You have a great product or service, but it’s difficult to get your message out there with traditional forms of advertising. Have you ever considered putting out explainer videos? These videos are starting to dominate YouTube, Vimeo, and other social video sharing sites. Here’s how to take advantage of them.
What Is An Explainer Video?
Explainer videos are usually short videos that explain some complex concept. A short video that explain something complicated? Impossible – no wait. They exist, and they’re fabulous. Probably the most famous company out there doing them is Common Craft.
Check out at least one of their videos. What you’ll notice is that everything is broken down into laymen’s terms. There’s no technical geek speak and, when technicalities are required, they’re quickly explained in plain English.
The brilliance behind an explainer video is that it’s both a sales and education tool. You can upload them to YouTube, post them to Twitter and Facebook, or upload them to your own blog or website. If you do upload a video to your own site, you’ll need some way to convert the video into a playable format. You’ll also need a video player.
Explainer Videos As The New User Manual
Explainer videos are being hailed as the new user manual. Because they’re more engaging than a talking head, people also stick around longer to watch them – meaning you get more views and longer views from each user. You also get repeat views because they’re educational in nature.
Users Expect Them
Users expect you to have some type of explainer video for your product or service. It’s an easy way to learn about what it is that you do, and it’s a lot easier to consume this type of content than it is to read about your products and services.
It also lends some authenticity to your company – you can’t fake a great video, especially if you’re in it. Worried about distribution? Don’t be. Users do expect you to have the video hosted on your site, or on a non-commercial third-party site (it looks more professional for “about us”-type videos), but you can always use an app like the YouTube video converter, which you can use to convert and compress the video so that it’s suitable for the web.
They Make Presentations Come To Life
Explainer videos can also be used for sales presentations and to train new staff. It’s not as stiff as a Powerpoint presentation and, thankfully, not as emotionally painful.
They Generate a Lot Of Traffic
Explainer videos are unique in that they are sharable – not so with straight-up sales videos. When you spend time educating people about your product or service, and even about common concepts in your industry, they want to share that video. People aren’t ashamed of bugging their friends to watch something you’ve created, because it’s not like they’re pushing an infomercial. It’s stealth selling.
They Provide Clarity
By definition, explainer videos educate and explain. A good video will clarify complex concepts and make things easier for your audience to understand. This, in turn, reduces sales resistance.
They Give Your Business a Voice and Personality
Your business is probably seen as a stiff, corporate, entity. Don’t feel bad. Most corporations are. But, a good explainer video series that features you in a laid-back setting (don’t “corporatify” them) will pump your business full of personality. Users will get to see the human side of your company – who you really are. It also gives your company a voice and means of connecting to your target audience.
Remember to respect IP when using downloaded video content.
