Live Action
Multivista
Ben is the former Creative Director of a high-volume video production company. He has written & overseen production on 900+ unique explainers, and now serves as our Copywriter extraordinaire.
Mitch is Creative Director at Salted Stone. He has directed, animated, scored, and managed production on (award winning) explainers for clients in dozens of verticals.
Jenny is Content Marketing Manager at Wistia, a revolutionary video platform. She and her colleagues have helped hundreds of thousands of businesses tell their stories with online video.
An explainer video is a marketing tool that pairs engaging, demonstrative visuals with concise, captivating voice-over to tell the story of a concept, company, product, or service...
...but you probably know all that, since explainers have been gaining in popularity since around 2011.
Explainers have been around for a while, and aren’t going away any time soon.
Video is crazy-super-important to online marketing.
If you’re not already on board the video train, it’s probably time to buy a ticket.
What makes an explainer different from any other video?
The chief characteristic is the problem/solution format, where the first part of the video lays out the pain points of a target persona and the second part describes how a product or service eases those pains.
For example, check out this explainer from Dumo.
Almost every explainer makes use of the problem/solution format.
Getting creative with this format can help make a video more interesting.
An interesting video can be a serious differentiator for businesses in competitive industries.
Video length is the most controversial issue among explainer enthusiasts.
Video “experts” have strong opinions about the proper length for explainers, and every one touts a different number. Some even claim to have used neuroscience to determine the exact amount of time someone will pay attention to your video.
Luckily, with thousands of videos to analyze, Wistia can actually provide a data-driven answer to this contentious question:
“Here at Wistia, we've found that for most videos, keeping the length around 2 minutes is the sweet spot. We see a pretty significant drop-off in engagement after that, which is why keeping it short and sweet is usually your best bet. But don’t worry about it too much — if you focus on making your video great, the engagement will follow.”
The longer your video is, the less likely it is that people will watch the whole thing.
The more interesting your video is, the more likely it is that people will watch the whole thing.
The longer your video is, the more expensive it will be to create.
If your video is under 2 minutes, then you don’t need to worry too much about length.
Even if your video is longer than 2 minutes, people will still watch it if it’s interesting.
You can estimate how long your video will be using the word count of your voice-over script.
Explainers are as varied as the businesses they represent, and come in a wide range of styles.
Here are a few common examples:
Explainers come in a ton of different visual styles.
Feel free to use any style except for whiteboard animation, which is passé.
A creative, distinct video style can have a profound impact on explainer performance.
“Want a quick way to make sure your script sounds natural and cohesive? Do a table read. Table reads are an easy way to see how your words actually land when you say them out loud.”
DO write like you speak, not like you write. A conversational tone is key to a compelling V.O.
DO rely on visuals to do the heavy lifting. A picture is worth at least 15 words.
DO workshop the script with coworkers and friends. Get as many eyes and ears on it as possible.
“A lot of people think that they can’t stay away from complex jargon because they have a really technical product or service. It just isn’t true — a great explainer can make even the most technical concepts extremely clear.”
DON'T try to say everything about your business in a short video. Explain just enough to get your audience interested.
DON'T use too much industry jargon. If your teenage cousin won’t understand it, neither will your target audience.
DON'T spend too long on the problem. Say only enough to remind people of their pain points, then jump right into how you can solve them.
Pictures and voice-over must work together to tell the story. Write and edit them simultaneously.
Read your script out loud and invite others to share their opinions. The more the merrier.
Big words are the adversary of expeditious comprehension.
You know you’ve created a great explainer when someone can watch it on mute and still understand it. In fact, due to the prevalence of mobile web browsing and the default player settings on social media, a lot of people will watch your video on mute.
However, if somebody is interested enough to smash that 🔈button, then you’d better give them something good in return.
A large portion of your audience will watch your video on mute.
The fact that some people won’t hear it is not a good reason to avoid creating great audio.
Awesome voice-over, background music, and sound effects can elevate a video and increase engagement.
After your video is complete, it’s time to put it to work. That starts with popping it up on your website.
Host your video with a hosting service like Wistia, Vimeo, or YouTube (shameless plug: Wistia offers the most customization and analytics options), then go ahead and embed it on the appropriate page.
“Wistia did some research on where videos live and found that embedding your video above the fold with a visible play button is a great way to increase engagement. We looked at 95,000 pages where Wistia-hosted videos were embedded and found that plays tend to drop off the lower on the page a video lives.”
Place your video as high up on the page as possible to maximize engagement.
Your video isn’t set in stone. Analyze it and revise it based on the results of that analysis.
Use video just like other forms of content to help you achieve marketing objectives.
