Most of our potential clients are fairly far along in ramping their video marketing program before they reach out to find the best animation or live action studio partner. They have a good sense of the animation look and style they want, and what the overall goal of their video program will be.
What’s interesting about this initial conversation is how good clients are at picking out the professional video from the DIY chaff. However, while it’s easy to spot quality, it’s tough to produce it. Professional explainer videos come at a premium, and one common objection to the price tag is that less-than-perfect videos, sometimes even from big name brands, are everywhere.
Guide: How Much Does An Explainer Video Cost?
What’s the harm in going the budget route to save money? The harm in making an amateur video is that you get amateur results — and customers notice.
Just like you, your potential customers instantly recognize a great video, or a crappy one, when they see it. Quality is self-evident, and when it comes to online video, you only have seconds to prove that you’re worth watching.
Your Video IS Your Brand
There’s a feeling that social media and “authenticity” has replaced professional explainer video production techniques. As we’ve written about before, authenticity has become a much more important factor when connecting with customers. According to a study from Stackla, 86 percent of consumers surveyed stated that authenticity was important when determining what brands they choose to support. On the flip side, only 57 percent of respondents thought that less than half of brands create content that is truly authentic.
The misconception here is that low-budget, i.e., videos with low production quality, directly translate into more “authentic” brand experiences. But an explainer video isn’t the same as quick social media hit from your brand’s evangelist that disappears from someone’s social media feed in 24 hours or less. Professional explainer videos are an investment in your brand, with the ability to yield long-term business outcomes, like improved SEO, better engagement, and more powerful conversions.
Ask An Expert: Tips For Infusing Brand Into Your Videos
If you’re making a long-term investment with the expectation for ongoing results, placing an emphasis on high production quality is worth it. A strong animated product video, for example, can help elevate your brand above your competitors by presenting your brand in a powerful way.
Say you’re a B2B software company that sells to enterprise companies. You want your video to reflect the level of sophistication needed to win the trust and appreciation of high-powered decisionmakers. Or, if you’re a major educational institution, for example, you’ll want to create a professional student recruitment video that showcases student life in an authentic way, while also establishing you as a reputable institution.
In this case, viewers won’t tolerate a bad video, even if it gets the gist across. In fact, they’ll judge you twice as harshly because they’ve seen what your competitors are doing, and just like you, they know quality when they see it.
A Verizon Digital Media Services survey of millennial audiences found that average viewing time fell by 77 percent when video quality dropped. On mobile devices, which is quickly surpassing desktop and other, more traditional viewership mediums, a third of audiences stopped watching a low-quality video altogether nearly half the time. You only have a few seconds to hook your viewers and stand out from the crowd — make them count.
Explainer Video: It’s Not A Passing Fad
A little over a decade ago, RSA-style whiteboard animation disrupted the way we make and watch online video. Most early explainer videos were simply about communicating information. People loved it back then, but today’s viewer demands more.
Explainer video can reach viewers in a number of ways, but only the good stuff can make a dent anymore. The bar has been raised. Slick new explainer videos are popping up online for companies in every industry across every sector, from HBO show openers (seen below), to the next new fitness app.
Professional Explainer Video
We’re in a new age of online content creation. Content matters. The right video can build a brand or launch a campaign, but the laws of branding still apply. Expertise matters, and quality shines through. If you present your product or service in a cheap way, that just tells people that you’re cheap. No one is fooled by a video like this:
Prospects know what looks good, just like you do. We see this struggle from the production side all the time. It’s tempting to go with cheaper, quicker options. But viewers won’t applaud your “authenticity” if the production quality doesn’t reflect the integrity of your brand. Professional video costs a little more, but your brand is your greatest asset. Invest in making it look as valuable and viable as possible.
