Sometimes trying to land a B2B message with the right audience can feel a bit like trying to throw a paper airplane in a hurricane. Despite all the careful planning, folding and aiming, the hurricane stops you ever reaching your target. And your messages must overcome a lot; competition, gate keepers, schedules, attention spans and complexity are just the top of a long list.
There are ways of overcoming these though and making it through the storm, and one that should be on every B2B marketer’s list is animated explainer videos. Animated explainer videos combine a unique set of qualities that make them the perfect way to land your messages in the right way, with the right people.
Explain complex ideas in a clear and simple way
An animated explainer video has a few tricks up its sleeve when it comes to making a complex and abstract idea easy to understand. The first trick is in the way it is illustrated. Instead of a literal representation, tools like visual metaphors allow you to make an idea much more accessible, familiar and memorable.
The next bit is where an animated explainer video really shines. Once you’ve illustrated an idea, you can easily connect it to other parts of the animation to give it added context and show how it relates to the bigger picture and other points. You can also layer information by adding to an illustration or metaphor throughout the run time of your animation, building its complexity gradually. And all of this is joined by onscreen text that adds extra clarity.
Make dry content entertaining and memorable
The visual thinking tools we’ve just mentioned have another important use. As well as making complex ideas simple, they can make dry content engaging. Not every idea or piece of information can be exciting, but just because a piece of information isn’t exciting doesn’t mean that it isn’t important.
Visual thinking in these cases has another role - making something that isn’t naturally engaging feel entertaining and memorable. A service, product or company policy may not sparkle like the red carpet of an awards ceremony, but the importance of it for a viewer or organisation can be as, if not more, crucial.
In these situations, a well-used reference, piece of humour or charming character can transform the impact of dry content. It’s an invaluable part of an animated explainer videos toolkit and means you can prepare your message in the ideal way, whatever it is.
Showcase your brand and values
It’s not always easy to capture the essence of your brand or what it stands for in a way that translate neatly to an audience, but an animated explainer video is packed with opportunities to do so. This is because every element of an animated explainer video is customisable, from the wording and tone in your script to your choice of illustrations and voiceover artist. This allows you to inject your essence throughout, without cutting down on the vital time your message has to engage a viewer.
Many of these elements are also great ways to elegantly share your values. It might be the illustrations and characters you choose or the way you use storytelling and narrative to connect your product with your purpose. Talking about your vision with an animated explainer company and their experienced will team will highlight just how many possibilities there are!
Harness the power of storytelling
We mentioned storytelling above and had to give it the full focus it deserves! Storytelling transforms comms and marketing, taking them to the next level. There is a simple reason for this, our brains are wired to receive and learn from stories. Paul Zac, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, states, 'stories that are personal and emotionally compelling engage more of the brain, and thus are better remembered, than simply stating a set of facts.'
Storytelling is a powerful way of holding attention, bringing a viewer into a message or narrative and making it memorable. Storytelling creates empathy and this has a big impact on the way we receive and retain information. But there is more to storytelling than just including a beginning, middle and end. The narrative structure you choose can improve the impact of your message, and a good pairing will take people on a journey which is relatable, engaging and informative.
There are classic narratives like ‘the hero’s journey’ and ‘overcoming the monster’, but when it comes to animated explainer videos, these four explainer narratives (explained here by Dummies.com) can be very helpful:
SHARES - Setting, Hindrance, Action, Results, Evaluation, and Suggested actions
PARLAS - Problem, Action, Result, Learning, Application, and Suggested actions
CHARQES - Context, Hindrance, Action, Results Quantified, Evaluation, and Suggested actions
CCARLS - Context, Challenge, Action, Result, Lesson, and Suggested actions
Explain your message fully and quickly
When you finally get through to the person you were aiming for, time is of the essence! You need to get your message across in a way that explains everything and leaves a lasting impact in as little time as possible. Luckily, animated explainer videos have your back. The multiple streams of information we mentioned in line with branding and purpose have a lot more potential. An animated explainer production company will have plenty of ideas about the best way to combine them.
By combining illustrations with animation, a voiceover and onscreen text, you can deliver a lot of information fast. Each stream is able to share the load, allowing your message to be shared quickly. This has an added benefit. As well as speed, this combination of information streams means you can deliver your headline message and the supporting information that adds depth and deeper understanding at the same time. Not only does your message land quickly, but it lands with the rich detail needed to really make your point.
Build a strong connection with your audience
One of the biggest benefits an animated explainer video brings is the ability to connect at a deeper level with your audience. You can place your audience at the heart of your animation and design - from the language and voiceover artist you use to the settings, illustrations, references, humour and characters you choose.
This brings two important strengths to your marketing and comms. It allows you to prime your animation and the message within it to be understood easily and quickly by viewers. It also allows you empathize with your audience, showing them in every element of your video that you understand their situation and their challenges, giving more weight to your solutions.
Revitalise old content
Content that gets it right can become a long-serving classic. It is that perfect combination of the right message in the right style, that appeals to the right people. Preferences and habits change however, and a blog post that has been going strong for several years can begin to lose reach and impact.
Animated explainer videos are an ideal way to revitalise and revamp this content. They can capture the original tone, content and style while adding fresh depth and dimensions of communication. They are also a very popular way of consuming information,Wyzowl found that 69% of the people they surveyed said they’d prefer to watch a short video when learning about a new product or service. Videos are also growing in popularity with senior executives, Forbes found that 75% of executives surveyed said they watch work-related videos on business-related websites at least weekly.
Animated explainer videos have what it takes to land your B2B comms and marketing. Their combination of creative freedom, visual thinking and storytelling allows you to tailor your animation exactly to your message and audience, fitting in important aspects of your brand and personality. No topic is too dry or too complex, and we have used animated explainer videos to show everything from the golf handicap system rules of golf to theories about black holes.
Democratising knowledge and sharing information are our passions and for all the reasons listed above, we have found that animated explainer videos are the perfect way to do this. There are many types of explainer video, and the type we focus on is whiteboard animation. We helped to pioneer whiteboard animation when we created the RSA Animates, which have had over 100,000,000 views.
We love using this approach for all manner of messages and stories, and would love to talk you about how whiteboard animation could supercharge your story. Book a discovery call today!
Not everything is better remote, as we’re sure anyone who has tried to deliver remote training sessions will agree. We’re happy to announce that there is a better way to deliver remote training: whiteboard explainer videos.