Benefits of using animation as part of your video content strategy
There’s no doubt about it, posting videos about your brand on your website can be very good for business. There has been a lot of research done about the efficacy of using video as a marketing tool. For example, one survey conducted by HubSpot found that 64% of people are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it. And on social media, video posts generally get 12 times the number of shares of posts that use just text.
So, you’ve made the decision to create video content for your brand, but what type of video should you choose? You could shoot a real-life video featuring yourself and your employees or professional actors, or you could create an animation. While it’s lovely to be able to put real faces to your brand, in some cases it may be more effective to opt for animation. Here’s why...
Animation is limitless!
With live action video production there are limits on what you can shoot unless you have a very large budget. For instance, if your company is based in several different locations worldwide and you want to show the scale of your company footprint then it may require you to hire a video production company to shoot video content in every country in which you are based. Animation as an alternative enables you to represent your company size and locations easily using motion graphics or abstract illustrations that represent these countries alongside captions or an engaging script. Effectively enabling you to communicate the same business message in a much more cost effective, efficient, and faster way.
Further to this there are no constraints on when video production can begin as animation video production is not weather dependent, it does not require actors or real life people and crew to all be available on a pre-determined shoot day – it just requires a good team skilled in bringing your message to life through the art of animation.
Animation explainer videos simplify complexity
Animation explainer videos educate and provide clarity for people. They’re an easy way for your audience to process complexity, which is why software companies and start-ups love them as they can turn something that is quite complex and possibly dull into an engaging and informative piece of storytelling.
Check out our animation explainer video we made for Vamoos a travel app for the hotel industry. In this explainer animation we use a fictious world that represents the Vamoos target audience’s most common problems and shares with the solution the Vamoos app offers them in a colourful and concise video.
Animation makes your message more memorable.
The objective of all great marketing is to make sure your message lands with your intended target audience. Animation video production is highly effective at doing this because it activates all 3 modes of human learning:
- Visual (learn best with imagery
- Auditory (learn through listening)
- Kinesthetic (learn through movement)
There are many academic studies that show we can remember and retain information better through using visual cues. In fact, an animated video works well for most types of learner. While 65% of us learn best visually, 30% learn better by listening. Animated videos not only use visuals, they also use words either as subtitles or as part of the animation, and many also have a voice-over. So you’re not only increasing the chances of more people taking in the information - in the way that works best for them - you’re also reinforcing the information in different ways.
Evergreen pitch perfect message
Whilst there is an upfront investment to produce an explainer animated video, once made the content will remain evergreen for years and can save you and your team lots of time and energy explaining your processes or software.
A good, animated explainer video production will break down into a concise script the key messages you want to convey to your audience. This message will then be storyboarded against graphics and approved by you and various other stakeholders which ensures that you are communicating a consistent message to every viewer that watches your video.
Check out our video for Stint where we combined live action talking heads presentation video with animated graphics which helped to enhance the key messages in the script and keep the audience engaged throughout the video.
Animation is more cost effective that live action video production
The cost of video production is very much dependent on your business needs but hiring in a video production crew, actors, locations, equipment can soon rack up. Animation video production by contrast can be more cost effective as you need only pay for a voiceover and an animator’s time. This time will cover storyboarding your video and then animating it together. The longer the video, the more days it will take to produce. The optimum length is around 60-90 seconds and can take between 5-10 days.
With an animated video it is also significantly easier and cost effective to update your messaging in comparison to a live action video production. To bring it up to date, you may have to reshoot the whole thing entirely. It could be possible to refilm some of the footage to take the current state of the world into account, but this would involve organising another video production shoot with the same people in the same location, making sure they’re wearing the same clothes, and also hiring the same camera crew to ensure greater continuity. You may even need to wait for the same weather conditions! Whatever you decide to do, it will be time-consuming and expensive.
If you already have an animated video, it will take approximately one or two days for an animator to adapt and modify the work in line with the necessary changes if relatively minor. And there will be none of the challenges associated with getting people together at the same time for real-life filming.
Animated video content can be used on any platform
With animated video content you are not limited to where you can share or embed your video. They work particularly well on specific landing pages or as a paid ad that pops up on Google or social media. They can also be used as part of your sales team toolkit to share with prospects or within presentation or pitch decks to add a professional polish.
How can we help?
If you want to make an animation explainer video for your brand but don’t know where to start contact us - we are here to help you. We will speak with you to understand first the problem you are trying to resolve and understand more about the solution you have to offer. We will then come up with some creative treatment ideas and collaborate with you on a script that helps convey your key messages. We will storyboard and then animate your video together and deliver you a shiny new animated explainer video for you to share with your audience. Need more reassurance – you can check out some of our recent animation video productions here.
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