The Power of Modern Explainer Videos

Over the past several years modern Explainer videos have emerged as a game-changer for brands, and have revolutionized the way businesses communicate with their target audience.

When done correctly, they capture the attention of potential customers and deliver key messages in a concise and engaging manner. Companies can leverage their top features, benefits, and use cases, and their product, marketing, and sales strategies, to drive new conversions, increase brand awareness, and foster customer engagement. .

Explainer videos can combine an on-camera person (to make a human connection) as well as graphics (to visually deliver the information) to create compelling video content.

This video was created to introduce a brand new startup, and to on-board new team members and prospective team members.

Top 5 Features of Modern Explainer Videos:

1. Clear and Concise Script: Start with a compelling script that conveys your core message clearly. This is an Explainer video so there should be no question about your product once people have watched it.

2. Animated Visuals: Utilize captivating animations and illustrations to simplify complex concepts for your audience in an easy-to-understand way.

3. Professional Voiceover: Complement your video and engage your viewers with a well-paced (not too fast, not too slow), articulate voiceover. A good voiceover adds personality and professionalism, while a bad one can make the whole project a failure.

4. Branding Elements: Incorporate your brand’s elements. Use logos, colors, and fonts to maintain consistency and reinforce brand recognition.

5. Call-to-Action (CTA): Make sure to include a CTA at the end of the video to drive viewers to take the desired action whether it’s visiting a website, subscribing to a newsletter, or making a purchase.

In a series of 4 videos, we helped our client show the benefits of their new product line, how to use them, and how safe they are for the entire family.

Top 5 Benefits of Using Explainer Videos:

1. Increased Conversion Rates: Explainer videos have proven to be highly effective in converting viewers into customers because they simplify complex information and make it easier for the audience to understand the value proposition.

2. Enhanced Engagement: The combination of visuals, audio, and storytelling in explainer videos keeps viewers engaged and more likely to absorb the information presented.

3. Improved Brand Awareness: Through strategic placement on websites, social media platforms, and video sharing sites, explainer videos can significantly boost brand visibility and recognition.

4. Greater Retention of Information: Studies have shown that people remember visual content better than text alone. Explainer videos leverage this by presenting information in an easily digestible format, leading to improved information retention.

5. Enhanced SEO and Online Presence: Explainer videos can improve search engine rankings, increase website traffic, and generate backlinks when shared across various online platforms.

Animated explainer videos are a great way to make information ‘pop’ and keep things fun. Visuals break down complex things into digestable bites.

Top 5 Use Cases of Explainer Videos:

1. Product Demonstrations: Explainer videos showcase the features, functionality, and benefits of a product, allowing potential customers to visualize it in action and understand how it addresses their pain points.

2. Onboarding and Training: Explainer videos are an effective tool for on-boarding new customers or training employees. They simplify complex processes making it easier for viewers to grasp new concepts.

3. Brand Storytelling: Explainer videos can communicate a brand’s unique story, values, and mission in a captivating way, establishing an emotional connection with the audience and fostering brand loyalty.

4. Customer Testimonials: Incorporating customer testimonials in explainer videos adds credibility and trust, as real people share their positive experiences with the product or service.

5. FAQs and Troubleshooting: Explainer videos can address common customer questions and provide step-by-step instructions for troubleshooting, reducing support requests and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Our client needed a video for a new product launch. It was important to show all the features of the product, how to use it, its benefits and use-case scenarios. The 1 minute video we created was also broken into smaller pieces for social channels, and e-commerce sites.

Visualizing the Value Proposition:

1. Demonstrating Product Functionality: Explainer videos can showcase how a product works, highlighting its unique features and demonstrating its benefits in action.

2. Depicting Real-World Use Cases: By presenting relatable scenarios, explainer videos allow potential customers to envision themselves using the product or solution to solve their specific problems.

3. Simulating Before-and-After Scenarios: Explainer videos can effectively illustrate the transformation that customers can experience by utilizing a particular product or service, emphasizing its value proposition.

Testimonial Videos: The Key to Successful Product, Marketing, and Sales Strategies

Mixing a client interview with footage of your product in action is a great combination. It combines an honest review of your product with real-world examples of it in use.

Customer testimonial videos are invaluable assets in any successful product, marketing, and sales strategy. Done well, these videos help your business enhance your brand image, increase conversion rates, and gain a competitive advantage. And they’re an important type of content for product launches, lead generation and sales presentations.

Testimonial videos play a vital role in capturing the attention of potential customers and driving them towards action. By allowing potential customers to hear directly from your current customers, they learn about the product, solution and, first hand, about real-world use cases.

Top 5 Features of Customer Testimonial Videos:

1. Authenticity: This. One. Is. Huge. Customer testimonial videos capture the genuine experiences and opinions of real customers, providing an honest and unbiased perspective on the product or service. Don’t coach your client too much into saying what you hope they’ll say. Instead, find a client who already feels the way you’d like them to so that coaching doesn’t have to happen.

2. Emotional Connection: For some brands and products, featuring customers’ stories, challenges, and successes can create an emotional connection with viewers. This allows them to relate to the experiences shared and form a personal connection with your brand. Again, remember authenticity.

3. Credibility: Hearing satisfied customers speak positively about a product or service adds credibility and trustworthiness, enhancing the brand’s reputation and increasing potential customers’ confidence in their purchasing decisions.

4. Varied Formats: Testimonial videos can be created in various formats, including interviews, case studies, product demonstrations, or before-and-after stories, allowing businesses to cater to different audience preferences and engagement levels.

5. Shareability: Compelling customer testimonial videos are highly shareable across multiple platforms, such as social media, websites, and email marketing campaigns. This shareability extends the reach of the message, increasing brand exposure and attracting new potential customers.

Testimonial videos can be used for recruitment.

In this case, recruitment of students to a national brand’s automotive repair university. We interviewed instructors and past students who spoke about the importance of the courses, and how they benefited from the school in their professional lives.

Top 5 Benefits of Customer Testimonial Videos:

1. Enhanced Brand Image: Customer testimonial videos serve as powerful endorsements, elevating the brand’s image by showcasing satisfied customers and their positive experiences.

2. Increased Conversion Rates: Testimonial videos have been proven to drive higher conversion rates. When potential customers see real people sharing their positive experiences, they are more likely to be convinced to take the desired action, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a service, or requesting more information.

3. Strengthened Sales and Marketing Alignment: By incorporating this type of video content into your sales and marketing processes, teams can align their efforts, ensuring consistent messaging and improved collaboration. The shared objective of leveraging testimonials fosters a stronger relationship between sales and marketing departments, resulting in more effective lead generation and nurturing.

4. Competitive Advantage: In a crowded marketplace, customer testimonial videos provide a competitive advantage by differentiating a brand from its competitors. The genuine voices of satisfied customers create a unique selling proposition that can resonate deeply with potential buyers, giving the brand an edge.

5. Long-lasting Impact: Customer testimonial videos have a lasting impact, as they can be repurposed and used throughout different stages of the buyer’s journey. From creating awareness and interest to nurturing leads and facilitating decision-making, these videos continue to add value over time.

Another recruitment based testimonial video - this time featuring clients and team members together.

Top 5 Use Cases of Customer Testimonial Videos:

1. Product Launches: Testimonial videos are particularly effective during product launches. By featuring early adopters and beta testers who have had positive experiences with the product, businesses can generate excitement and anticipation among their target audience, boosting sales and adoption rates.

2. Lead Generation: Testimonial videos serve as powerful lead generation tools. By strategically placing them on landing pages, social media ads, or email campaigns, businesses can capture the attention of potential customers and drive them towards taking the desired action.

3. Website and E-commerce Platforms: Placing customer testimonial videos on the homepage or product pages of a website or e-commerce platform enhances the overall user experience. It helps potential customers gain a better understanding of the product’s value and builds trust, ultimately increasing the likelihood of conversions.

4. Sales Presentations: Customer testimonial videos act as persuasive sales assets. Sales representatives can leverage these videos during presentations or client meetings to address common objections, showcase real-world success stories, and reinforce the value proposition of the product or service.

5. Social Proof and Reputation Management: Sharing customer testimonial videos on social media platforms, review sites, and industry-specific forums helps build social proof and manage the brand’s reputation. Positive testimonials foster trust, attract new customers, and mitigate any negative reviews or misconceptions.

It’s important to ask for testimonials from clients who have shown a real eagerness to participate in your campaign, and ones who have already spoken positively - in one way or another - about your brand and how they’ve benefited from it.

The Power of Visualization and Understanding:

1. Showcasing Real-world Scenarios: Customer testimonial videos allow potential customers to witness real-world scenarios where the product or solution is being used. This visual representation enables them to imagine how the offering could benefit their own businesses or lives, making the value proposition more tangible and relatable.

2. Demonstrating Product Features and Benefits: Testimonial videos can effectively demonstrate how the product’s features and benefits are put into action. Through visual storytelling, potential customers can see firsthand how the solution solves specific problems, addresses pain points, and delivers results.

3. Building Trust and Confidence: Video testimonials build trust and confidence by providing a visual and auditory medium for customers to share their experiences. Seeing and hearing satisfied customers adds an extra layer of authenticity, making potential customers more comfortable and confident in their decision to choose the product or service.

Unlocking Success: Harnessing the Power of Product Demonstration Videos

This example - from a tech product demonstration video - uses the viewer’s POV to show how to use the features of a password security app that eliminates the need for remembering all your passwords.

Product demonstration videos are an incredibly powerful asset in any successful product and marketing strategy. With their ability to engage, educate, and captivate viewers, these videos provide a unique opportunity to showcase your product’s features, benefits, and use cases. By incorporating high-quality visuals, storytelling techniques, and interactive elements, you can create a compelling and immersive experience that allows potential customers to visualize your product in action, understand its value proposition, and ultimately make an informed buying decision.

Top 5 Features of Product Demonstration Videos:

1. Concise and Engaging Content: Product demonstration videos should be crafted to deliver information concisely and engagingly. By showcasing the key features and functionalities of your product in an easily digestible format, you can quickly capture your audience’s attention and leave a lasting impression.

2. Visual Storytelling: Videos have a unique ability to convey information through visuals. Product demonstration videos harness this power by weaving a compelling story around your product and creating a memorable experience that resonates with viewers long after they’ve watched the video.

3. Interactive Elements: To enhance viewer engagement, product demonstration videos often incorporate interactive elements such as annotations, clickable links, or even virtual reality (VR) experiences. These features allow potential customers to explore your product further, delve into specific features, and interact with the video content, fostering a deeper connection with your brand.

4. High Production Quality: Investing in professional video production ensures that your product is showcased in the best possible light. High-quality visuals, polished editing, and immersive sound design create a sense of professionalism and credibility, instilling confidence in potential customers and positioning your brand as a leader in the industry.

5. Multi-channel Distribution: Product demonstration videos can be shared across various channels, including your website, social media platforms, email campaigns, and even in-store displays. This versatility allows you to reach a wider audience and ensure that your message is delivered to potential customers wherever they are.

A short clip from a product demonstration video created for the De’longhi brand to showcase the use and features of their new air fryer. The video, and several companion shorts, were used in email campaigns, in retail stores, on their website and on Amazon.

Top 5 Benefits of Product Demonstration Videos:

1. Increased Conversion Rates: By visually demonstrating your product’s features and benefits, product demonstration videos provide potential customers with a clearer understanding of how your product solves their pain points. This increased clarity often translates into higher conversion rates and a greater likelihood of making a purchase.

2. Enhanced Brand Awareness: Compelling video content has the potential to generate buzz around your brand and increase its visibility. When viewers find value in your content, they are more likely to share it with their networks, leading to exponential reach and heightened brand awareness.

3. Improved Customer Engagement: Product demonstration videos offer an immersive experience that goes beyond static images or text-based descriptions. By engaging multiple senses and delivering information in an entertaining manner, these videos capture and retain viewer attention, fostering a stronger connection with your brand.

4. Competitive Edge: In today’s saturated marketplace, standing out from the competition is crucial. Product demonstration videos allow you to showcase your product’s unique features and benefits in a visually compelling way, differentiating your brand and giving you a competitive edge.

5. Customer Education and Support: Beyond the initial purchase, product demonstration videos can serve as valuable educational resource for existing customers. By providing detailed tutorials, troubleshooting guides, or best practices, these videos help customers derive maximum value from your product and reduce the burden on your support teams.

Our client provides secure, remote, key-less entry systems for businesses and private use. We used storytelling to show a ‘day-in-the-life’ of an average user, and how to use the system.

The video included 4 actors, 2 locations and 2 days to film.

Top 5 Use Cases of Product Demonstration Videos:

1. Product Launches: Introducing a new product to the market can be challenging. Product demonstration videos enable you to create anticipation and generate excitement by offering a sneak peek into your latest innovation. By highlighting key features and showcasing the product in action, you can build anticipation and drive early adoption.

2. Sales Enablement: Sales teams can leverage product demonstration videos as powerful tools during their conversations with potential customers. These videos help sales representatives communicate complex product features effectively, address objections, and create a compelling case for why the product is the perfect solution for the customer’s needs.

3. E-commerce and Online Retail: With the rise of e-commerce, product demonstration videos have become indispensable for online retailers. These videos provide a virtual shopping experience, allowing potential customers to see the product from different angles, understand its functionality, and make more informed purchasing decisions.

4. Training and Onboarding: For companies offering software or technical products, product demonstration videos serve as invaluable training and onboarding resources. These videos walk users through the product’s interface, demonstrate key features, and guide users in harnessing the product’s full potential, reducing the learning curve and improving user satisfaction.

5. Customer Testimonials and Case Studies: Product demonstration videos can feature customer testimonials and case studies, highlighting real-world success stories. By showcasing how your product has positively impacted other customers’ businesses, you build trust and credibility, making potential customers more confident in choosing your solution.

Top 3 Ways Video Product Demonstrations Allow Potential Customers to Visualize the Product in Action and Understand its Value Proposition:

1. Immersive Experience: Product demonstration videos provide a dynamic and immersive experience, enabling potential customers to visualize the product in action. By showcasing real-life scenarios and demonstrating how the product solves specific pain points, viewers gain a clearer understanding of how the product will benefit them.

2. Feature Demonstrations: Video allows for a detailed exploration of each feature, ensuring potential customers grasp the full extent of what your product can do. By highlighting specific features and their functionality, you showcase the product’s value proposition and its unique selling points.

3. Contextual Relevance: Through storytelling and relatable narratives, product demonstration videos create a context that resonates with potential customers. By demonstrating the product’s relevance to their lives or business challenges, viewers can envision how the product will fit seamlessly into their daily routines or operational workflows.

Here's Exactly What to Look for When Hiring a Video Production Team

Our Motto:

Based on years of partnering with clients of all sizes and types building startups, expanding brands, and planning major events, we know that teamwork and collaboration are the core of any successful corporate video project.

In this post, we want to start from the beginning. You've consulted with internal stakeholders, you want to take on a creative idea with lots of moving parts, and you know that hiring the right production team will be critical to its success.

Now you're ready to hire your dream team. Naturally, the next question becomes... "what exactly do I look for?" The following provides a few attributes to consider when hiring the best production team for your business.

Scalability

You want a production team that can scale their service and capabilities... and tailor them exactly to your project. This goes beyond simple shooting and editing, but seeing a project through from ideation to total manifestation.

A good way to think about this is to consider the difference between a door-to-door car service vs. DIY airport parking. 

In one scenario, you're navigating traffic, obstacles, and schedules on your own; while in the other, you're trusting your capable driver to anticipate challenges, take the unnecessary burdens off your plate, and ensure that everything is buttoned up flawlessly and on-time.

Full-service video production starts with helping you finalize your concept and flows on through to some of the following tasks:

• Script support

• Casting acting and voice over talent

• Scouting and securing locations

• Gear - lots of it

• Filming

• Editing

• Animating

• All the little extras- lighting, backdrops, even hair and makeup

• Consultation on how this video will meet your business goals

It's important to consider how much assistance you may need and choose an agency that can scale accordingly to your project.

Creativity

Having access to an innovative video production team is also crucial to a successful project. Your team should be able to help you brainstorm creative ideas.

If you get the sense that they take a paint by numbers approach to creating and editing videos, they may not be up to date on the marketing and visual trends that will move the needle on your goals.

Questions to ask yourself when hiring a creative video production team, include:

• Do I feel like I'm seeing something fresh?

• Was I truly interested as I watched their videos?

• Did I feel entertained and/or educated when I checked out their blog?

• Did I ask myself 'How did they do that?'

• Does all of their sample work look the same?

• Do they work with a diverse set of companies and industries?

• Is their work professional and consistently of the highest quality?

Therefore, when it comes to innovation, bookmark the video production houses that showcase range and keep your attention.

Trustworthiness

Ask for references. Say you're evaluating several agencies - customer references may make all the difference in ensuring that everything is as it seems below the surface. 

Any good video company should be able to proudly showcase their past work on their website and social channels with client branding/logos, detailed success stories, and behind-the-scenes case studies.

Yes, sometimes client privacy/ proprietary information is an issue but any agency lacking a good amount of this type of concrete information may not have the experience you need.

Open Communication

Great communication means you will always have insight into the real-time status of your project, the direction it is headed, and what the end result will be. The key to good communication for a production company is listening.

A good sign you have the right team in your sights is when they spend more time learning about your brand and business than they do selling themselves.

If your agency is easy to connect with, goes above and beyond to offer suggestions, and answers questions quickly and completely, all signals are GO!

Project Management Gurus

A super important skill set often missed as an oversight in selecting a video production company- Project Management.

It is vital that the agency you hire is highly adept at managing projects. A team with stellar PM skills is the most effective way to maintain a level of hustle, organization and urgency to the flow of the creative process.

Expertise

An experienced production team will have the ability to demonstrate a deep range of samples across styles (cinematic, minimalist, guerilla), industries (fashion, tech, food), and different methods (animation, live action, drone footage, events, testimonials, short form video, advertising, etc).

This range of skill is important because video content and the marketing industry are always changing— and only an expert can stay on top of the shifting trends. When you find that your project is completed on time, on budget and providing next-level creativity, it may just shock you.

Tech and Digital Savviness

Regardless of your intended use, modern video production is about all things digital marketing. Therefore, you need a tech-savvy, plugged-in team to guide you. A great team will understand things like:

And beyond the above, should provide you with special insight into:

• Trending hardware and software -
  When to use 4K cameras, 360 degree video, VR tech, Live and Interactive video

• Digital marketing initiatives -
  Inbound, Outbound, Customer Lifetime Value, Conversion Benchmarks

• Branded social advertising and awareness -
  The impact of posting times and content types across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram

• Engagement rates-
  On email vs. ads, when to use comedy, music or silence with just text on screen

• And so much more...

A great team understands how marrying the science of technology through analytics, formats and channels to art, can create a truly effective piece of video content.

Goal Oriented

Lastly, you need a video production team that is results driven.

You're not in sync if you're the only one gloriously racing for the finish line. Your team should be interested in delivering a superior-quality product that consistently delivers on your priorities.

It doesn't matter the type or intent of the video; be it crowdfunding, training, generating more sales and/or leads, delighting customers, capturing a new audience, or showing your fun side. At the end of the day, you started this search and video project with a concrete goal in mind. Your production agency should make achieving that objective both rewarding and effortless. 

What Makes a Great Testimonial Video

What makes a great testimonial video? Can the answer boil down to just one word? We think so. That word is ‘story’.

We’ll grant that we hear this word thrown around quite a lot. Every brand wants to tell a story - to tell their story. Even though it sometimes seems the word is overused, there really is something to it.

WHAT IS “STORY?”

In the example video below, we don’t just hear about the product. We hear first-hand knowledge of someone whose day-to-day has been impacted by it. The product is an intercom system that solves all kinds of problems. The story told by the interviewee is about challenges, personal experiences, the solution given by the intercom system, and how it has positively impacted his work routines. We hear that the unit his company installed is saving time, saving money, and saving misunderstandings.

Of course, we still need to see the product in a real-world use scenario – this video wouldn’t be complete without that. But it’s more about the story.

And one small note: Take notice of how the recommendation, and description of the product, is made right at the start of the video

Client Case Study Video

Story drives the messaging in this video.

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WHAT OTHER KIND OF “STORY” IS GOOD FOR A TESTIMONIAL VIDEO?

Some clients and brands need extremely personal stories told to impact an audience. In the legal world, decisions about who to turn to in times of personal tragedy can be a big one. We hear from a law firm’s client that after an accident, his life became difficult and he didn’t know what to do or where to turn. For our legal firm client’s audience, this is very important to see in a video. It helps them understand they’re not alone and there is somewhere to turn, and someone that can help.

To help make a more impactful video, it starts with a moment in which things changed forever.

Law Firm Testimonial Film

This powerful testimonial starts with a reminder that life can be filled with unexpected moments.

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WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST STEPS IN CREATING A TESTIMONIAL VIDEO?

Not all testimonial video are built the same, and they shouldn’t be. But there are ‘rules’ to follow that can be helpful:

• First things first: Getting buy-in from an outside person (a client for example) who is familiar with your brand can be a challenge in getting permissions and approvals, and scheduling the necessary block of time on their calendar. Start early.

• The person(s) in the video should have first-hand knowledge of the product or service that is being covered. This gives the personal touch that is needed.

• The person(s) should speak from the heart so that the audience knows they’re sincere. This means no coaching before the interview, and no memorizing of answers. The interviewee(s) can certainly have advance notice of the questions they’ll be asked so they have ideas about what to say, but that’s about as much as they need before sitting down in front of the camera.

• Make sure to ask the right questions of the interviewee(s). First, you need to know what you want the audience to know about your product or service. Then, craft questions that will get answers that cover that messaging.

• Don’t forget b-roll - that’s the footage that we add along with the interview to give context and life. B-roll is shown in the two examples above.

• Choose people for your video based on their ability to speak clearly about their experiences.