According to all industry marketing gurus, explainer videos are fantastic assets for a business to have in their marketing arsenal and an absolute must if you are going to seriously compete in any market sector. Explainer videos provide a great return on your investment dollars as well as increase your conversion rates, engagement, SEO rankings, and brand awareness. You can even re-purpose them to be used in various settings and for different uses.
Exactly what is an explainer video? An explainer video is a short video used to market your brand, products, or services. Many brands use them on their website home page, special landing pages, or on important product pages. Others use them for social media marketing on various platforms, including YouTube, Tik-Tok, Instagram, and FaceBook. Videos can be easily tailored to be used in multiple applications so that you can get even more mileage out of a single video.
Types of Explainer Videos
Motion Graphics Explainer Videos:
This type of video adds animation and visual effects to still graphics. They may or may not be story-based or character-driven. Sometimes they are as simple as animating abstract shapes, text, or logos.
Animated Explainer Videos:
Animated explainer videos are very popular for brands that need to explain a service offering or an intangible tech product. Services do not necessarily involve physical objects or things that would be easy to explain using a live-action video. The great thing about using animated videos is that they allow for maximum creativity. They are also very easy to edit, making them a good option if you intend to use your video on different platforms or decide to re-purpose it in the future.
White Board Explainer Videos:
A whiteboard video uses hand-drawn animations that can also be erased. This type of video is quite popular because they are easy and low-cost to make. It is also easier to be creative and edit this type of video. You can make these quite entertaining and engaging as well. Simple is often better at getting your message across.
Screencast Explainer Videos:
When you make a screencast video, it incorporates imagery from a screen while a website, software, or application is being used. This type of video is perfect when you want to show how an application functions. This type of video is especially effective for showing a user how to interact with new apps or new features without making them read a lot of text.
Live-Action and Live-Streamed Explainer Videos:
Live-Action Videos are non-animated videos using real people and objects to explain your brand story or explain a product or service. Testimonial videos are most often produced as live-action videos. Live-action videos usually are best utilized by companies that sell physical products or people-oriented services like restaurants. When you have real people in your videos, it provides an emotional connection for viewers. It helps them identify with the people in your video, which builds relationships and trust with your brand or others who use your products.
Live-streamed videos are essentially the same as live-action, but there is no editing ability. This is the most daring of the video types because if there’s a mistake, you can’t fix it. The upside is that when you go with raw footage, it sends an important message to your audience that you have nothing to hide and can humanize your brand. Again, this is a great way to engage your viewers and build a relationship.
All of these video types can play an essential role in promoting your brand, products, and services. They fulfill different functions and span a broad range of production costs. Understanding these video types and how they are best utilized will help you effectively promote your brand, products, and services.
