- There are explainer videos
and then there are explainer videos that get the job done.
This video is about the latter.
Today, we're gonna be covering the key steps you need
to create an effective explainer video
that establishes your brand's value proposition
in under three minutes.
Sounds super useful, right?
Let's jump in.
First of all, what is an explainer video?
Basically, it's a short video
that explains what your business does
and how it solves your customer's problems.
And that brings us to the first point,
the first thing you wanna think about
is the length of the video.
You wanna keep your explainer video short.
Anywhere from one to three minutes is fine
but the sweet spot is gonna be the 90 second mark.
That gives you enough time to establish your brand
and ask your customers to take action,
but hopefully not enough time for them to get too bored.
For example, here's a video we made
to explain what InVideo does in a really fun way.
And as you can see, we wrapped everything up
in less than 90 seconds.
And now that you know that
you need to keep your video short,
you can start writing the script.
You're gonna need to keep your script very concise.
Think about the very basics of your business
that you need to explain and go from there.
Every line should either be moving your video forward
or clarifying what you're explaining.
If you find any lines
that don't accomplish one of those two tasks, cut them out.
For example, in our explainer video,
we could have spent a lot more time explaining
the exact steps you need to create the invitation.
But instead, we opted to just show that really quickly
through the visuals on screen
and that was enough for that video.
We have longer tutorials on our channel
that go into a lot more detail,
but for this short explainer video that wasn't necessary.
Or we could have added lines like,
look how easy that was or look how quick that was.
But those lines would just be more like fluff
that take up time and we didn't really need them.
Again, the visuals speak for themselves.
As you're writing, feel free to read the script aloud
and time yourself to make sure
it's in the one to three minute mark.
And to help you out,
here's a basic outline you can follow for your script.
Introduce your audience's problem.
Establish your product or service
as a way to solve that problem.
Demonstrate two to five ways that you solve it
or two to five steps that you solve it in.
And then end with your brand name.
So in our video, we introduced the problem
just by saying that Max the Cat
is gonna show us how to make a party invitation.
The problem is that our audience needs to know
how to make short videos like that.
You could also introduce the problem
by asking your audience a question,
like, are you spending way too much time
and money redecorating your home?
Then we establish InVideo video as the solution
the first time we show the screen recording
of the video creation process.
Then we show the steps to create the invitation.
But what you could also do is show a few of your products
that solve the audience's problem.
For example,
here are five super affordable home decor pieces.
And then obviously, you wanna end with your logo
and brand name and a strong statement about it.
You can find a link to that script template
in the description below.
And once you have your script,
you can go ahead and build a basic storyboard.
You can kind of just go line by line
and figure out a visual that you want for each sentence.
Feel free to do a little drawing.
Or if that's not your thing,
just describe the visual that you wanna see.
All right, and then your next step
is to record your narration.
So for this, you can just use your phone.
Even if you don't have a fancy microphone,
your phone is gonna have pretty good recording quality
as long as you hold it pretty close to your mouth.
Not too close like this,
about half a foot to a foot away is good.
And if you're able to record in a closet
or a small space like that, that's also gonna help.
Definitely just make sure
you're avoiding large echoey rooms.
And if you don't want to record the voice over yourself,
you can always head over to fiverr.com
and get a freelancer to record it.
All right. Next, let's talk about your visuals.
You could use animation or live action
or a combination of both, any of those options are fine.
In general, I would say that if you have a service
animation might be a good option.
If you don't have a tangible product to show,
you can visualize it through animation.
And then if you do have a product based business,
you wanna actually show your product.
So in that case,
you might wanna think about going with live action.
Based on our observations,
live action videos with animated elements
can actually be the best,
no matter what type of business you have.
It's great for retaining your audience's attention,
but then it's also nice to see a human
to get that connection.
A lot of businesses end up going with animation
because they think it's an easier and cheaper option
but that's actually a little bit of a misconception.
If you're using an online video editor like InVideo,
you can create this explainer video within minutes
even if you don't have any video editing experience.
You can start with a template,
so you can go ahead and find one
that's a really good fit for your niche.
And then you can layer on motion graphics
and animated elements.
So we're gonna be creating a sample explainer video
in InVideo to show you.
But before we get to that,
let's talk about the types of footage you want.
Typically, there are two types of footage
that you're gonna wanna consider.
The first is showing your product or service in motion,
basically showing people using it.
But for this step,
you can also look into using stock footage
to make your life a lot easier.
You wanna get a few basic shots of your actual product
if you're able to.
And then you can kinda use stock footage as a filler
if you need shots of people reacting
or just shots to establish your aesthetic.
So this is another benefit to using InVideo
because it comes with a library of free stock footage.
So you don't even have to leave the platform
that you're editing on to find stock footage
and you can just edit really easily.
More on that later.
And the second type of footage you're gonna need
is screen recordings of your website
to show how easy it is to use your service
or to order your product.
For example, for InVideo,
we take screen recordings of the video creation process
to show how easy it is.
Most computers have built in software
that you can use to record your screen.
On a Mac, you can use QuickTime.
On a Windows device, you can use Microsoft Stream.
And on a Chromebook, you can just go to capture screen
in the bottom right-hand corner.
Once you have your voiceover and media ready,
it's time to edit and put all the pieces together.
Like I said, we're using InVideo's online editor
for two reasons.
First, it's super easy to use.
And second, it'll give us all the assets we need
such as templates, text boxes and stickers.
If you haven't already signed up for InVideo,
I'll have a link in the description.
First things first, you'll need to select an aspect ratio
based on the platform that you're creating this for.
If you wanna share it across many platforms,
you probably wanna choose 16 by 9.
But if you're predominantly sharing it on mobile platforms,
then try a one by one ratio.
Next, feel free to start with a blank canvas
or try a template.
You can use the search bar
to find a template for your industry.
Go ahead and search for the name of your industry
or you can try searching, explainer
and see if you like any of the templates.
I'm gonna go ahead and pick this one.
If you wanna use the same one,
you can find the link in the description.
All right, now we're jumping into the editor,
so what you wanna do now is lineup your voiceover file
and select background music that you wanna play with it.
Go ahead and play with the volume.
You're gonna wanna make the music a bit quieter
so that the voiceover is the main focus.
Then you can start building each scene
based on the storyboard that you've already made.
And leverage the stock media library from the left panel
to add the appropriate video footage.
Go ahead and plug in your footage
by dragging it onto the scene
and replacing the footage that's already there.
You can also adjust the time of your scenes
to better fit your voiceover.
And feel free to add titles and stickers
to emphasize certain points.
Again, you can find those on the panel
on the left hand side.
Once you're done with all your changes,
you can preview the full video and if it's good to go,
you can hit Export
and it should be ready for you to download.
And that is how you create a great explainer video
for your business.
If you enjoyed this video
and wanna learn more about how you can use InVideo
to create an effective explainer video,
click the link in the description below.
And if you're looking for more inspiration
to market your brand or business, check out this tutorial
where I show you how to create a promotional video
from scratch.
I'll see you there.
(water bubbling) (air whooshing)