Top 10 Myths About Explainer Videos

1) The more cash you spend, the better “explainer video” you get.

It is somehow true and not true. There are many factors involved in the making of an explainer video and as part of the process, you are required to provide clear direction and brief to the production team. While you can probably guarantee a good result by hiring a large agency such as Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather or Buck, you must have the capacity to cooperate with them to make sure you get the best out of them.

On the other hand, you might get a fairly good result by spending a third of the above cost if you search around well enough. There are many smaller yet unbelievably talented teams around the world that are waiting to be found. It takes time to find them sometimes as they are mainly not good with marketing themselves online. So be patient and search on.

 

2) The script is better off written by me than the production team.

Unless you have extensive experience in the field of writing, that is not true. You definitely know your business or product better than anyone else, but what you write in your audio script will not necessarily be what people would like to hear. We tend to oversell ourselves, especially in situations where there are a lot to lose. So my advice is to let the creative writers figure this part out. However, you have to make sure they have all the references and preliminary information about your business, product, websites, customers and so on.

The good news is, most explainer video companies provide a questionnaire to learn about your business and goals. All you need to do is to fill them up completely and carefully.

 

 

3) Music and sound effects play a big role in the success of a video

The answer is no. While they are very good enhancer agents and help make scenes stand out to engage the audience further, they are not going to be the sole driving engine to success. It’s like adding magnificent music to a bad movie. It is not going to get the movie any good rating nor will it win the audience.

In fact, the things that actually play a big role in the success of a video are the script and the concept in general. Then it all boils down to how we visualize our concept and script which are done through creative storyboard and outstanding graphics (if it’s animated) or outstanding actors and locations (if it’s live-action).

 

4) People prefer live action over animated explainer videos

Not true. Many animated explainer videos have gone viral in the past. For example, Dumb Ways to Die received over 160 million views so far. This is a number we can’t and should not ignore.

Some videos from Kasra Design’s portfolio show the following numbers:

Global Industrial – Trust (3D): 770,000 Views

Mad Fliers (2D): 140,000 Views

Panasonic Ceiling Fan (2D): 160,000 Views

Another instance is “The Girl Effect” animated video. It has received more than 2 million views since it was uploaded. Also, Crazy Egg animation (produced by Demoduck) received over 3 million views and drove a huge success and conversion rate for the company.

The above numbers have proven that animated videos are just as good as live action videos.

 

5) The quality of animation and graphics doesn’t matter much.

It can’t be true and here is why. Neil Patel claimed that the script was the main reason their video “Crazy Egg” became successful. I do agree the script is the foundation of an explainer video as mentioned in number 3 above. But I don’t agree it is the only factor for success. The “Crazy Egg” animation was done aesthetically appealing and very professional. Illustrations are unique and definitely took a considerable amount of time to design and execute. It might not contain any bombastic animation or 3D scenes but the time it was made (2014), it was on top of the game undoubtedly.

A balance of high quality graphics and script is the recipe you should invest in.

 

6) No video marketing is needed after our video is ready. We just want to embed it on our website.

Absolutely wrong. Making the video is half of the work. If you don’t market it, how are people going to find it? You will need to either use video marketing companies or do it manually yourself by submitting your video to as many social networks, video sharing websites and relevant blogs.

Your job will be a lot easier if your video is done professionally and carries a strong message. It might even go viral after you uploaded, so you can sit back and enjoy the rising fame.

 

7) The explainer video company must be physically located in my country to get a good result.

It’s true that people are more comfortable working with a production company that is located in their country or city. But does it really improve efficiency and get you a high quality result? Apart from the privilege of having face-to-face meeting (which can also be done via Skype with other countries), there isn’t any guarantee that your video will be professionally made and become successful.

There are many instances where the firms located in North America outsource their clients’ video projects to other countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Argentina and Eastern Europe. That said, you might be paying more than you should as you could be dealing with middlemen. And the companies with actual production teams in North America will not be able to offer a competitive rate as the cost of living and salaries are way higher than many other parts of the world.

Rather than being obsessed with the team’s location or origin, you should be concerned about the portfolio and reputation of the team that you are going to hire. Verify their testimonials and reviews. If their portfolio is verified, they can communicate well in English and understand your brief, then you are in safe hands. Remember, art and creativity does not have a certain origin or culture. It’s universal.

 

8) We can make a 2 minutes animated explainer video in 2 weeks

It rarely happens. Why? This is because video and animation production are both time-consuming processes.  They require extensive amount of brain-storming, creativity and time to execute.

If you rush the team, you are sacrificing all the nitty gritty details and the chance of failure is going to be higher. You will not have enough time to analyze and approve the stages of production properly either.

Always plan ahead, consult with experts and set a reasonable deadline. As a rule of thumb, most studios require 4-5 weeks for delivery of 1-2 minutes animated or live-action video. This does not include revisions.

 

9) We must take full control of the creative direction

Unless you happen to be a creative director with years of experience, there is no logic to do that. You might know your business, product or audience better but you do not have any idea what’s right and what’s not in the creative sense. Even though we all like to be called creative but only a handful can direct a video or animation properly.

So it’s strongly advised to let the professionals handle the creative part. You can stop them if your brief is misunderstood or something looks terribly wrong but leave the rest to your production team.  Look at their portfolio, if you like what you see then they deserve to be trusted on this.

 

10) Explainer video is a waste of money. We are better off with online ads.

Research shows that explainer video increases conversation rate. According to a poll conducted by Forbes, 65% of executives view industry-related video at least once while at work. 50% of them watched the videos on Youtube, and two-thirds visited the marketer’s landing page after viewing. Consumers turn to videos when they want to research about a product of a service.

In a study done by Forrester, adding a video to your site increases the chance of your site appearing in a front-page Google result by 50 times.

 

So, an explainer video is definitely a worthy investment as video content is going to play an even more important role in future of online marketing.