Create explainer videos
Create explainer videos
1. Select a style that communicates your brand and offer.
For example, if your product is simple and effortless, aim for a minimalistic style. The style of the video sets the tone for the company’s personality, and it helps to position the product in the most powerful way possible.
2. Hire a professional scriptwriter to put together a video script that explains the problem, how your product solves it, and enthuses the viewer about buying the product.
According to Neil Patel, a good explainer video script should contain the following elements: An introduction to your company and an overview of the problem you solve; Why the problem is valid for the industry; Specific example of the problem; Show off your features and how they solve the problem; Give the call to action; Answer any objections and state your guarantees; Use client proof to seal the deal. Always do qualitative research and conduct customer development interviews to help your script address as many pain points as possible. Tools like Qualaroo and SurveyMonkey can be extremely helpful in this situation. Wistia analyzed engagement across millions of video views, and found that engagement starts to drop off dramatically after the two-minute mark. That doesn’t mean that every video needs to be short, however; there’s another stable period of engagement between the 8- and 12-minute marks.
3. Create storyboards to communicate your vision for the video.
The biggest source of stress and frustration with making videos is when two (or more) parties see a different movie in their head and fail to show each other what they’re imagining.
4. Combine your storyboard and script into an animatic: a rough version of the video that will give you an idea of the various elements that you use.
Animatics are simple to create and can be made in Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. Even though many explainer video companies don’t offer an animatic in their workflow, it’s a good idea. The animatic is something you can show your most loyal customers and test for feedback.
5. Spend the money on tools or professionals to create a high-quality live-action or animated video.
If you’re shooting live action, check out Wistia’s video production tutorials. If you’re doing animation, hire a professional. (Here’s a list of some of the best explainer video companies out there right now.)
6. Offer incentives for customers to make their own videos about your product, like discounts or prize draws.
A ComScore study found that “professionally produced video content and user-generated product videos are highly synergistic, driving higher levels of sales effectiveness when used in tandem.” By combining both user-generated and professionally produced video, publishers generated +35.3 points with comScore’s “Share of Choice” metric for featured products and +28.0 points for the brand’s total line. Combining video types resulted in customers feeling more emotionally connected to the video content.