In this video about content marketing using video, you’ll learn about what makes an explainer video good; in other words, how to make an effective explainer video. I will use the video I made for Suresoft Technologies as an example, and as kind of a case study. Hopefully, this helps you understand what is needed when creating effective video marketing content.
Everywhere you look online when it comes to marketing is all about Video. And this could be either pre-recorded videos or the latest thing, which is Live Video feeds. So what I wanted to talk about in this week’s post was what makes an explainer video good because explainer videos, or animated videos, are one of the most effective ways to talk about something in simple and engaging way.

What explainer videos are good for

As I just mentioned, explainer videos are effective in talking about something in a simple and engaging way. In particular, they are great for taking something complicated, breaking it down, and explaining whatever that is in a way that makes sense and is easy to understand, and also memorable.

Explainer videos are also great because they don’t date

What I mean is that compared to a live video with a real person, an explainer video can be used over a much longer period of time. The reason is that from year-to-year, people look different, hairstyles and fashion change, so you don’t necessarily want to remake your live videos every single year. And if somebody in your company moves on, and they are in your video, you’re kind of screwed because you need to update the video without that person. That can get expensive if you need to hire somebody like myself to make your videos.

Of course, I’m not bashing Live Video’s because there is definitely a place for those types of videos, and I’m very happy to make those for my clients. I’ll talk more about live videos in another post but this week, I wanted to talk about what happened with the explainer video I made for Suresoft Technologies.

They wanted just the facts and I said no

Most IT companies tend to believe that they only need to present what they do and how they do it to get their audience to take the next step. However, we have to remember that your audience is made up of people, and people want to be entertained or engaged by your video. That’s why when sure soft technologies wanted something more fact-based and technical, I argued against it. Thankfully, they trusted my opinion.

The focus should be on them

When we made this explainer video, the client wanted a general video that would be used for all of the industries they work with. But I suggested a targeted video for a specific audience because the video needs to let the viewer know that your company and your products and services are made for them.

This means that your video must speak to your audience, and it must be in the language that your audience understands.

The result was gratifying

Suresoft was still somewhat apprehensive or skeptical as the video was being made. Part of the reason was that they had never made anything like this and they were used to a much more conservative and traditional approach to sales and marketing. Plus, they were on an extremely tight deadline and the video was going to be shown to the big car manufacturers out there in Detroit. So there was a lot riding on this video.

But once the video was shown, all of their apprehension and concern turned to confidence because the audience was engaged from the outset. Once the video was finished, the audience wanted to learn more and had a lot of questions related to how Suresoft could help them. Basically, the video got the conversation going in the right direction. And this is something that hadn’t happened to Suresoft in the past.

Here’s what Richard from Suresoft had to say:

When we contacted Carl about getting a video made, we were unsure if Carl could help us explain what we do. Our company specializes in software verification and validation for major industries like automotive, nuclear power and telecommunications. Critical but slightly dry topic. We had our own ideas about how to structure the video, but Carl suggested a different approach.

The video he made completely surpassed our expectations and helps our customers understand exactly what we do in an engaging and entertaining way. The video gets customers talking and asking questions during our sales presentations, which has been a huge win for us. The video creates a great first impression and helps our sales people have conversations, rather than just simply pitching.

Carl has a talent for understanding business objectives, communicating ideas and identifying core messages. Combined with his voiceover and video production skills, he offers a unique and valuable service. He is also very easy to work with and was always fast in responding to emails. We wholeheartedly recommend Carl and look forward to establishing a long term relationship with him.

Check out the Suresoft Technologies video

Time to talk?

If you’re looking to get into video content marketing or you’re doing it but want to up your game, let me know and let’s see how we can work together.