It’s no surprise that animated marketing videos offer one of the best ways to immediately engage website visitors. As a popular tool in digital marketing, video conserves a website visitor’s time and effort and allows startups to explain their supreme benefits quickly.
Are you still under the notion that affordable, top-quality computer-assisted animation is the thing of the future? Well, the future is now, and the following 5 tips are for anyone making their first animated marketing video.
Whiteboard animation is losing out its popularity… fast and how!
Whiteboard animation is becoming a thing of the past now. At some point in ancient history (somewhere in 2007), a man with a vision discovered the wonders of whiteboard videos. “It’s just drawing in front of a camera!” were the magic words. And not only is the technique easy, but the effect is often hypnotic. A well-done video captivates viewers as you take your idea from a blank whiteboard through growth, evolution, and finally a fully formed product ready to invest in.
But then that’s when the dip came.
There’s a problem with innovations… once a trend catches on, everybody starts doing it. In no time, there was a glut of derivative, lazy, knock-off explainer videos crowding out legitimate content. How long can the viewers see the same thing, especially when they are bad?
Tell us, do you remember the last time you saw a whiteboard animation go viral on a social media platform? Maybe, someday whiteboard animations will rise again. But definitely not today!
What’s on the rise? 3D Animation.
In place of whiteboards, let’s look into the future of animation. Animated videos made in 3D is both better-looking and more affordable than it’s ever been. It doesn’t require a Pixar product to tell a riveting story anymore. So 3D might be right for your video! Good news isn’t it!
Some business concepts work better for 3D video than others. Keeping up with the cartoony familiarity of the traditional animation and also with the stark detail of 3D makes the most sense for businesses with a physical product. Using 3D animation, you can create a lifelike prototype of your vision. Throughout the video it interacts with other objects just like it would in real life.
How about creating different versions of the same video for different platforms?
Avoid making and paying for one single video, and then using that one video across all platforms. The scope of presenting the video to potential customers are endless, so don’t make the mistake of limiting it. To maximize your video’s effectiveness you need to tailor it to the platform it’s presented on.
Usually the norm is that an animated explainer video posted on a website should be 60-120 seconds long. The video features details of a product in an interesting manner, and leave the customer with a complete understanding of how your business helps them.
But a long-form video is never going to get played on a social media platform like Facebook.
Facebook viewers are scrolling through a massive feed, catching up with their friends and family, seeing various other sponsored content, instead of focusing on your one video. So, maybe they just catch some valuable insight from you. So, today’s leading content producers on Facebook are creating short and sweet videos (30 seconds or less). They are perfect for conveying the core principles of their message.
To combat the barrier that Facebook auto-plays videos with the sound muted, these videos are create short, punchy lines to hook the viewers. The goal is to catch the attention of those distracted face bookers as they scroll down through the feed. Once they’re lured into the short video, they should want to click through to the longer presentation on your website for more info. The best part is, once you’ve made the first version of the video it takes minimal effort to edit versions specifically crafted to the various outlets they will stream on. With the help of a good videographer you can edit down and rearrange the material he or she has already created until it’s ready to maximize its potential.
Design for Mobile Viewing
Now that we know folks at Facebook are distracted, you should also know most of them are watching on mobile devices (65% of Facebook video views are mobile). Your animated business video might be clear, catchy, and informative on a big screen, but how will a 6″ diagonal smartphone handle it?
For a marketing video to work on mobile, the text needs to be big, bold and to the point. Avoid the use of complete sentences, each screen of text should have 3 to 5 words arranged in a clear way for common, average viewers with less-than-genius understanding level to get the point before you switch to the next idea.
Keep the imagery simple. No small movements. No action off in the corners of the screen. People want to understand your message intuitively.
Integrate elements from your video into other campaigns, there’s a lot of work involved in creating a powerful, dynamic animated character. So once you have a lively company mascot everybody loves, it only makes sense that you should get as much value as possible out of it.
Always keep an eye on the next big thing
The first part of the animated video production is always the most expensive. Once you created your character, decided on your voice, and solidified your message everything becomes a piece of cake! Keep rolling, keep inventing, and build on what you already have. Soon, your video marketing campaigns will be running successfully, all with a little more effort!
