Business animations can be excellent to help inform and educate viewers on complex topics. Here, we take a look at why business animations are great for educating audiences and how companies can use this fact to create effective video content.
Introduction
Animated video is an engaging and entertaining medium. When we think of animation, we often think of kids cartoons and movies. Bright, attractive and sometimes exaggerated visuals drive simple stories, making them particularly alluring for young audiences. But cartoons aren’t just for kids. Animation appeals to audiences of all ages and is used in many practical applications. This is why so many professionals prefer it as a medium to get their messages across. Animated videos are excellent at breaking important or difficult to understand information into bite-sized visual elements that are easier for our brains to process.
Why Animation Works for Explaining Complex Concepts
Both live-action and animated videos are great at engaging audiences. However, animation has a leg up on live-action when it comes to creating educational or informational content. Humans are primarily visual learners, with about half of our brains dedicated to processing visual information. Animation is particularly effective at conveying concepts that would otherwise be difficult for our brains to grasp. This is because animation can simplify concepts using elements that are difficult to convey in live-action, like metaphors and symbolism. Think how hard it would be to explain a concept in theoretical physics to someone who knows nothing about the topic, using only words. But add in a few drawings and it’s much easier to illustrate what you’re talking about in a way that even novices can understand.
In addition, animations combine visual and auditory learning in a unique way that helps concepts stick in people’s brains. When we see and hear a concept that’s being taught to us, our attention spans and focus are increased. It speaks to us on an emotional level and appeals to our senses. In essence, animation primes our brains for learning and remembering what we are about to hear.
And in many cases, animation is subjective. This means that it is often open to interpretation because what we are seeing isn’t completely real. This allows our creativity to take hold, and creativity is directly linked to memory. When our minds have the opportunity to be creative, we access the part of our brains associated with old memories and making new ones. We can better remember what is presented to us when we are shown the concept in an animated style.
Upgrade Learning with Animation
When we’re trying to learn something new, an overload of information can be overwhelming to our brains. Too much information actually has the opposite effect that we’d want it to, in that it can hinder learning. This is where business animations can really give you a boost. These types of videos block out all the other “noise” that may be present in live-action videos and direct our attention right to where it needs to be. Bright colors, simple images, and clear audio is the perfect combination of elements that our brains need to absorb information.
When people are given the choice between reading text to learn a concept or watching videos instead, most will choose video. When faced only with the text option, people will often only skim the article. This may cause them to miss out on key points. If your website’s homepage is text-heavy, visitors may bounce without getting the main idea of what you want to convey. However, business animations can hook visitors with alluring visuals. From there, you have a better chance of them sticking around to learn more about what you’re offering.
When reading, your brain has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Recognizing words, remembering what their definitions are, and figuring out the meaning and context of sentences and paragraphs is complicated work for our minds to do. Video simplifies this because our brains recognize and process images much faster than they do text. An animated business video explains a service, product, or concept with simple images and breaks it down into smaller bits that are extremely easy to digest.
Combine all of these elements, and you have a recipe for learning success. On top of this, business animations also speak to our “inner child,” the one who still loves to watch cartoons. Think about what your main job as a child was. Going to school, learning new things, and figuring out how to apply them in real life. No wonder animation is so good at helping us tackle complex concepts!
Here are some topics that you can cover in business animations:
- How-to – This is a simple video teaching the viewer how to do something.
- Product demo – If you want to offer more information about how a product you offer works, this is a great type of video to look into. You can show it off in action so people can better see how it would help them in real life.
- FAQs – Explore in-depth your most frequently asked questions. This way, people have a trusted resource to turn to when they want answers.
- Benefits – These videos can present a higher-level explanation of your product or service and what it can offer your customers.
What type of video you end up creating depends on who you’re trying to reach, and where you’re trying to reach them. Benefits videos may be great for first-time visitors to watch upon arriving on your landing page. On the other hand, product demos may be aimed at customers who are seriously considering making a purchase from you. Think about what works best for your audience.
Animation Elements That Can Be Used To Explain
When looking to create business animations, there are a few visual elements you can add to make sure it successfully accomplishes its goals. These elements are easily recognizable appeal to our senses, making them effective teaching tools.
- Characters and their actions – When we see a character completing an action step-by-step, it’s easier to see how a process happens. We can relate to characters and put ourselves in their shoes, and see what it would be like to complete those actions by ourselves. Learning how to do a task becomes much easier when we watch someone we relate to completing the task. In addition, emotions, body language, and expressions can be exaggerated in characters. This makes it even simpler to pick up on the main message quickly.
- Simple icons or symbols – Metaphors and symbolism are great tools that you can use to simplify concepts. You can represent conceptual ideas that otherwise can’t really be physically represented. For example, data, numbers, statistics, etc., can be presented in a way that is easy to understand. Well-known symbols, like the dollar sign, are instantly recognizable, and people know immediately its meaning and what it represents. You can reuse icons or symbols throughout the video to represent recurring themes or concepts.
- Real-life scenarios – You can best explain some situations by using real-life scenarios. But, using actors in live-action videos can be more time and resource-intensive. Create a story illustrating these situations with animation, which will appeal to the part of the human brain that responds to storytelling. Your viewers will see these concepts in action, and better understand them.
Boost Engagement and Retention With Business Animations
If you work in marketing, some of your main objectives are to get potential customers to remember your brand, get people talking about what you have to say, and inspire them to take action. Marketers’ ultimate goal is always to grow their company’s leads and increase sales. Animated marketing videos tend to feel less overtly sales-oriented to their audiences. People are more open to your message when they don’t feel like you’re trying to sell them something. But, animated videos are still extremely useful at helping you reach your marketing goals.
Another big aspect of marketing is explaining your product or service to people, especially if it’s a difficult concept to understand. For example, companies who build software might have a hard time explaining what their software does. Showing how it functions through animation can be a great way to bring it to life. But in order to get people to pay attention to what you’re trying to teach them, you first have to get them to stick around long enough to hear it.
Animated videos are a great tool to grab and hold peoples’ attention. Once you have their attention, it’s up to you how to use it! Teach them, give them information about your brand and values, and help them to remember your message. Incorporate branding elements like logos, colors, and fonts, so these elements stay at the forefront of their minds.
If you think an animated video is right for your business, there’s no better time to create one than now! Gisteo can help you create a video that will enhance your viewers’ learning and memory and help them process what you have to say.
Business animations are great to give you an advantage over your competition and start building a relationship with your customers. If you’d like more information, contact us.
