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Gisteo crafts custom 60 second explainer videos using diverse styles. No matter what you do, sell or offer, we’ll make sure your audience gets the gist in 60 seconds or less!

 

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What can you do in 60 seconds?

Although not a streamlined as 30 second videos, 60 second explainer videos need to be concise.  Assuming you’re including a voice over, you only have about 150 words to tell your story. There’s simply not enough time to add in extraneous details or expound on topics when you’re only got 60 seconds…and that’s not a bad thing.

Kissmetrics partnered with Wistia to uncover some interesting insights about length and basically concluded that the real drop-off for video attention span occurs after the 60 second mark. People love being spoon-fed content in the form of an explainer video and 60 seconds is an excellent length to give them a taste of what your product, service or business is all about…without forcing too many details on them.  60 second explainer videos essentially lie at the golden mean between short commercials and longer educational videos.

Keys to creating 60 second explainer videos

Here are three keys to keep in mind when creating a compelling 60 second or 1 minute explainer video:

1. Be concise

Here’s a dirty little explainer video industry secret: it’s actually easier to create a script for a longer, say 2 minute video, than for a shorter one like a 1 minute video. It’s like the famed French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” The same is true when writing scripts for these videos. Revise, revise, revise. Eliminate the extraneous details and unnecessary elements from the video script. Trimming the fat from your messaging is hard work, but ultimately critical if you want to create something compelling and succinct.

2. Prioritize your messaging

Even if you’ve got a talented animated explainer video company like Gisteo creating your video, viewers are bound to start to drop off as the video progresses. It’s just a fact that has more to do with attention spans and multi-tasking more than anything. That’s why, especially when creating a 60 second explainer video, you need to really prioritize your messaging- in addition to simply being concise with your verbiage. It’s a good idea to “front load” these videos and get the vital information out there early on. Quickly state the challenge your target is facing, jump into the solution and then wrap up with the end benefits of your offering. If you fail to prioritize like this and take too long to reveal your solution in the first part of the video, you risk losing your viewer before they can properly understand your Unique Selling Proposition. If you do this and still need more time, consider bumping your production up to 90 seconds

3. Never forget the “what’s in it for me?” factor

Far too often, explainer videos digress into a laundry list of features and granular detail about a product, service, app or whatever. In a 60 second explainer video, there’s just no room for that. Try to limit the takeaways that you’re trying to communicate and focus on the “what’s in it for me?” factor (WIIFM) in your script. It’s great that XYZ software platform aggregates data with a hyper-fast, superior Big Data algorithm powered by IBM Watson technology (just made that up!) but don’t lose track on the fact that the end benefit of “impressing your CEO and getting a huge bonus” is probably a lot more interesting to most people out there so skip the WIIFM at your own risk!

Bonus

Don’t forget to add a powerful call to action at the end of the video. It’s the perfect time to let your viewers know what the next steps are and what opportunities they will access when choosing your brand.

Rene Descartes quote
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Benefits of animation vs. live action for your explainer

 

1. Animation is excellent at simplifying things

If you want to get educate your audience on a complex or abstract subject, animation may be better than live action at boiling down your message into the most important and relevant points. That’s why so tech companies these days (often selling complex softwares or cloud-based services) have taken to producing animations to explain their value proposition to customers in 60 seconds or less.

2. Animation can be more flexible 

Live action is great for many reasons, but animation is super flexible. Quite literally, if you can imagine it, you can animate it. While live action is constrained by what is physically possible and what’s feasible according to budget, there’s really no impossible in animation.

3. It’s easier to update

Need to make changes to your 60 second explainer video later on?  That can be tricky with live action (without expending serious time and money). Updating animation is simpler, easy and cheaper…without the headaches and expenses involved with reshooting scenes.

60 second video production examples

Below are just a few of the 60 second animated explainer videos that we’ve done over the years here at Gisteo. Make sure you check out of Portfolio page for a more comprehensive review our work across different style, sectors, uses and lengths. If you’re curious about pricing, we’ve got you covered there too. Just visit the Pricing page for our transparent, all-included fixed fees.

Sauce Beauty

Explainer promoting a line of natural haircare products

Dance Studio Pro

Explainer for a dance studio software platform

Intellify

Explainer for healthcare staffing management platform

Avia

App explainer for booking private jet flights

Gingr

60 second overview of this dog daycare facility management platform

All MYNE

Travel app explainer video

Other types of videos to consider

There are countless styles and uses for Gisteo videos beyond just 60 second explainer videos. Explore this infographic to learn more about the top 20 video types you can leverage to enhance your marketing or branding efforts.

Ready to discuss your 60 second video project?

Let’s talk!  Schedule a free consultation using the calendar below or contact us at info@gisteo.com to further discuss your video needs.

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