You’re not alone – most business owners neglect educational content in their video marketing strategies. However, that doesn’t make it right. In fact, that’s all wrong!

When done correctly, however, educational videos can bring new visitors, increase your visibility and maximize the effectiveness of your marketing. If you’re skeptical, you should try making one. Before you jump in, though, here are some considerations to make to ensure your final video is as close to a perfect educational video as it can be.

Fit Educational Videos Into a Larger Content Strategy

Just like any other marketing material out there, educational videos alone won’t bring you astonishing results. They are just a small part of a bigger strategy you’ll need to put in place to get what you want (more leads, more views, more engagement, or whatever goal you’re pursuing). So, you’ll need to learn what an educational video can and cannot give you.

The first thing an educational video can bring to the table is value for your audience. Since these videos aim to teach a certain topic, anyone watching them should learn something after they are done. Educational videos are all about providing information related to what you’re ultimately trying to sell, of course.

That doesn’t mean that educational videos are actually selling something. Instead, these videos are about sharing information that can subtly nudge the viewers into researching more about your brand and what it has to offer. You’ll have time for selling your brand with other types of content (like product videos, testimonial videos, company videos, recruiting videos, etc.). Try to make a sales pitch in an educational video and you’re doomed to fail – people aren’t watching these videos for that.

That’s why educational videos are great for the awareness stage of your buyer’s journey. They work when people don’t truly grasp the problem they are facing, let alone the solution they can use to solve it. Ideally, your educational videos will help people who have just found out about a particular pain point and are looking for more information to deal with it.

Your video will then provide them with said information and point them in the right direction. In the meantime, you’ll generate trust in your brand and make people curious about how you can further help them. Following up an educational video with other marketing content is key, because that’ll be the time to introduce your solution and turn to a more advertising tone. That’s the importance of a bigger marketing strategy.

Pick the Right Topic For Your Audience

Understanding the role of your educational video in your overall marketing strategy is just the start. Next, you’ll need to decide what to talk about. It might seem like a no-brainer at first – just talk about something essential to your industry and that’s that… Right? Wrong.

You’ll need to go deeper if your videos are to have any impact at all. Let’s say that you own a travel agency. A good educational video might be about tips on how to get around when visiting an unknown city. It addresses a pain point, it gets your brand out there, it’s valuable… Yet it is still too broad! 

Google says (and I strongly agree) that you shouldn’t be afraid to go niche when creating educational videos. Talk about specifics. Shoot a video about the challenges of traveling to a tiny Asian island or focused on avoiding being scammed when booking rides in a far away country or, like the video above, share the considerations someone should make when planning their gorilla trekking adventure. Niche? Yes, but interesting and helpful. People love concrete answers, not vague broad-stroked suggestions.

Now, of course that sounds a bit more challenging but it doesn’t have to be as long as you pay attention to your target audience. Research your competition, check the questions your intended audience posts in your competition’s social channels, and ask questions in your own profiles. In short, learn what’s troubling your audience and address those issues, no matter how small it feels.

Brand Your Videos Consistently

Again, educational videos aren’t the right place to go all ‘salesy’ on your audience. They are about providing valuable information while dropping enough hints for your audience to start making a subconscious connection of the information they are receiving with the people providing it (AKA your brand).

This is truly an art you’ll have to master. If you can’t balance your brand’s presence on your educational videos, you’ll end up with one of two possible outcomes. Either you make it so subtle that people fail to identify your company after watching the video, or you focus on your brand too much that it scares your audience away.

There isn’t a recipe for branding an educational video but there are some pointers for you. For instance, be sure you include your company’s colors and logo somewhere in there. Don’t make it too flashy, though – just make it look as if they were casually there while you were filming. Volvo does an excellent job of this in the above video.

You can also develop unique visual and audio elements to include. An animated character, a distinctive narrator, a set of exclusive icons or sounds, and any other thing you can come up with are perfect ways to stand out from the crowd.

Finally, don’t neglect the power of finding your own voice. That’s the main thing that people will pick up on. A funny presenter that explains things simply and with humor, a series of strangely accurate metaphors to illustrate an issue, a real-case scenario explanation… You get it. Find how you want to be perceived by your audience (funny, serious, helpful, creative) and be sure that the way you explain the problems in your educational videos always carries that tone.

Invest In the Best Possible Video

And I mean that in more ways than just money. Ok, sure, things will look a lot better if you have a high-quality camera, the right lighting, good mics, and the structure to mount it all. However, all of that can be rented or you can hire a production company to do that for you. What money can’t buy is what you should be focusing on as well.

First and foremost, there’s the necessary preparation for everything to go smoothly. On the production side, ensure you have all the materials you’ll need, the time to shoot and reshoot, the locations scouted and checked, and the necessary people available. Secondly, be prepared (yourself and everyone involved). If you’re going to be in front of the camera, then you have to be confident, humorous and natural. Funnily enough, all of those things come with practice.

There’s also the matter of the storyboard and script. You can understand the topic you’re about to talk about front and back, yet once the camera is on, you’ll find how quickly you can forget about everything. To prevent that from happening, relying on a storyboard and script is a must. You’ll have all the video mapped out, which will make it easier to edit and insert everything you need. You’ll also know what to say, when to say it and how to say it. 

Finally, invest in time. This also has a lot of aspects to remember. The most important one is that you have to take as much time as you need to get your video right (especially if you’re shooting your first one). You’ll also have to invest time in every phase of the video, from conceiving it to putting the final touches on it. The last one is a tricky one – Be sure to keep your audience’s time in mind. Don’t go for a long video if you don’t have to. People love short videos. Be concise and simple. Don’t overstay your welcome.

Promote Your Video As Much As You Can

That is, as long as you do so in the right channels. There are lots of ways in which you can use your educational videos to your benefit. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to use them all. In other words, devise a distribution plan that works for your brand and that ensures your videos find their audience. With that in mind, there are several things to consider.

For instance, educational videos work amazingly in YouTube, so having a channel to upload them there is a must. The most popular networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) also love these videos but they have specific languages and different audiences. That means that you should use only the social network that fits your marketing strategy and the one (or ones) in which you know you’ll find your audience. For instance, teens won’t be on Linkedin and professionals will rarely look for serious videos on Twitter.

Your email marketing, blogs with guest bloggers, and online forums and communities within your industry are also great places to distribute your educational videos. Knowing that all of those places already have the audience you look for is something of a guarantee, so you can bet that your videos will perform well there.

Of course, you can get creative with your promotion. You can use your educational videos in your booth at any event you attend, use them on television, put them on your website or whatever you can think of. A video (any video) is a powerful marketing tool that can work for you for a long time in the most varied contexts. Take advantage of that.

With all these things in mind, you’ll be closer to the perfect educational video for your brand. It won’t be an easy task and the whole process will require a lot from you but the results will be very rewarding, so much so that it will make you question why you’d never thought of educational videos for your video marketing strategy before. 

The post Four Steps Towards the Perfect Educational Video appeared first on SproutVideo.

How can you produce a high-quality animated video? Is it magic? Is it luck?

Of course not. There are many factors that need to be addressed to end up with an appealing and effective animated video. Also, many professionals are involved in every stage of the process.

From the pre-production and crafting of the creating brief, all the way to the storyboard, voiceovers and animation, this guide will show you the ins and outs of the entire process.

Here are the nine essential steps you need to take to make a high-quality animated video that communicates your brand’s message in an engaging way. Let’s take a look!

1. Pre-Production & Creative Brief

A high-quality 90-second-long explainer video takes about seven weeks to complete, and there are several key steps involved in making it.

Here’s a video overview of the process:

The first step is to create the creative brief, which is a document that sums up every important detail about your brand. This enables the video production company you’re working with to fully understand what you need and how to deliver it correctly.

This document should state how you want to position your brand in the market, who your competition is, and what your marketing goals are. To craft your own, answer the following questions:

• Why do you want to make an animated video? What are you trying to achieve?
• Which actions do you want your audience to take after they’ve seen your video?
• What message do you want them to remember long after they’ve watched it?

Other important details include stating the usual tone of your brand’s communications, your slogan, and the type of visuals that characterize your brand.

All of this will help the video production team fully understand your brand. Then, they’ll be able to create an animated video that truly speaks to your audience, and that works perfectly for your marketing goals.

2. Script

After you’ve wrapped up pre-production, it’s time to create the script for your video. The script is the heart and spine of a high-quality animated video. It’s really important to get it right.

A great script usually follows a classic script structure, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Each one of these three points should answer a simple question for your viewers: What? How? Why?

It goes like this.

• Beginning (What?): In the beginning, your script has to explain what your audience’s problem is. In this point, your story’s focus should be on your target audience. It’s not time to talk about your brand just yet.
• Middle (How?): Now you can start to talk about your company! Explain how with your products or services, your company is here to save the day.
• End (Why?): Now that your audience knows what the problem is and how they can solve it, it’s time to end by telling them why they should choose your company over others. Explain why your product is better than the competition’s, or truly unique.

Your script should be focused on your target audience and their needs, and include a call-to-action. For more pointers on writing a great script, read this article on the eleven secrets of storytelling.

3. Storyboard

The storyboard describes every action and every visual aspect of the video. It indicates the camera shots and angles, transitions, and actions of the video. This is another key piece of the puzzle, because the storyboard will determine how your video will be visualized before it is animated.

To create a storyboard, you need three main elements:

• Frames: The frames are still images that show what is going to be seen in a specific moment of the video. With these frames, you’ll be arranging the visual composition of the animated video.
• Descriptions: Under every frame, it’s necessary to add a description of what’s happening in that particular moment of the video. With this information, animators and illustrators will understand exactly what’s happening in every scene.
• Voiceover: Under these elements, there is a space reserved for voiceover speech, laying out the words said by the voice actor in every scene. This also serves to set the timing for these scenes.

Arrange all these elements in your storyboard, and you will have a complete map of your video. Here’s an example:

For additional guidance, here’s a detailed walk-through of creating a storyboard.

4. Styleframes

The creation of styleframes for your video allows you to visualize the true quality and style of the animation in your video.

The styleframes are high resolution still frames from your storyboard that will include end-quality characters and graphics, just like they will come out of the screen later. This will help you understand the real look and feel of your animated video.

It also works as a way to evaluate the process in advance. Because the illustration and animation processes are very extensive, it’s important to have this moment of evaluation of the video, in case there’s need for any changes or feedback.

All the necessary improvements or changes have to be made during this stage, because when the production process moves forward, it becomes harder, more expensive, and time-consuming to make any changes. So, the styleframe works as a way to avoid delays during the animation phase.

5. Voiceover

A voice has the power to determine the tone of a whole video. Will you choose a friendly voice? Or it will be better for your brand to use a charming tone instead?

It will also determine another very important thing: the final length of the recording will set the length of your animated video, as well as the rhythm of it.

So, because of its importance, you should keep in mind how crucial it is to select the correct video voiceover. Voiceovers expose the quality of your video. It’s not the same to have a voice note recorded on an iPhone, than to have a professional voice actor recorded in a studio with the right microphones.

And your viewers will tell — a high-quality voiceover is a big step in having a high-quality animated video.

So, your voiceover should be:

• A professional human being. Forget everything about artificial software voiceovers, unless you’re targeting your video to robots (and even if you are, only a good voice actor will give your video the right feeling and personality; so sorry, robots).
• A native speaker (from the country you’re targeting), which will help your audience feel more comfortable and receptive to your message.

For example, this is an animated video made specifically for a UK audience:

And this one is made for a US audience:

If you don’t quite have the budget for a professional voice actor, never fear. Use these cost-effective ways to produce a high quality voiceover instead.

6. Illustration

In this stage of the animated video production process, it’s time for the illustrators to shine. They will create every graphic element that will be in the final video, including characters, backgrounds, charts and typography.

Animating these illustrations comes at a later stage. For now, your professional illustrators are creating every graphic element, depending on the style of animation that you’re after (Whiteboard Video, Motion Graphics Video, Cartoon Animated Video, etc).

To get an idea of the different styles available, here is a brief video overview:

To achieve high-quality illustrations, my advice is the same as with the voiceover (and also every other stage of the process). Work with experienced, professional illustrators.

7. Animation

We’ve arrived! Welcome to the animation stage of the production process.

To say that animation is important would be an understatement. Of course it is important, because it’s in this stage when every graphic element and character will come to life.

Animation is actually the most work-intensive part of the process. It’s really demanding for the simple reason that it brings the characters to life. In this stage, your team of professional animators will take all the elements (illustration, voiceover, storyboard…) and import it to specialized animation programs.

Like with illustrators, there are many types of animators that specialize in different styles and aspects of the job. It’s important that you find the right professional team specialized in what you need.

8. Music and Sound-FX

After the animation process is done, and the voiceover is integrated, it’s time to add another layer of sound: music and sound effects. This is the final part of the process, and it’s what will make the difference between a dull video, and one that pops up and attracts people’s attention.

Background music adds an emotional effect to the story, and will reinforce the power of the message that you’re communicating.

9. The Wrap Up

Now that your animated marketing video is done, you’re ready to export the final cut, and share it. There are a lot of video formats, but MP4 is by far the most popular because it allows for small file sizes and high quality. In fact, SproutVideo recommends using this video format.

After you’ve exported your video in the desired format, you’re ready to share! Think back to your goals for this campaign. Where does it make sense to publish your video according to those goals?

• If you want to convert prospective buyers, your website is likely a great home for your video.
• If you want to gain more reach and brand exposure, social media might be your top choice.
• For informing existing customers, emails, blog posts, or presentations might be your best options.

Wherever you decide to share your video, it’s important to track its performance. That way, you will be able to improve your content over time because you’ll know what works best.

Summary

So, that’s how high-quality animated videos are produced! Remember: in order to meet all your marketing goals and fully address the needs of your audience, your video must be completely customized to your brand.

This is something to keep in mind for every step of the process. From the start, your creative brief should state your brand’s goals and your target audience. It should also list all the things that you’re trying to achieve with your animated marketing video. By focusing on these details at the beginning of the process, your video will be aligned with the rest of your brand’s communications.

By crafting your video specifically for your target audience, it will speak to your viewers on a personal level. As we have seen elsewhere, a personal connection is key to winning sales and repeat customers.

There you have it! Now you’re ready to produce the best animated videos for your brand! Questions? Please ask in the comments below.

The post How to Produce High-Quality Animated Videos for Business appeared first on SproutVideo.