If you're selling a service on the internet, let's say a new app, you know
that it's not easy. After all, how can you sell something that can't be touched or
that may be difficult to understand?
Fortunately there is a marketing and conversion tool that can help: the
explainer video. It's a simple video on your website that, well, explains what
you're selling.
Let me show you how to make an effective explainer video. I'll demonstrate it
using an example.
The most important thing for a great explainer video is a good script.
Everybody loves a good story, so this is what we need to focus on. Keep your
script short. It shouldn't be longer than two minutes. People's attention spans are
really short, they want to find out quickly what your services all about and
how it benefits them. Your script needs to have a clear persuasive structure. There are
different options but let me show you one that works really well. The key
elements are the problem, the solution, how this solution works and finally the
wrap-up. In the problem you adddress the customer's pain. In the solution you
showe a
the viewer how your service or product alleviate their pain.
Next you have to explain clearly and succinctly how your service or product is
going to achieve that. You need to provide convincing evidence.
This is usually the longest section. The final part of your explainer videos is the
wrap up. It often but not always contains a call-to-action. You tell people what
they should do next.
Here are three tips: First, avoid advertising hype, don't exaggerate too
much. Most explainer videos work better if
they don't have to look and feel of a stereotypical television commercial.
Second, talk directly to the person watching the video. Instead of "a lot of
people need a new car" say "so you need a new car".Third, use humor.
Granted, that's not easy and an explainer video can also be effective if it is
not humorous. But you know, as they sing in that old movie Mary Poppins, a little bit
of sugar makes the medicine go down and humor is that medicine. It's for a reason
that advertisers have used humor seemingly forever. Humor masks the
persuasive attempt of your explainer video and it engages the viewer. If your
explainer video is really short,
let's say 30 to 45 seconds, you can get away with not being humorous. If it takes
you two minutes to explain your service, at least a sprinkle of humor is probably
a good idea.
So how do you make sure that your video is not more than
under two minutes long when you write the script? Easy. An average speaking
rate is about a hundred and fifty words per minute.
Just keep that in mind. Let's now have a look at our example. Here's the script
for an explainer video we made for a logo design business.
Let me show you the different parts: the problem, the solution, how the solution
works and the wrap up. To facilitate production of the video, it helps to show
both the text and the visuals. On the left you can see the text the words that
will be spoken by the voice-over artist, on the right you can see what appears on
the screen. You can either make simple sketches, we call this a storyboard, or
describe the action in words.
Okay, you have a script but how do you produce your explainer video? You could
have an actor explain your service in front of the camera but most explainer
videos are animated. Animation lets you show processes that are difficult to show in life
action. There are several web applications that allow you to animate
your story, for example PowToon, GoAnimate, Moovly or Wideo. Most of them offer a free
basic version but to get professional results I would recommend using a paid
plan. If you really want to do this for free you can also try Keynote or
PowerPoint. For short and simple explainer videos, they work pretty well.
For the sample video I'm going to show you, we used GoAnimate. We also created
some of the assets in Illustrator to make the video more unique. After all you
don't want a cookie cutter video that looks like every other explainer video.
That's a bit of a hazard when using these do-it-yourself animation apps. Your
explainer video also needs a voiceover and music to tie everything together.We
hired our voiceover artist on Fiverr, the online marketplace for professional
services. There are many websites that sell royalty free musi: Pond5,
AudioJungle, PremiumBeat and the Music Bakery to name just a few.
There are some free options out there as well.
Many of these sites also sells sound effects. We found an upbeat tune on
AudioJungle that fit the mood
and the target group of our video. To combine the video and the audio you can
use a simple video editing software like iMovie, Pinnacle or Windows Movie Maker.
We used Camtasia Studio. Enough said,
now let me show you the end result. I'll see you at the end of the video.
You have a great idea for a new business, it's something you are really passionate
about, something big so it's time to let the world know about your business. You
need a logo. You can make one yourself but that's time consuming or you could
hire a fancy smancy graphic design company, but that means countless
meetings, design briefings and a commitment of big bucks. There are also
lots of logo makers on the internet that will promise you logos at low, low prices,
maybe even for free but can you really trust them?
Of course there's always your friend Joey downstairs who has a computer and
graphics software but are you ready to settle for the logo Joey might create?
Then you discover the one-stop logo shop and you learn how well their process
works.
You simply choose one of their three logo design packages that suits your
needs, then you place your order and just fill out your online logo design brief.
It's simple and fast.
Your answers will let them create a logo that's perfect for you.
Their design team goes right to work and creates logo concept that you can
check out to choose the right one.
They also have marketing experts to help and they apply the latest psychological
principles to make sure that your logo doesn't just look good.
It also works to help your business grow. You get to see all your local concepts
in a secure customer area right on their websit.e That's neat. We just chose a
concept we liked for our business. Wasn't that easy?
wWe think so. Check them out for your business too.
And guess what, they made all the revisions we needed for free, that's even
better.
They made sure we were one hundred percent satisfied with our logo and so
now we have a logo that works.
And that's one less headache we have to worry about.
iI's time to conquer the word everyone. The one-stop logo shop. Logos that will
work for you.
Okay, so it may not be a masterpiece of filmmaking but I think that little video
does its job, don't you think?
Good luck with your own explainer video!