Let’s start from the beginning, what exactly is an explainer video? Typically, they are short animated videos that are used to explain your business’s product or service. Explainer videos take your ideas and simplify them into engaging and understandable concepts.
Your explainer video should make your audience understand why they need your service or product in their lives. This comes down to the length of your video and if it grabs the attention of your audience from the beginning. In a time before YouTube and social networks, having a long explainer video was the right marketing tactic because it showed that your company had the financial means to create it. Also, the success of an explainer video used to be measured on how long one’s video was not based on audience reach or the actual purchase of your product or service.
In today’s marketing world your company is competing with various media channels that create a lot of media noise. So, it has become a lot harder to create a video that is able to grab the attention of your audience. With all that’s going on in the media, you want your explainer video to be short and concise but still effective. However, the length of your Explainer video will be based on your videos goals, audience, statistics, screening location and script length.
Here at White Animation, we recommend about a 60 second to 90 second video with an estimated 150 words per a minute. You want your key message to be addressed around the first 30 seconds in the instance that someone doesn’t watch your video all the way through. By creating a short video you can then edit it into different versions for your various media outlets. For example, you can turn your 90 second video into a short promo video for your Instagram or Twitter account. In some instances, your video might be longer than 90 seconds, which is still OK! Usually, if your product or service is complex or has features that need more time to explain your video ends up being longer. These types of videos are usually shown at conferences or if one is teaching a course.
Overall, explainer videos are a great marketing tool to use if your company’s product or service is complicated to understand. It’s important to remember the shorter the video the better, but it’s still OK if your video exceeds the recommended time. Whether your video is 60 seconds, 90 seconds or more try to aim your key message towards the beginning of your video so if you lose your audience, they still understand what your product/service is about. If you have any questions regarding explainer videos, don’t hesitate to contact us!