.
Also, optimize your explainer video for each platform to ensure the best viewing experience.
9. Do: Include a Call to Action
Direct viewers on what to do next. A clear call to action (CTA) should be an integral part of your video, whether you’re encouraging viewers to visit a website, sign up for more information, or purchase a product.
Make it clear and easy to follow that even our mothers will understand, minimizing friction for the viewer.
10. Do: Include Expert Voice-Overs
Utilize professional voice-over artists to add credibility and polish to your explainer video. An expert voice-over can greatly enhance the viewer’s understanding and retention of the information presented.
Choose a voice with the same style as the explainer video and speak effectively to your audience.
Don’ts
1. Don’t: Be Dull & Monotonous
Avoid creating content that is dull and monotonous. Keep your audience engaged with a dynamic pace and varying tones throughout your video. We’ve seen crappy and dull ones, so God forbid that’ll happen to you to.
2. Don’t: Try to Cater to Everyone All at Once
Avoid making your animated explainer video appeal to too broad a scope and audience. An overly creative video often dilutes your message and makes it less effective.
Instead, focus on a specific target demographic and craft your content to directly address their unique needs and preferences.
3. Don’t: Expect Instant Success on Animated Explainer Videos
Manage your expectations regarding the immediate impact of your video. While viral success can happen, don’t plan a video that will be a viral hit overnight [3].
Instead, focus on creating a quality educational asset that steadily builds engagement and achieves your marketing goals over time.
4. Don’t: Overload with Too Much Data
Keep your explainer video from becoming too dense with data. While it’s important to back up your points with facts, a super informative article can overwhelm and confuse more than half of your viewers.
Use data judiciously, without bespoke research, and highlight only the most compelling stats so you will not overcomplicate matters.
5. Don’t: Make Generic Content
Ensure your content is unique and tailored to stand out. Generic content from the sales department often gets overlooked in the vast sea of online videos.
Customize your animated video to reflect your brand’s personality and speak directly to the interests of your target audience.
6. Don’t: Over-Explain Stuff in Animated Explainer Video
Keep explanations simple and avoid unnecessary details. A good explainer video should provide just enough information to be effective without bogging down the viewer with minutiae.
Focus on the essentials and use visual aids that viewers might find interesting.
7. Don’t: Forget about SEO
Optimize your full-explainer video for search engines to improve visibility. Use relevant keywords in your video’s title, description, and tags. Also, consider the accessibility of your content by including captions and transcripts, which can further enhance your SEO efforts.
8. Don’t: Use Too Much Jargon
Simplify your language to ensure it is understandable to a wider audience. By avoiding needless jargon, plain fluff marketing lingo, and super technical mumbo jumbo, you can use clear and straightforward language so your message stick and hit the target audience.
9. Don’t Skip the Planning Stage
Ensure thorough planning before production begins. Every aspect of your video, from the script to the distribution strategy, should be carefully thought out.
It helps avoid costly mistakes and ensures the video effectively meets its intended goals.
10. Don’t: Mislead Your Viewer
Always be truthful and transparent in your animated explainer videos. Misleading content can damage your marketing strategy.
Our team work weeks with planning to make sure your paid ad campaign is backed by evidence and that your video accurately reflects the capabilities and benefits of your product or service.
FAQs
What should be included in an explainer video?
An explainer video should effectively include a few key components: It should begin with a compelling hook that grabs the viewer’s attention, followed by a clear problem statement that addresses the challenges or needs of the target audience.
The video should then introduce the product or service as the ideal solution, highlighting its benefits and explaining how it works in an easily understandable way.
Toward the end of the video, a strong call to action should guide viewers on what steps to take next, whether visiting a website or signing up to start their customer journey.
Additionally, providing contact information is beneficial, offering viewers a way to engage further with the brand or seek more information.
What is an explainer video strategy?
An explainer video strategy outlines the video’s objectives, target audience, core message, and desired outcomes. It includes selecting distribution channels to reach viewers and optimizing the video for search engines to enhance visibility.
Additionally, setting up metrics to measure engagement and conversion rates is essential for evaluating its effectiveness and informing future projects.
How do you script an explainer video?
Scripting an explainer video requires understanding its purpose and audience. Start with an engaging introduction and a clear presentation of the problem and solution.
The script should flow logically, using simple, jargon-free language. Speak your customer’s language to enhance understanding and retention. Include calls to action to encourage viewer engagement and refine the script with feedback before final production.
Are explainer videos still effective?
Explainer videos continue to be a highly valuable tool in digital marketing arsenals [4]. They are particularly effective at simplifying complex information, making them ideal for introducing new products or services.
Great explainer videos can help increase brand awareness, improve online visibility, and drive conversions. Should you need good examples from our team, you can check our website for our portfolio.
Key Takeaways
Explainer videos are a potent marketing tool designed to simplify complex information into engaging, easily digestible content that captures and retains viewer attention. Creating effective explainer videos requires adherence to best practices and awareness of common pitfalls.
The do’s and don’ts explained above will make your explainer videos enjoyable, informative, and fun to watch. If you’re ready to take your video content to the next level, consider partnering with Vidico.
With the proven track record of our explainer video company in creating explainer videos for some of the world’s top brands, we’re here to help you. Use our VidiFit Quiz for a free estimate and start your journey towards more effective video content!
References:
- https://kajabi.com/blog/why-short-form-video-is-popular
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finding-your-businesss-target-audience-video-tim-ljunggren-t7lec
- https://teachable.com/blog/how-many-views-is-viral
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2022/09/16/explainer-videos-and-the-key-to-making-them-great/
