Explainer Video: The Marketing Tool for Attracting Customers

Explainer video blog featured image by BridTV
  • Post category:MISC
  • Reading time:26 mins read

Videos have become one of the most powerful content types today. As people have a shorter attention span, the text-only approach is no longer enough to attract customers. Nowadays, marketers and advertisers rely on visuals to raise brand awareness and generate new leads. Of course, video plays a leading role in our visual-based world. Indeed, Statista revealed that 85% of all internet users in the United States watched online videos in 2018.

An impressive feat, we have to say. One that hasn’t been accomplished by any other content type. Videos are so versatile that you can use them to deliver any kind of message. Want to announce a new giveaway? Or want to introduce a new product or service? You don’t need to write long articles to do this — send a clear message using video content instead! This medium is also useful when you want to communicate your company’s vision to potential customers.

Luckily, there’s one specific video type that can help you with this — an explainer video. You want decision-makers to understand what you do and how you can solve their problems. So, don’t just tell them how amazing your brand, product, or service is — show them.

What Is an Explainer Video?

Image is worth a thousand words. But some say that a one-minute video is worth 1.8 million words. Regardless of whether this estimate is a true measure, it’s clear that small and medium-sized businesses should include videos in their digital marketing strategy. In fact, 72% of consumers would rather watch a video to get to know your products or services. This marketing tool presents information in a more digestible and clearer way. Therefore, it’s no wonder why it’s such a hit among customers.

To bring your brand closer to your consumers, you can start making explainer videos. An explainer video is a short online video type that quickly introduces your company. It explains what you do and relays why your audience needs you.  This is one of the fastest and most memorable ways to leave an impression on your customers. Not only that, but it also lets you provide them with necessary information to inform their buying process.

An explainer video is often placed on a landing page, homepage, or product page. This video type has become immensely popular today. Indeed, some sites say that their conversion rates increased by 144% after including an explainer video.

As customers are always on the go, companies need to communicate quickly, especially because Internet users have become impatient. It’s a known fact that they won’t read long paragraphs of text. So, many websites now use visual-centered homepages to convey their vision to visitors.

Our point is, text doesn’t quite cut it anymore. To keep customers interested, choose videos.

Need some inspiration for your next marketing campaign? We made a list of successful campaigns that customers won’t forget any time soon. You can find them in this article.

The Benefits of an Explainer Video

Just think about how this choice could impact your company. You create an explainer video and add it to your homepage. Then, this increases your website ranking on search engines, making it easy for your target audience to find you. As a result, these prospects will become leads and buy your products.

Does it now seem that an explainer video is worth your time? We know it does!

If you want to learn more about how beneficial this video type is for your business, let’s go over the below pros!

Grabs Attention

As we’ve mentioned, people’s attention span has gotten shorter, amounting to only eight seconds. Therefore, if your content doesn’t attract viewers in those eight seconds, they will inevitably go to another website. How can you get them to stay? Include an explainer video, and you can expect great results! After all, the longer you hold the attention of an Internet user, the more time they will spend on your website.

Makes a Perfect Pitch

Many experts would agree that there’s nothing worse than not knowing how to explain to your prospects what you do in an engaging way. Well, you can circumvent this problem by creating explainers during your video production process. This video type makes a perfect sales pitch for your audience around the world. It will engage them and help them understand your company more.

Want to spice up your sales pitch? The best way to do it is with video!

Easily Shareable

Now that your brand has a perfect pitch, you can share it with the world. Every day, 55% of people watch online video content. With this many viewers, it’s time that you start captivating people with your videos! Videos are more shareable than other content. Just upload it to the TargetVideo video platform and send it to anyone. You should also share it on social media to reach more people. After all, 64% of customers will buy a product or service after seeing a video on social platforms.

Also, you can even show your explainer video during meetings or conferences. So, you won’t have to worry about not delivering the right pitch!

Increases Conversion Rates

Boosting conversion is the ultimate goal of every marketer. And video marketing lends a helping hand so that they can achieve their objective; explainer videos are especially helpful in that regard. According to one survey, 85% of people are more likely to buy a product if they first saw an explainer video. Statistics like this one prove that you’re missing out if you haven’t included this video type in your marketing campaign.

When you meet your customers’ needs, then you can increase conversions and generate new leads.

Structuring an Explainer Video

Okay, now that you know the basics, it’s time to find out how an explainer video should be structured. It’s crucial that your story is easy-to-understand and engaging. With people watching videos around the globe, there’s a high chance they will come across yours as well. At the end of the day, your video should wow anyone — from a 15-year-old looking to spend their allowance to a 35-year-old looking for a new brand.

So, here’s how you should structure an explainer video and take the marketing world by storm!

Focus on Your Customer’s Problem

To strike a chord, ensure that your customers relate to the issue. You can do this with a storyline in which a character has the same problem that your audience has. This is how you show that your video is relevant to them. By arousing their emotions, you can encourage them to keep watching.

Now that you’ve presented the problem, it’s time to recommend a solution. Describe how your product or service is the perfect answer for their issue.

Communicate What You Offer

Here you have an opportunity to talk more about your products or services. In other words, this is your chance to explain what you do and offer. Mention the core benefits of using your product that make you stand out in a crowd. We suggest that you focus only on several key benefits. In this way, the explainer video won’t last for too long, but it will still cover all the bases.

Include a Call-To-Action

At the end, make sure to reiterate how you can solve their problem. After this, you can jump to a call-to-action. Add any sentence that reflects your goal. Do you want the viewers to visit your site? Then, say, “Check out our website!” Or do you perhaps want them to sign up for your newsletter? In this case, go with “For daily updates, join our mailing list” or something along these lines.

Regardless of your goal, make sure that it’s clear how you can help them and how they can get in touch with you.

Types of Explainer Videos

We’ll now mention three types of explainer videos available to you. Don’t just stick to one — spice things up and keep your audience guessing. Let’s break these types down and find out more about them.

Live Action Explainer Videos

A live action explainer video is a non-animated promotion video that sheds light on your product or service. It is recorded using cameras and real people. Having real people in your video establishes a connection between your business and potential customers.

In some cases, employees appear in this explainer video, bringing the company even closer to the viewers. This video type is particularly useful for businesses selling physical products or offering people-oriented services.

Animated Explainer Videos

An animated explainer video is definitely the most popular type in the marketing world. Some companies offer only a few physical objects. This is why live action isn’t suitable for their needs, thus they then resort to animated explainer videos. Animation is often the go-to format for explaining intangible tech products, including software.

This type allows for more creativity than the above-mentioned one. Also, animated videos are much easier to edit or update.

Whiteboard Explainer Videos

Another popular type is a whiteboard explainer video. Here, the animation is drawn and erased on a whiteboard. This style provides marketers with the perfect platform to delve deeper into a product or service. And it’s understandable why it’s popular.

Namely, it is quite effective as the animations are great means to deliver complex messages and keep your audience engaged. Apart from this, it is one of the cheapest types of explainer videos to make.

Explainer Video Examples

Are you intimidated by the notion of making your own explainer video? Don’t be! Explainer videos are a great way to introduce your target audience to your content. There are always customers with a problem who want to find ways to solve it. By creating an explainer video, you will show them, in an engaging way, how your brand can help them. Sometimes a quick explanation is enough to move customers down the sales funnel.

Here are some explainer video examples that can serve as an inspiration for your own content.

National History Museum

Different industries, companies, and organizations have realized how powerful explainer videos are, especially if you want to convey a specific message to viewers or teach them something new. Even the National History Museum utilizes this video type for its own purposes. To promote its latest exhibition — One Million Years of the Human Story — it created this explainer video. The designers used a classic whiteboard style and added some already drawn elements.

Zendesk

Got a new product to show off? It’s best to present it by way of an explainer video, especially if you want to inform your customers how the product can solve their problems. Zendesk leveraged explainer videos to introduce its Zendesk Guide, a knowledge base that improves the efficiency of customer care.

The video starts with an animated illustration, and then it turns to live-action, which is an added plus.

Doctoroo

Another good example of an explainer video comes from Doctoroo. The company made an animated video that explains what kind of service it offers. This proves there’s no other way to showcase your product or service than through an explainer!

Try Them Out Now!

To sum up, explainer videos are the best marketing tool if you want to present what you and your company have to offer. With this type, you can increase conversions, engage your audience, and make a perfect pitch. So, don’t waste any time — try this video out now!