Explanatory Videos.com

Case Study | The Cancer Research Institute

2012-07-21T14:22:00.002-07:00

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) asked us to make an info-graphic that "Explains" how Cancer Immunotherapy is changing the way we treat cancer. Did you know our own immune systems are capable of killing cancer wherever it is in the body? In many healthy adults , the immune system does this naturally. Check the info-graphic and let us know what you think?

www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

Get LinkedIn With Us

2012-07-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting our LinkedIn site going...

For those of you who don't know, Explanatory Videos is one of the newest competitors in an expanding market. We promote our clients' business and make it easily understandable by means of exciting yet concise web-based videos.

We're now on LinkedIn so help us network and follow us by using the link below!

http://www.linkedin.com/company/explanatoryvideos-com?trk=tabs_biz_home

Video Marketing Secrets – 3 Essential Elements of a Successful Explainer Video

2012-06-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

If you are thinking of having an explainer video produced, you want to make sure your investment does more than just play, it needs to do serious business.

So what separates the winners from the losers? After a long time of working on these projects I've seen that all truly successful explainer videos have a:

1. Clear and Concise Script
2. Professional Voice Over
3. Prominent Position in Webpage Layout

Notice there is no mention of "quality animation" anywhere in that list. It's not that the animation quality isn't important, because quite frankly, it is. Trouble is, animation is very much an artistic element and like all art, different styles appeal to different people.

An animation style that you love may seem mediocre to your clients.

"As long as the animation looks professional, helps add meaning

to spoken elements and fits in with your branding, it is really

only eye-candy."

Therefore, as long as the animation looks professional, helps add meaning to spoken elements and fits in with your branding, it is really only eye-candy.

Bottom line is, if the underlying message is clear, concise and properly presented, even those who aren't wow-ed by the animation will find value in your video.

The first step in achieving this is to have a:

Clear and Concise Script

The script of an explainer video is hands-down, without doubt, socks off the most important element of the project. It is the beating heart of the project and the single most important factor to your video marketing success.

With that in mind: Use a professional script writer to produce your script!

This doesn't mean you shouldn't be involved in the process, but it is much more likely that an outside perspective of your product / service / message will produce a script that strikes a chord with first time viewers of your video.

If a company offers a professional script writing service, use it. This way they can use their expertise to produce an effective product from the ground up.

Remember, the message is key, everything else is eye-candy!

Of course, once you have a clear message and motivating call to action, the next piece of the puzzle is to make sure you use a:

Professional Voice-Over

Not all voices are created equal, and the truth is, most of us don't have the skills required to narrate a video effectively.

"Professional voice talent is not expensive, and a
small investment here can make a huge difference
to the final outcome of your video."

A professional voice artist can bring your message to life, inspire confidence in listeners and ensure the key details of your video are easily remembered.

Even better, there is an enormous variety of voice-talent to choose from which allows you to easily find a voice that matches your brand.

You wouldn't accept un-professional animation in your video, therefore, isn't the voice which conveys your message of ever greater importance?

Professional voice talent is not a expensive, and a small investment here can make a huge difference to the final outcome of your video.

Prominent Position in Webpage Layout

Once the script, voice-over and animation are complete, your video is bursting with marketing potential. But in order for it to have the effect you hope for, it is vital that visitors to your website, blog or social media channel are able to find it in the first place.

Therefore, don't make people work to find your video. Make sure a visitor can see it when they land on your site without having to scroll down or navigate to another page. Make the video big, make it prominent, give it a big idiot-proof play button!

"Don't make people work to find your video. Make the video big, make it

prominent, give it a big idiot-proof play button!"

For even greater effect, place some sort of call to action button near the video. That way, once someone has watched it, you make it easy for them to take the next step.

Videos work so well because they are engaging and convenient. Don't fall at the final hurdle by making visitors work to find your video or making it difficult to obey the call to action.

Of course, these three elements are not the only things which dictate the success or failure of an explainer video, but I guarantee that if they are missing, things just won't go how you want!

Kenny Simpson is a Creative Producer at ExplanatoryVideos.com

If you would like to have an explainer video produced and would like more information, click here to drop us a line and get a FREE CONSULTATION and QUOTE.

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How to Use Video in Email - An Easy Step-by-Step Guide.

2012-06-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

If you have ever tried to get these two super-powers of marketing to work together, you may have come across a common problem: it can be a total nightmare.

That said, the gain is definitely worth the pain, as the following stats from the "Web Video Marketing Council" demonstrate:

A vast majority of senior marketing executives—88%—report that email with integrated video improves campaign performance.

A smaller, though still sizable, majority of 76% say these campaigns generate high click-through rates.

Finally, 72% say "prospects are more likely to make a purchase or take other desired actions after viewing video content sent via email."

-Web Video Marketing Council

So how do you do it?

Frankly, there are a lot of different options for using video in email, but if you're looking for the quick, easy and reliable option, trust me when I say the instructions below are for you:

Instructions

Step 1) Go to YouTube.com and upload your video. You will need to sign in, don't worry it's all free. (see Image 1)

Image 1.

Step 2) Once your video is uploaded, go to it's page on YouTube. Now capture the screen image by pressing: "Ctrl + Prt Scr". (see Image 2)

Image 2.

Step 3) Open the "Paint" program in Windows. Once it's open, paste your screen image by pressing: "Ctrl + V". (see image 3.)

Image 3.

Step 4) Your captured screen image should appear in the program. click and hold the left mouse button to move the image around. Once you have the video in view, you want to click the "selection" tool and drag a box around your video image.

Image 4.

Step 5) With your video selected, click "crop".

Image 5.

Step 6) Now click the "Resize" button. A window will pop up with some resize options. Select "Resize by Pixels" and make sure the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" checkbox is selected. For use in email footers give the image a horizontal size of 175 pixels, use a larger size if you are going to use the image in the email body. Click OK.

Image 6.

Step 7) Download the following "Play_Button" image by clicking the following link, left click on the image and select "Save Image as...":

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/qk_b5KVgY6eIS3v1dRWr39a6UUbgr-0NtbxSuVvHwDAkNlgzG4XTU-Cov533lrzXG2x2ywxSY8k

Once downloaded, select "Paste from..." in Paint and select the "Play_Button" file. Drag the graphic into the center of your video image. (Tip: If you put the graphic in the wrong place, just undo the move by pressing "Ctrl + Z")

Image 7.

Step 8) Save the image. Give it a name and select "JPEG" from the "save as type".

Image 8.

Step 9) Open your email client and compose a new email. Paste the image you created into the email. Select the image and add a hyperlink which links to the YouTube page your video is hosted on. (Tip: Don't forget to add "alternate text" which will be displayed even if your image is blocked).

Image 9.

Step 10) Send your email! You can also paste the image and hyperlink into your email footer meaning every email you send is promoting your video.

Image 10.

www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

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How to Create a Explainer Video for Your Startup

2012-06-24T08:38:00.001-07:00

This article focuses on the creation of live screen capture videos of someone demoing the website, but I think a lot of this same methodology can go into creating any sort of introductory video a company uses to explain their site. The first step, as with any project, is to plan, and the first questions you need to ask yourself before you even start to storyboard include "What do we want to accomplish with this video?" and "How detailed do we want to get?"

Once you figure out the content, length, tone, and medium of your video, then move on to storyboarding. Storyboarding is an important step in creative processes such as these because it is much easier to visualize the end product before putting any real technical effort in. Filmmakers don't just storyboard as a way to outline their plot, they use it to do early edits to the film before wasting any time shooting stuff that will never make it past the cutting room.

www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

By getting a storyboard of your production down, you may realize it's too long, too boring or not informative enough; you can determine these flaws by showing the storyboard to anyone unfamiliar with your product and then use their feedback to make alterations.

"The more detail in your storyboards, the easier the editing stage will be," writes Stu Green, author of the post on Webdesigner Depot. "Your storyboard will help you stay organized throughout the whole process, and if you ever get lost while producing the video, the storyboard will get you back on track."

If you plan on doing a straight screen-capture demo, don't just wing it; make sure you script out what you're going to say as you demo the site. Additionally, spend a few extra bucks on a nice microphone to record your voice - quality audio goes a long way in video production.

There is a healthy list of options for software to record you screen-capture videos with, including Screenium, Jing, CamStudio, iShowU and Captivate. One nice option that I find is overlooked these days is the screen capture abilities included with the standard version of Quicktime on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. For a low budget product, Quicktime can get the job done, but if you wan't something a little more pro looking, one of the aforementioned applications will help also.

Videos such as these can go a long way in helping to rope in new visitors to your site. These can also be useful for an early stage company looking for a quick and unique way to explain their concept to potential investors. However, if your looking for something much more profesional have us work on your next explainer video at www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

What are the Different Types of Explainer Videos?

2012-06-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

1.   Start-up Videos
Every Start-up business needs an effective marketing strategy to get their name in the public eye and start getting clients. A well produced video is an effective tool to introduce your business to your target market. Placed on your website, it increases conversion rates since people are more inclined to watch a video that meddle through loads of text.

2.   Product or Service Demonstrations
Its not easy trying to explain a complex and technical service. It takes a lot of skill to clearly communicate your idea so your customers can understand. Companies pay consultants thousands and even millions help them explain what they do. We are a new breed of storytellers that bring simplicity and effectiveness to your communication needs. What used to cost tons of cash and take months achieve, can now be done at a fraction of the cost in less time.

3.   Educational Videos
As kids we first learnt to communicate through gestures and visuals. Visual Communication is an effective medium in educating students, employees, managers or people in general. We need education but it can be boring at times. Our videos get people excited about learning again.

4.   Story Telling Videos
We believe every business has a story to tell. The benefits you offer and what makes you unique needs to be explained clearly to convince people to buy from you. If you’re not clear about this aspect of your business you’ll always underperform even if you’re the best at what you do.
We can help you tell your story in a practical and believable way.

5.   Training Videos
A well-trained team is one of the most essential elements to the success of any organisation. We can create training videos that are engaging and effective in equipping your team with the information they need. If your training video is boring, people wont pay attention and will easily forget what’s being said. This can be a waste of valuable resources and time, as you will have to constantly train or replace your team. You can save time and money when you get an effective training video from us.

6.   Presentation Videos
To make a great presentation you need good communication skills. We all know how nerve-racking it is to stand in front of people to present you idea. We can take away the fear of making presentations by creating videos that can do the job for you. When you use a video you don’t even have to worry about making mistakes or fumbling your words. How cool is that?

Four simple steps to make your Explanatory Video

2012-06-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

We learn

An ExplanatoryVideos.com producer will conduct a free consultation and ask you key questions about your business to discover your message and the meaningful details about how you want it communicated to your audience.

We Script

Our creative team of writers and graphic designers takes your message and creates an entertaining script and storyboard that explains all of your key points that after your approval will appear in the final video.

We animate

Once you approve the script we go to work illustrating your business your customers and all of the situations needed to tell your story, with music, sound effects, and voiceover. A creative director makes sure that your video is clear and focused on your product, service, or concept throughout the iterative process.

We Deliver

After putting the finishing touches on the video and making sure all the elements look and sound great, we present the finished explanatory video to you for a final review. If everything meets your requirements we deliver your video in the format of your choice, ready for your audience to enjoy.

www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

What are the different types of Explainer Videos?

2012-05-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

5 Reasons to use video on your website

2012-05-08T04:34:00.001-07:00

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last year, you will have noticed the huge growth of video on websites and blogs. Online marketing videos are not the future, they are now! So let's take a look at why you should be creating cheap and simple online marketing videos to promote your business, services or products.

To Get Your Message Viewed
It seems that the average person on the web has the attention span of a goldfish. Write more than a paragraph or two and it looks like 'work' to read. Video on the other hand is quick and easy to watch and is seen as entertainment, not effort.
As long as your video is compelling and tuned in to your viewers needs or problems, you have a potential customers full attention. But stray from this for just a moment and your viewer becomes bored and will click away.

To Be Seen As A Leader
When you create a video you are automatically seen as an expert in your field. This gives extra credibility to your business as you become the 'go to guy' with the answers to your industries problems.
However, this does mean that you have to put some useful information in your videos, not just a 'Buy My Stuff' message.

To Educate Your Viewers
By its very nature, video is a visual medium. So it is much easier for your customers to watch a short tutorial video than it is to read through a heavy technical manual just to understand a simple point or technique. This method alone can slash your customer support costs.

To Create Trust
Customers are untrusting, cynical creatures! They can smell a sales pitch from a hundred yards and click away at the merest whiff of hype. But by putting your message on video you have the opportunity to let your customers see your face rather than your company.
People do not do business with companies; they only spend their hard earned cash with people they trust. And the best way to build trust is to answer their concerns honestly, without hype or spin, and instead of trying to sell them, make it easy for them to buy.

Easy Access To Your Audience
To make the largest profits from the least expense in any business, you need to find a hungry crowd and set up your stall in front of it. By listing your online videos on sites such as Youtube or Google Video and with smart use of relevant keyword tags you have access to a huge audience.
It has never been easier or cheaper to create effective online marketing videos to promote your business, church or non-profit organisation. With just a little thought and effort, you could be reaping the benefits of online video marketing without spending a fortune.

Get started with your video today at www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

How much is a Explanatory Video?

2012-04-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

The typical animated promo video here at Explanatory Videos.com will cost anywhere from $3.5K to $5K per minute of animation. Much larger animation studios charge anywhere from $9K to $15K only to produce a one minute animation. Why the large price difference?
It’s simple, the larger studios have much more over-head expenses. Because we are small studio we can pass those savings on to our customers. Also it’s a big advantage to our clients. First, we give all our attention to your animation. Second, after we understand what product or service you want to explain we feel like it’s OUR product or service also. So we are going to our best to get the idea and word out about your business. And third, we don’t want to become a huge business, pumping out 200 videos a month, we’re perfectly happy with giving 110% to each and every video we work on.

Go ahead check out the competitor’s. When you decide A) You don’t want to spend ten thousand dollars, or B) You don’t want to spend five hundred dollars for a video that is just cheap clip art with audio, you’ll come back to us. Don’t worry we won’t hold it against you. :)

Visit us at www.ExplanatoryVideos.com

Why Explainer or Overview Videos Work

2012-04-08T09:18:00.003-07:00

Given how effective video overviews are at introducing products without the expense of large media buys, we expect that soon these overview videos will be as ubiquitous as corporate Twitter accounts.

ExplanatoryVideos.com

What is this thing we’re calling the “overview” or "Explanatory Video", anyway? We think of it as a kind of elevator pitch, elaborated. Not only does it describe your product, but it also encapsulates the bigger idea of what your company is trying to achieve. This type of video focuses primarily on explaining the whats, whys, and hows of your product in a concise and engaging form, tailored to your target audience. It’s a fantastic mechanism for spreading your word across multiple audiences – tech bloggers, customers, financial stakeholders – anyone who needs to “get it” immediately.

What is it about these videos that makes them so compelling?
1. Better conversion rates. At ExplanatoryVideos.com many of our customers have a much higher ROI.
2. Allows users to vicariously taste your product, without having to sign up first. Demos allow the user to be the passenger while you test drive your product for them.
3. Increased likelihood that your product will be covered by the media.
4. Increased likelihood that the media will cover your product in your own words.
5. Opens up the pool of potential users. About 70% of the population say that they learn better with a multi-sensory approach – one that uses a combination of text, motion, and sound in introducing new concepts. There is also a significant subset of the population that won’t bother reading text beyond headers and simple paragraphs. By including a video on your site, you are tapping into these users who would be hard to reach otherwise.
6. Your best elevator pitch told consistently, ad infinitum. Having an overview video is like getting your A team in the same elevator every time.
7. Increased audience engagement. Just the process of clicking the “Play” button alone implies a certain amount of deliberate attention, that your brain is engaged, and ready to directly take in the information that will follow.
8. Better search results. Creating a video, particularly if it is added to Youtube, is about discovery. Supplementing your text with video helps you improve organic Google search results.
9. Invites sharing by your users. Making an overview isn’t about creating the next “viral” phenomenon – it’s about helping users understand what your product is about, and why it is important to them. And because the current web environment makes it so easy to share videos via social networks and other media, a video is a great tool for your hardcore fans to evangelize your product and do your marketing for you. A video can easily shown to customers, employees, tech bloggers, financial stakeholders – anyone who needs to “get it” immediately – and has a useful life well beyond your home page (though these side benefits can be harder to quantify).
10. Relative affordability. The cost of creating and distributing an overview video is much lower than an ad campaign with media buys, often by several orders of magnitude, and can be created professionally in a range of several hundreds to several thousands of dollars. And though that may sound like a lot for a startup, a video can quickly pay for itself it by making it that much easier to pitch your company to potential investors and customers.
With that in mind, suppose you want to create an overview video for your next product launch or round of funding. Here are five things we stress when working with our clients, learned from producing literally thousands of videos for tech companies of all shapes and sizes.
1. Prioritize your messages.
The biggest mistake companies make is trying to say too much with their videos. They want to describe several possible use cases, do a full walkthrough of the product, list the benefits of their solution, and build it all into a “viral” storyline. Most videos that try to do everything end up accomplishing much less than a laser-focused video.
The most important reason to prioritize the messages and keep things concise is that it’s common to see a precipitous dropoff in viewership around the 90 second mark. One common recommendation we make is to avoid a full walkthrough of the user interface, and instead choose to show enough highlights for the user to get started. Your interface will most likely change, and besides, if your product is well-designed, why describe every feature if users can figure it out on their own? Just give them enough to get it and get started.
2. Pick your audience and stick with it.
The most common request we get is to create something that is “funny and engaging, like (insert x company here)’s” video. The problem is that the video needs to be appropriate to your target audience. For example, if your company is trying to enter an enterprise or financial space, your tone may need to convey the idea that you can handle sensitive information seriously.
Though this may seem obvious, most people come to us after they have an idea for a video, without consideration of the audience at hand. Making an overview isn’t about creating the next “viral” phenomenon – it’s about helping users understand what your product is about, and why its important to them.

3. Tell viewers what to do.
Most web companies will want their users to sign-up, download, or start using your product immediately after watching their videos. We’ve found that explicitly telling a user what to do with a call-to-action at the end of the video is more effective than letting them figure out how to proceed – even if the next step seems fairly obvious. If you want the user to download your product, tell them where they can download it, and make sure there is a nice “Download” button nearby.
4. Feature the video prominently.
The video isn’t very useful if people can’t find it. Don’t hide it behind a text link – feature it on a home banner, with a nice thumbnail still of the video behind an inviting “Play” button. If your video has a person in it, you may want to consider making that your poster image – we have some evidence that poster images of people are more likely to be clicked on than other images.
5. The quality of the production matters.
Viewers need to be able to follow what you’re doing, especially when screenshots can be hard to read in web resolutions. You need crisp editing, with close-ups where appropriate, and good quality audio. Most importantly, the words need to be written specifically for video – marketing blurbs often lead to sentences that are awkward when read aloud.
A sub-par production that lacks clarity and attention to detail can reflect poorly on your company or product.
So when in doubt, hire out. That’s why companies like ours exist.
Once you have a video, the first measures of success is to show it so someone in your target market who has never heard of your company or product before, and ask them to summarize what you do after they see the video. If they get it, the video will probably treat you well.

So contact us today at ExplanatoryVideos.com and we will get started on your video today!

Animated Video for your Website

2012-04-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

Video on the web is a hot trend on the Internet today.
Not just pure video for entertainment such us cute kitty videos or fart videos, but promotional videos as well.
In fact, almost every website in this world can benefit from a short concise explanatory video.
A lot of people create their own demo videos but the problem is that most of the time these videos are either too long or too boring.

ExplanatoryVideos.com

Recording your voice and computer screen for 5 minutes going over your website features may seem like a cost effective way of having a video, but unless you really know what you are doing, you will most likely end up with a glorified power point presentation that nobody will want to watch.
A demo video can only really help if it is well done, has a very clear message, is short, and entertaining at the same time.
There are three main benefits that a good explanatory video can provide.
A good demo video will help you:

Increase Sales: your site's landing page is your first and only chance to give your visitors a good impression about your product.
9 out of 10 times your visitors will rather sit though a short 1-1.5 mins fun explanatory video than reading through all the text on your page. The reason is very simple, people don't have the time or patience to decipher your value proposition.
Both text and images are passive elements that need to be interpreted before making a purchasing decision.
If an image is worth a thousand words, a good video is worth a thousand images.
The chances of your visitors converting into customers will dramatically increase if you can get their attention with a video.
It just makes sense, a video provides more information with less work required from your visitors and we all know everyone likes to take the path of least resistance.

Create Product Awareness: the advantage of video on the Internet is that video is inherently very social network friendly. Links to websites are like fliers and junkmail. To understand the product your prospect client has to click on the link, be redirected to your site and then learn about your product.
Video can be watched right within most social networks. In both Facebook and Twitter, the moment you paste a link to a YouTube or Vimeo video anyone can immediatelly play it back within the same window.
This is very convenient and again, convenient is what you want to make your products feel like.
Because videos are so easy to share and experience both on the web and on mobile devices creating an audience is a lot easier than with plain websites. Also, a great video can become viral and suddenly reach millions of people within a few weeks.
When was the last time you heard of a viral website?

Create an experience instead of another task: a good video will provide a entertaining experience with a strong call to action at the end.
Text and images by themselves are not as fun to experience as a cute video with an engaging story behind.
People love stories, a video should tell a story, a good one, a realistic one, in a fun way.
Creating an effective yet fun animated video is an art in itself. If you have the time and skill to tell a great story in video you should go ahead an produce your own videos. But if you don't have the time or patience to do it yourself then it is time to look for help.

Check us out at www.ExplanatoryVideos.com and we will help you out!

Explanatory Videos for your Website

2012-04-06T15:16:00.001-07:00

ExplanatoryVideos.com

Hello and welcome to the new Explanatory Videos Blog Post. We are the creators of explainer videos, overview videos, animated videos for your home page, and any other name there is. But we prefer to call these videos what they are. They are Explanatory videos. Or animated videos that explain (explainer) your business or service.
Find out more at www.ExplanatoryVideos.com