The Growing Power Of Video Animation Marketing

From the outside looking in a business and its functions are obscure to the general consumer. In fact scratch that, it's often like peering into muddy water. You can’t really see anything discernible in the fact that, what the business does or how it does it isn’t clearly shown. Usually many small businesses will keep it simple and rather than explain too much about themselves, just give customers what they want. Instead of telling consumers why, how and what they do, they’ll focus on making sure products can be bought and received by consumers. This is when you can get so tunnel visioned on how well your e-commerce website design is working, that you lose sight of the objective you should be adhering to. Your job in your early years is to not necessarily focus on profits but earning as many loyal customers as you possibly can. Even though you might be selling good products and or services, how are you any different from all the other companies out there? What do you do that is better or different, what kind of ethos do you have? The shining light through that muddy water is proving to be video animation marketing. This is a form of media that is very versatile, easily understood if done correctly, and can be rather enjoyable to watch more than just once.

Taking a lesson from corporate

Corporations have done something that has even surprised consumers. In the world of finance there are so many technical terms, roles and actions that there’s simply no way for the average consumer to understand them. Thus, knowing what an investment firm does, or perhaps how lean manufacturing works isn’t going to be at the forefront of the concerns of the average customer. Yet, there will be someone who is thinking about setting up a savings account with a bank. That bank has plenty of paperwork that can show the client what will happen to their money and what they can expect to find in this product of theirs. Since there are so many technical terms and intricate details of this, they can use a short video animation to give that client a simple breakdown of what the savings account is, what will happen and what their options are. They might even explain the basic fundamentals of what a savings account is to help set the situation of their savings account up and how it might differ.

Corporations from around the world have taken to video animation like no other class of business. Both small and medium sized businesses are only just realising the power that this form of media marketing has. Take this lesson from the big beasts in the world of business. They might be slow and lumbering at times, but every now and then they do manage to set a trend that smaller more traditionally innovative businesses will follow themselves.

What should yours be about?

Right so you have the premise which is a short animation that will explain something about your business to consumers. The aim is that they will understand what it is you do and be more inclined to trust you. But, what is it that you’re going to show them? What is your video animation going to be about? You could focus on just one area, such as a service your provide. It could be a process, such as what a customer needs to do to fulfil a purchase. Maybe for your first ever swing at this, you should focus on something that shows why your product and or service is useful. Rather than go into a preamble about what your company statement is about, show scenarios where your business becomes useful in their lives. What kinds of features it has that makes it unique. The different ideas and ways in which your business can be used etc.

Where to begin?

Where could you possibly begin with your video animation marketing? Firstly, before you head to any kind of company, know what your objective is. It's key that you have a good and fleshed out discussion with your marketing team and or department about this. Does the plot or narrative of the advertisement fit in with your company ethos? Does it fit in well with your current marketing strategy? You might be in the process of building a marketing strategy that is geared toward selling a new product that might not be the same as your previous line. Make sure you’re not overlapping and repeating yourself but just in another medium.

When you have your idea nailed down, then speak to a professional seo agency that offers a video animation service. You can tell your brand’s story with great characters that they help your develop. Perhaps you are doing an explainer video both for pre and post-purchase engagement. In a world that’s rapidly evolving, making use of the best technology out there will keep your business looking as if it's cutting edge so give 360 degree video a try also. This gives the viewer control over what angle of the video they watch and free to move the camera around at any time. This inherently has a user interaction mechanism which again, will only further allow consumers to better understand what you’re trying to get across.

Coming to the storyboard

When you idea is understood by the company of your choosing, then will come the artistic interpretation. What kind of style will you go for? If you’re tackling a serious subject matter, perhaps you don’t want to go with a rather bright color palette. Alienating a consumer group is also something that you should avoid, so perhaps keep the characters somewhat bland. You don’t want to go into too much detail about the characters when it comes to their aesthetics. They don’t need to look fantastic, just keep them simple as the focus is not on them. Carefully pick the settings for your animation so it can remain relatable to the real world somehow.

For example if you are making a storyboard about how your LED sensor lamp product is great for residential and commercial use, you should perhaps keep the setting varied. If you are showing its ability to turn on during a power failure don’t just show a bedroom where it might be useful. Venture out and show it's use all over the house such as somebody watching television downstairs at night and after the power goes out the lamp switches on so they can find their way upstairs safely to bed. This shows a health and safety angle and also, that the lamp can be placed anywhere in the home and still be useful. Broadening the spectrum with different scenes will keep the animation flowing and interesting. The last thing you want is a static background and only characters going in and out of shot. That will make your animation look low budget and too simple. The video might be education and informative, but try to keep it as entertaining as you can without becoming too much of a distraction.

Utilise the inherent platforms

A video animation works really well for any social media platform. Twitter plays video automatically when your scroll to them. On a user’s page, if they were to scroll down over their feed, they will automatically see the animation. The video should therefore be in a bitesize length and preferably not the entire thing. Bear in mind that video animations should include text so using keywords and terms on screen will help to get eyes to stop and focus on your ad.

YouTube is by far probably the most powerful platform for business marketing at the moment. Striking a deal with the platform to have your video animation played at the beginning of videos is something you need to seriously push for. If you can segment your ad, cut it up into 20 or 30 second chunks that have content relevant enough to be standalone, this can avoid YouTube putting a 5 second ‘skip ad’ button. However the usual length for a video animation is 30 seconds to around 2 minutes. Therefore you should also want to put the animation onto your own YouTube channel so it can be watched in its entirety by your subscribers.

Last but not least, you should put the video on your website also. It can be in a player that will begin automatically when a consumer clicks on a certain page. You may also want to post the video or embed the video into a blog post that delves into a similar subject matter.

Video animation marketing is a very interesting and growing technique. Corporations have been perfecting this style of marketing for the past half decade and it's time that small business invested in it. You need to have a good idea of what the ad will be about and rather than focus on your company culture or aims, showcase the key differences i.e. benefits of your products and or services. This cuts to the chase and allows consumers to view the animation as an informative and creative ad rather than something about who you are which can be addressed by better means.