Animated videos for marketing can be a powerful tool for your toolbox. In this article we’ll take a closer look at how animated videos can help boost your business and maximize your ROI.
For years, marketers have been asking the question – what drives consumers to make the decisions they do?
This problem is at the heart of all marketing and the answer seems to always be changing. Just two or three decades ago, the majority of advertising was all about taking a cold approach – you put your marketing content out there to initiate a conversation with potential customers. But all that changed with the explosion of the internet. Consumers decided that it was in their hands to initiate the conversation with brands, and it was their job to do research on their own. So marketers had to change their strategy. Instead of aggressively pushing people to buy a product, it became more about helping consumers decide to choose your brand when there are dozens of other options at their fingertips.
But how do you convince a consumer to pick you above the others? Your marketing content has to be both smart and engaging. It has to look at what your potential customers need, what’s driving their purchase decisions, and what you can do to convince them that you’re the right choice. You can do these things by providing customers with the education they need to be informed while helping them remember your name when it’s time to make a purchase.
One of the best ways to stand out among your competition is by creating animated videos. Read on to learn more about why animated videos for marketing help to make your name stick in peoples’ minds, so that when they’re ready to make a purchase decision, they’ll choose your brand.
Authentic, informative content wins
Even when consumers aren’t directly researching a company, product, or service, they often search online looking for information. Brands and businesses can use this fact to help consumers find what they’re looking for through the content they create and show that they are a trusted resource. By offering a deep well of informative, authentic content, consumers will turn to you when they’re looking to solve a problem or answer a question. Providing them with information is a great way to start a trusting relationship with consumers.
Gone are the days of in-your-face promotion, where companies are constantly blasting us with loud and annoying marketing tactics. We don’t need aggressive television, newspaper, or radio ads putting pressure on us to buy, because we now have all the information we need at our fingertips. The rise of computers and smartphones means that customers can do their own research when they’re ready to purchase something, instead of relying on advertisements to help them make purchasing decisions.
In fact, traditional advertising tactics now seem dated and can leave a bad taste in potential customers’ mouths. On the other hand, animated videos for business naturally feel less sales-oriented to consumers, which means that they’re less likely to simply click away.
Animated videos for marketing represent an excellent way to inform consumers, as people remember much more of what they see versus what they read. Human brains are built to handle stories, and storytelling helps us process information better. We love having stories told to us, and animated video is a fantastic way to tell an engaging story. Creating an informative video is a subtle way to help consumers remember your brand and establish the groundwork for a trustworthy relationship.
Today, marketing is all about creating a great consumer experience along every step of the way, so it’s important to keep the customer’s journey in mind when you’re creating informative content. At the beginning of their journey, customers realize they have a problem that needs to be solved, and they may not be aware of what they can do to solve that problem.
They hop onto the internet to try to solve their problem by asking a search engine for answers. This is where great, informative video content can put you ahead of your competition. It will raise their awareness, and help them think about what products or services can help them solve their problems. And then, down the road, when they’re considering what to purchase, they will remember what they learned from your video and use it to make an informed decision.
The fun factor
On the other hand, an overload of information, even in the form of video, can be boring or overwhelming. When our brains are given too much information at once, it can end up being too much to process. That’s where another aspect of storytelling comes in – entertainment. Entertaining your audience can make their learning process easier, not to mention a lot more fun.
Think about the content that your favorite brands share on social media. When it comes down to it, very little of the content is about selling and promotion, and a lot of it is about sharing things that their customers may like, share, comment on, or otherwise engage with. Animated videos for marketing are great because they do a fantastic job of grabbing and holding people’s attention, which is what many brands are looking to do in the first place.
But what do consumers find entertaining, and how can this be used as part of a marketing strategy? When it comes down to it, the most effective and most entertaining marketing content appeals to emotions. Think about some of the most memorable marketing campaigns you’ve seen – things that have really gone viral. Sometimes they tug at your heartstrings or appeal to fond, nostalgic memories. Sometimes they make you laugh so hard you’re crying, and sometimes they just leave you with a really pleasant feeling afterward. And still other times, they arouse feelings of frustration or anger, so you’re prompted to make a change or take action.
Animated videos for marketing don’t have to be focused solely on selling or informing audiences, they can appeal to audiences’ emotions and be really entertaining. Marketers can appeal to emotions by thinking about what drives their target market. Consider demographics like their age, interests, and what is most important to them. For example, a consumer looking to buy baby products might find heartwarming and pleasant content appealing, while a nonprofit looking to raise money to solve an issue in their community might try to appeal to feelings of frustration in an effort to get people to take action.
What makes animation effective?
Is there a correct formula for creating the most effective video? It should be informative and engaging, but the formula that works best may be different for every brand, depending on what you’re aiming to accomplish. Again, it’s important to consider who you’re targeting and where they are along their buying journey. Informative content can help raise their awareness at the beginning of their journey and keeping it fun can help to seal the deal and make your brand stand out when they’re looking to make a final decision.
Animated videos for marketing are particularly effective because many people are more likely to watch all of an animated video than a live-action one- especially those that simply show someone speaking on camera. Oftentimes, people will click on an animated video simply because it looks interesting. Would you be more likely to click on something bright and visually attractive, or a live-action video of a talking head?
Get their attention with animated videos for business
As more and more brands hop on social media, it’s getting harder to stand out from the crowd. So what’s the best way to get people to notice your brand? Animated videos for marketing are an appealing and engaging way that live-action video isn’t. If you’re faced with presenting your customers with data or information that may otherwise seem boring, animate it! Or maybe you have an idea that you want to bring to life that would be hard to accomplish with live-action video. Animation is a great way to create a beautiful world for your viewers to experience. Even if you’re only creating a short video, it’s relatively easy to make it look stunning.
Animation can grab viewers’ attention in a matter of seconds and keep them holding on while you give them the information they’re looking for. You can illustrate complex concepts in a few simple images, helping potential customers process information quickly and easily. Even if the product or service you’re marking isn’t the most exciting, your video doesn’t have to be full of talking heads.
Animated videos for marketing give you the chance to show off your unique branding and appeal to people’s emotions. From a psychological standpoint, animation makes you memorable. It makes it easy to tell a gripping story and appeal to feelings of nostalgia – we all used to watch cartoons as kids. When it comes down to it, animation is simply more fun.
In conclusion
The statistics clearly illustrate that more and more people are watching videos for both entertainment and information, and that trend will continue to grow in the coming years.
Consumers love visual content and it can give you a serious edge over your competition. If you’re ready to start creating animated videos for your company, contact us.
Gisteo is ready to put their years of experience to use helping you create affordable animated videos for marketing that will engage your audience, get people buzzing about what you have to say and boost your bottom-line.
