As we grow out of our teenage years, many of us leave behind the fanciful interests of our childhood. However, it’s not uncommon for adults of any age to appreciate the artistry of animation. Whether it’s a guilty pleasure or a cherished pastime, good animation has a way of drawing us in.
As children, we enjoyed cartoons primarily for their entertainment value. But as mature adults, we can also appreciate animation’s ability to simplify complex concepts and convey information in a straightforward way.
In recent years, there has been a surge in animated marketing videos, and it’s not hard to see why. These videos are fun, engaging, and effective at getting their message across. But despite the latest animation software available, creating high-quality animation videos is a difficult and intricate process that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Decades ago, animation legends such as Walt Disney and Hanna-Barbera captivated audiences with their timeless creations. Today, we’ll explore how you can create animated marketing videos that are just as engaging and effective at reaching your customers.
Address Key Issues of Your Intended Audience
An animation is a powerful tool for conveying information, but it’s important to remember that the success of your video ultimately depends on the content of that message.
No amount of visual flair, sound effects, or voiceover can make up for a lack of understanding of your target audience and their pain points.
To create an effective animated marketing video, invest time and effort into researching and understanding your audience. This means not only identifying their pain points but also taking into account their tastes, views, and preferred style.
By creating a buyer persona or customer profile based on your research, you can ensure that every aspect of your video, from the color scheme to the messaging, aligns with your intended viewers’ mindset.
For example, consider the web community creator video given below:
It targets environmentally conscious audiences. Notice how every element of the video, from the color scheme to the language, aligns with the viewer’s environmentally conscious mindset.
It’s also important to consider the type of animated video you want to create. There are many different types of animated marketing videos, including 2D animation, 3D animation, cartoon animation, kinetic typography, whiteboard animation, and more.
The type of video you choose and the message you include will depend on where your audience is in the buyer’s journey. By tailoring your video to the specific needs and interests of your audience, you can create a video that resonates and drives results.
Deliver Valuable Information Using a Concise Script
Animated marketing videos are an effective way to offer a solution to your audience’s problems. However, while good videos can accomplish this, great ones go beyond by not only showcasing the usability of your product but also highlighting how it can positively impact the viewer’s life.
By demonstrating product benefits that the audience may not have considered, you can capture their interest and keep them engaged.
To effectively communicate the value of your offerings, such as a product or service, use animated product videos to showcase its features and benefits.
Take, for example, the following animated video from SurveyMonkey, which demonstrates the insights one can gain from conducting a survey
Keep in mind that viewers are often impatient and may lose interest if the video is too long. To maximize the video’s impact, make sure the content is concise and to the point.
It’s also important to use an animation service in the planning process to ensure that your video is impactful and engaging.
By following these guidelines and creating concise, useful, and impactful animated marketing videos, you can effectively communicate your solution to your audience’s problems and capture their interest.
Don’t Compromise on Production Quality
When it comes to businesses, especially small ones, every penny invested in marketing counts. Maximizing profits is the ultimate goal, which is why businesses prioritize getting the best ROI.
At times, businesses may be tempted to cut costs by choosing cheaper alternatives, even if it means compromising on quality.
They hope that the video’s message and script will overshadow the poor production quality and that the audience won’t notice the difference between high-quality content and lower-quality videos.
However, videos of poor production quality may not have the desired impact on the audience. While the general public may not be animation experts, many can still detect the compromise in quality. As a result, you may lose a customer forever.
Consistency is key in marketing. Over time, maintaining high production quality is vital to boost your marketing efforts.
Even a single instance of posting substandard videos can affect your entire campaign. You’ll be associated with low-quality video content for a long time, which is not what you want for your brand.
Align Animated Video with Your Brand Image
As the popularity of animated marketing videos continues to soar, it’s important to make sure that your videos stand out. This can be achieved by incorporating your brand’s special typeface, color scheme, logo, and other distinguishing features.
Brands utilize these elements in a variety of ways, such as in their social media profiles, website, landing page, marketing materials, and of course, in their animated videos.
By doing so, it can increase brand recognition and help differentiate your brand from others. However, it’s important to note that the way brand elements are used on websites and marketing materials is quite different from how they are used in videos.
Additionally, it’s crucial to maintain consistency in the usage of brand elements across all mediums, including videos. This can be achieved by developing a video-specific style guide.
The style guide is your rule book on how the video must feel, sound, and look. It should include everything from brand colors to language usage, and every aspect of the video, such as transitions, fonts, music, and graphics, should align with the brand.
Striking a balance between the branded video and content that suits the audience’s preference is necessary to gain the trust of the target audience without them realizing that the video is filled with brand elements.
For instance, take a look at the following video, which smoothly includes brand elements without compromising the message.
Captivate Audience with Beautiful and Dynamic Visuals
Animation relies on captivating and creative imagery to grab and hold the audience’s attention. Whether it’s a whiteboard, 2D, or 3D video, visual appeal is crucial for boosting audience engagement.
Dynamic visuals also play an integral role in storytelling as they help viewers to follow the narrative and understand the message.
The impact of a video’s message can be significantly augmented by beautiful visuals. With creative animation, there’s no need to explain everything in great detail, as the visuals themselves can convey the message.
In a similar way to live-action videos, the background, props, music, and other elements all contribute to the success of an animated video. Engaging visuals can also lead to greater exposure, as viewers are more likely to share content that impresses them.
Even simple animated videos can be visually appealing and beautiful, thanks to the versatility of motion graphics animation.
Using simple shapes, text, and visual graphics, powerful messages can be conveyed with ease. For example, take a look at this video that introduces the new look of Zendesk.
Optimize Animated Marketing Videos and Include Strong Calls to Actions
When it comes to animated video marketing, video optimization is crucial and indispensable. Many experts agree that combining animation videos with SEO can significantly boost the chances of success for your marketing video content.
Animated videos naturally capture viewers’ attention and inspire greater engagement. You can enhance their appeal by optimizing the title, and description, and adding suitable thumbnails.
Nowadays, effective call-to-actions are a must-have for all kinds of marketing videos. If you plan on using just one call-to-action, include it at the end of the video.
However, you can add the CTA at any stage of the content. Furthermore, you can integrate the CTA into the video or append it at the end. You can use video editor apps to include the CTA or consult a video content creator for assistance.
Lastly, choose an appropriate channel to publish your animated marketing videos and reach the maximum number of viewers.
Final Thoughts
There’s an old philosophical saying that people tend to believe and understand what they see, rather than what they hear.
Animated marketing videos can make your product or service and its features more accessible and engaging to your target audience.
However, to make this unique type of video content stand out, you need to focus on a concise script, production quality, and SEO. Our guide to creating outstanding animated marketing videos can help you to engage customers and create compelling content.
Author: Cristian Stanciu, a freelance video editor, owner, and post-production coordinator of Veedyou Media
