Whether you call them demo videos, explainer videos, how it works or an introduction video, it seems like every business has one on their landing page these days. There is a good reason for that. Video is a great way to capture your audience’s attention.
What makes an explainer video different from a commercial or short documentary? Explainer videos aren’t longer internet commercials and the value of them isn’t like that of a commercial. A commercial is there to help build brand awareness and get people interested or excited about your service or product. A commercial often has very little story, although some of the better ones do offer a glimpse of a story rather than just sexy product shots. An explainer video isn’t about sexy product shots, it’s goal is to help tell a company’s story in an interesting or fun way. Explainer videos are short… but usually longer than your average commercial; typically they are between 45 - 120 seconds. These videos can be live action, animation, claymation, or even whiteboard drawings; but no matter what they provide businesses with a clear and effective message showing their value to the audience.
An explainer video can be turned into a commercial later by changing some of the messaging and reusing some of the previous work done. We did this with our video for BodyShopBids. By taking the original 100 second explainer video, we moved around a few of the pieces and tweaked the animation slightly to put together a 30 second commercial that aired here in Chicago.
Not all explainer videos have to be for customers, often they are made to be shown to investors or businesses. Typically most of us see the B2C or Business To Customer video on YouTube and businesses landing pages. But there are a lot of videos that get produced that are only seen by a small group of people. Still no matter who the target audience is, an explainer video is one of the best ways to get your business’s value across and still keep everyone’s attention.
