Animated videos have become a staple in the marketing toolkit. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s one of the best ways of quickly conveying a message and showing off your products and services to a vast online audience—an impact that can be seen in sales.
However, a lot of business owners and marketers just go into it without really considering how to best take advantage of the many benefits 2D animated videos over other forms of marketing content. Admittedly, there are still a lot who succeed regardless, but there are also a lot of marketers who put in a lot of time, effort and money into approaches that don’t turn out well and are downright inefficient.
And that’s why you’re here. You want to do this right, you’re putting in the research, and we’re here to tell you how to take advantage of the format to get the best results out of it.
In this post, we’ll talk about the do’s and dont’s of animated videos for marketing. We’ll tell you about some best practices when it comes to working with animated video production companies and how to get the best results when it comes to creating animated videos. We’ll also talk about some common pitfalls that you’d want to avoid.
1) Keep your videos short and sweet
Audiences these days just don’t have the attention span for long videos. No matter how loyal your customers are, they’ll bounce from your page or video if it’s too long. That’s why you have to keep your videos short.
A 90-second video usually hits that sweet spot between short enough to make sure your audience’s mind doesn’t wander but long enough to get your message across. But don’t take it as a hard and fast rule. Different situations warrant different approaches. For example, educational animated videos could go from 3 to 5 minutes, with some (think TED Talks’ educational videos) going up to 20 minutes.
It really all depends on what you plan to do with your video. For example, if you want to publish it on your socials, you’ll want a shorter video, of about 30 seconds.
That doesn’t mean that important ideas can’t be conveyed in just 30 seconds. Take this video for example. We managed to convey the Breckenridge Group’s plans for the future as well as their deep gratitude for their customers’ trust in just 30 seconds. This length makes the message more impactful and ensures none of the message is diluted.
Short videos are also fantastic for raising brand awareness if you use this format for a social media ad.
2) Focus on the story, not the pitch
People want to be wooed, not bludgeoned over the head with insistent demands that they buy our products or avail of our services. And we do that with stories that appeal to their everyday activities and concerns.
They want to know what the product or service can do for them, how it can improve their daily lives. This is why videos that focus only on telling them to buy your product now or avail of your service now gets less attention, retains less viewers and of course, has lower conversion rates.
The good thing is, if you’ve gotten to this part of the article, you already know how to turn the situation around. Make sure your animated videos focus on the needs of your audience: what problems does your product or service address? Explain how you can solve that and you’ve got yourself a very attentive audience.
3. Be relatable
So now you know that you need to put addressing your customers’ concerns first. So do you just give them a laundry list of product features? No, you give them a good, relatable story.
Being relatable is key because this is what captures your audience’s attention. This is also what helps them understand how they can incorporate your product or service into their life.
Their ability to relate to your animated videos is also a good way to forge an emotional connection between your brand and theirs. It’s this emotional connection that underpins brand loyalty.
Let’s take for example this video we created for the app Possible. It focuses on someone who has a problem with her love life and creates a link between the app and those who share the very same problems the video talks about. People are able to relate and identify with the character, seeing the Possible app as a helpful aid to sorting out their problems.
4. Make it accessible to all users, especially mobile ones
Most of us watch videos on our phone, regardless of where we are. That’s why you have to make sure you cater to everyone, regardless of the gadget they’re watching your video on.
If you neglect any of them then you’re losing out on a big share of the viewing audience.
On that note, it bears remembering that people who watch videos on their mobile phones may do it in crowded noisy settings and not all of them will have headphones. Hence, text overlays and a story that can be understood even without dialogue is key.
5. Make sure the video reflects your brand
You know how when you come across certain colours or shapes, it makes you automatically think of certain brands—that’s because they’ve established their brand identity so thoroughly that you associate these everyday things with them!
That’s what you need to do with your video as well. A few things you’ll want your animated videos to reflect are as follows:
- brand colors
- iconography
- fonts
- company personality
- product personality
Your video, as well as every other content you’re putting out there, should call back to your brand so that brand recall becomes easier and easier for your customers.
Some brands want to feel homey, others edgy, some professional, while others want it more fun. Whatever your choice is, your video needs to show that.
Take for example this video we created for Atom Alternatives. It’s striking and arresting, exactly how the company wanted to present itself. It uses their high-contrast company colors all throughout the video, constantly reminding audiences who this video is from.
6. Make the first few seconds count
Either you’re interesting or not, there’s no compromise. This is especially true online where people usually have other things they’re looking at and distraction is just a scroll away. Majority of your audience will quit a video just 10 seconds in. That’s why you need to make good use of the first few seconds of your video!
Online users are a fickle bunch. You have that minuscule window of time where you can grab their attention before they bounce. That’s why you need to make your video’s introduction count.
As we said before, your audience wants to know what you can do for them, so starting with that is a great way to catch their attention. They’ll stay if they know they’ll get something in return. That’s why you see so many online creators starting off with the objective of their video first.
You can also flip it and start out with the problem so that your audience hears something they can relate to and watch to see what the solution will be.
Take this video we made for Microsoft that talks about their employee’s pain points right away, making them go, “Yeah, we totally experienced that!” This increases the likelihood that they’ll continue watching because they already know which problem the video is seeking to address.
7. Keep track of your video’s performance
All the strategies in the world won’t help you if you’re not keeping track of how well the ones you currently have in place are doing. This will help prevent you from repeating mistakes and putting more money in approaches that don’t give you the return you want. Even better, they’ll tell you exactly what you need to change and what your audience actually likes.
You’ll want to look at the number of shares your video has gotten, the audience it reached (though not all social media platforms does this, Facebook and Youtube do), as well as the average video watch time.
In conclusion
Now, more than ever, animated videos for marketing is one of the most effective ways of reaching your audience. They’re bright, they’re vibrant, and most importantly they capture the fleeting attention of your audience.
However, not all videos are successful in doing that. There are so many videos that lack creativity, that don’t focus on the needs of the audience or are just too long and painful to watch.
Successful videos are those that keep the audiences’ priorities on top. They’re ones that form an emotional connection with the viewer and makes them feel like they’re along for the ride. We hope these tips and tricks help you create the video that creates that bond with your viewers.
If you’re unsure of what video style works best for your brand or need some expert guidance on how to go about creating an animated explainer video for your brand, contact us today, or simply book a free consultation call.
