If you’re thinking about creating or outsourcing a
Whiteboard Animation video to promote your business, this article covers the 5 most important questions you should ask in order to ensure that you get the best results.
At fuzzmark we specialize in producing powerful whiteboard animations that help a large variety of businesses around the world attract more customers and sell more online. Here’s a video that we created explaining why more and more businesses are using whiteboard animations successfully:
1. Why use
animated whiteboard videos for my business?
If worldwide marketing stats are anything to go by, video clearly stands out as a winner when it comes to effective advertising media.
Comscore, the benchmark of digital analytics data on the Internet, said that 85% of the Internet audience in the U.S. watches online videos regularly. Considering that the average length of an Internet video is 6.4 minutes, the stats show that people are simply patient when it comes to video. This is further evidenced by the fact that roughly 2% of all the time spent watching videos online was time spent watching video ads.
There is a subset of video marketing that is even more popular than the average videos performance on the internet, when it comes to marketing effectiveness – animated whiteboard videos. Statistics reveal that whiteboard videos, otherwise known as doodle videos, have the mesmerizing ability to almost double the average viewing time of an ordinary video.
How? Simple – the action of the hand drawing the cartoon images entrances the viewer. They want to see each completed image, and are being entertained whilst listening to your marketing message.
Therefore, they are much more likely to watch your video to the end and then take your call to action.
Animated whiteboard videos are a fairly new concept in the world of online marketing, and 95% of internet businesses are still not exposed to it, meaning that you have a huge head start!
2. Should I outsource my animated whiteboard videos or should I create one myself?
The first thing you have to decide on, when creating an animated whiteboard video, is to decide if you are going to do it yourself, or if you are going to outsource it. And if you are going to outsource it, who should you choose?
It takes a lot of effort to create high-quality cartoons. At fuzzmark, it can take one of our cartoonists up to a week to draw the images just for a 3-minute video. This is why there are many small whiteboard video production companies who just use stock images for their videos.
The problem with stock images is that, as well as looking poor quality, there is the risk that your video will look just like everyone else’s, which increases the risk of people clicking away part-way through your video.
If you do outsource your video, make sure that you use a company who uses only professional cartoonists, who can realise your vision in cartoon form.
If you are a skilled cartoonist, you can either film yourself drawing the various images, and then use video editing software to speed up the video. Or there is software available which simulates the drawing of the images with a variable speed setting.
However, it’s important to note that the drawing of the images is only one aspect of an animated whiteboard video. You will still need a professional voice over artist (with optional high-quality background music), a video editor, and a copywriter to write a script that compels the viewer to take action.
Unfortunately, many animated whiteboard videos are created by cartoonists who have little copywriting experience. These videos end up being a showcase for the artist’s work, rather than for your business, with little impact on sales conversion rates because the viewer is not being compelled to find out more about your business or to buy from you. This can be a false economy.
Outsourcing the work to a professional animated whiteboard video production company makes a lot more sense. A great doodle animated video can take hours and hours to complete. For example, every minute of our animated whiteboard videos takes at least 15 hours to create, taking into consideration the customer consultation, scriptwriting, storyboarding, cartooning, voiceover and video editing.
Instead of getting embroiled in the time consuming production of an animated whiteboard video, you can outsource the video and leave it to professionals like us. This is what we at fuzzmark do for a living. We have expert cartoonists, skilled copywriters, and professional voiceover artists. We also edit everything together perfectly, giving you a memorable animated whiteboard video that will do wonders for your business.
3. What script should I use for my animated whiteboard videos?
We can write a whiteboard animation script for your business that’s a lot better than the scripts that these guys use!
Whether you are creating the explainer video yourself or whether you are having a company like fuzzmark do it for you, you must come up with a great idea for a story. Our copywriters can write a script based on your business needs and message, which we create following an initial consultation with you.
We use 2 different types of script – information-based, and story-based.
Let’s say you run an employment agency, helping companies find skilled office workers. You could use an information-based video talking about the process you use to find the right people for work. Or, alternatively, you could present this in a story format.
Your story could begin by showing the owner of an insurance brokerage that wants to grow their business but is struggling to hire someone suitable to assist customers.
Your video could show how people are getting tired of waiting to be served at busy periods, so end up going to a competitor in the same street, and the owner is spending more time assisting customers than managing the business, with their paperwork piling up.
The manager approaches your company for help. The video would then show how your company follows proven procedures to swiftly find a suitable customer service assistant in your well-connected network. It will then present the transformation that has taken place at the brokerage, with clients being served professionally in record time, the company profits skyrocketing, and the manager and his new employee looking very happy.
A good story is one that ends with happy and fulfilled customers, and it is guaranteed to better sell your product or service than a list of facts and figures. Make the story of your customers as interesting as it can possibly be. Think of the last time you provided exemplary service to a customer. What was their problem and how did you fix it?
When you create a whiteboard video with a real story behind it, with characters that exist in real life, it will automatically have so much more pull with your target customers.
4. How long should my animated whiteboard video be?
This will of course depend on the nature of your business and the product being sold. If you have a simple, well-known, business model, your video will not need to be as long as if you were launching a new, ground-breaking business.
It’s often said that the video has to be as long as it takes to get the job done, whether that’s to ask someone to opt into your email list, call you for a free consultation, or even sell a product worth hundreds or even thousands. Some whiteboard videos last up to an hour to achieve such sales.
If you are in a complicated niche, you can get away with even a 10 minute long video, as long as the story is compelling, and both entertains and educates.
As a general norm however, 1 to 3 minute videos are the most common and work great, especially when used as an ice-breaker to give the viewers enough information about you and your business for them to want to find out more. That’s why our packages are based around 1, 2 and 3 minute lengths, although we can do whiteboard videos that last much longer.
5. Where do I display my animated whiteboard video?
Mazuma Mobile displayed our whiteboard videos not their homepage, but on the ‘confirm order’ page – the page most likely to increase conversions.
Our advice would be to showcase your video it in the best possible position on your website to improve conversions. This may not be on your homepage, but may be on the ‘confirm order’ page once a price has been quoted, because that may be the page where more of your customers are then checking your competitors’ prices.
To find our more about how we at fuzzmark create
powerful animated marketing videos for businesses, click link below:
Even if you have strong call to action buttons that earn you a decent conversion, just try putting a whiteboard video next to the call to action button, ending with an arrow pointing to it, and see your conversion rate double!
You can also post the video on You Tube, and send out links to it via your social media accounts, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Educated prospects are much more likely to become lifelong customers. Animated whiteboard videos are the best way to educate that customer who approaches your business online, without feeling like they are being sold to.
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