Images can be worth a thousand words. This old as the world statement rings truth in many contexts and the relationship between B2B (business to business) companies and their customers is no exception. In an era with an enormous amount of information to absorb in every direction we look, an explainer video is basic, but direct and effective, when it comes to marketing strategies.
What is an explainer video?
As the name says itself, an explainer video is a short animated feature that focuses on explaining a business idea in a simple, engaging and compelling way. It’s not a complex feature, for it needs to use a language that’s clear, concise and appealing. The visuals need to attract the viewer attention, in a balance between informing and educating. Animation works as motion design technique, in producing and developing explainer videos.
These tell a customer what the company offers, how a product or service works, why they should choose it and how the company can help them with any problem.
But why are they important to B2B companies? B2B corporations sell products or services to other companies, instead of directly selling them to the final client. Their clients end up being other companies that may or may not have a deep knowledge on the products or services provided by the first organisation.
If products are services are especially complex, the importance of explainer videos to B2B companies is clear and powerful. These videos need to answer the audience’s questions before they ask them and not only it can help create an image for the company, it keeps it consistent.
How can B2B companies use explainer videos
B2B companies need to keep in mind the customization aspect, particularly because they are first and foremost doing this explanation to other businesses that will serve as intermediaries between them and the client. Usually dealing with complex products and services. The potential buyers will remember differentiating explainer videos.
Explainer videos should have these characteristics:
- Short and simple: no longer than 90 seconds in length with a clear message approached in a linear form of what-how-why and they should have the best quality possible so that they stand out - the focus of storytelling;
- Focused on the target audience: in the case of B2B companies, these videos are explaining a product or service that needs to be sold by the target audience. This needs to be taken into consideration because not only the video explains the product but it indicates how it should be sold and explained to others.
- The content should be attractive, i. e., incorporating elements that draw and retain the viewer’s attention.
What are the benefits of doing an explainer video?
The main benefit are attracting and engaging. To a product, service, app or website. But it goes beyond that:
- It explains your business in a matter in minutes, saving time and money. This is especially important when dealing with B2B companies;
- If this video is included not only in business pitches, but it is also included in your online presence, it will make visitors stay on your page for longer, eventually ranking it higher on Google searches;
- The great aspect of videos is that they need to be hosted in a video engine such as Youtube or Vimeo. Youtube is the third largest social networking site on the web;
- Builds brand awareness and engagement;
- It turns otherwise not exactly interesting subjects appealing. For example, digital banking, something important for today’s digital companies, but that can be somewhat complex to follow;
- Being visual information, and especially animated visual information, collecting the benefits of motion design, it’s likely that the vast majority of viewers will remember it. Visual information is processed 60.000 times faster than text;
- It follows the trends, improving the online marketing presence.
Motion design’s role
The techniques of animation are always a plus in explainer videos. Staged videos with real people can also be effective, but it always depends on the product, context and target audience.
For B2B companies, animated explainer videos are perfect to explain complex themes that would be otherwise quite complicated to get through to potential buyers. The nuances of website development include some topics, such as user engagement of traffic growth that can be better explained to all kinds of clients by using this type of product.
The atmosphere it sets is also important, because animated eye-catching characters have positive emotions attached. This is always a good vibe to reach the desired effect.
If you are looking for storytelling in motion, contact us!