As the digital age continues to grow, with an ever-increasing number of outlets for visual consumption, there’s never been a better time for businesses to invest and push video marketing right to the top of their priority list.
You may have even noticed during your daily social media scroll, that more and more businesses are utilising video marketing to capitalise on the 4.14 billion social media users in the world - with almost 21 million right here in Australia - and that number is only expected to rise in the coming years.
And the most effective, eye-catching way businesses are using this unprecedented boom in digital media is through, surprise, surprise, animation!
Why you might ask?
Well, there are a lot of valid reasons why companies use animation.
Firstly, it’s easy to grasp for a range of audiences as even convoluted ideas can be conveyed clearly and concisely.
Secondly, it can be easily shared across multiple platforms and presented on a range of digital mediums, with an uncanny ability to resonate well with any type of audience.
And finally, using animation can be far more cost-effective than live-action, as the costs for location, production crew, and talent alone can more than triple the entire animation project.
Animation can also help your product stand out from the crowd, as your competitors may still be using traditional live-action marketing videos. Through unique characters, an interesting, layered story, the ability to push boundaries and create captivating new worlds, this all culminates in typically higher engagement rates - nearly 30% more than live-action - and clearly defines your business as a welcome alternative.
Look, to put it plainly, animation advertising is in the ascent and shows no sign of slowing down. With proven success rates that no business can afford to ignore and not consider as part of their marketing strategy.
Fortunately, it’s never too late to jump on the animation advertising bandwagon and give your business the real spark it needs! And our animation experts have shared all the tips and tricks you need to know to create absolutely awesome animation.
Writing a captivating, clear, and concise script
Just like a chef needs to follow a recipe or a builder needs to follow a blueprint, having a good script helps lay the foundation for your animation and provides a clear direction of the end product.
However, before you begin whipping up that captivating story, we recommend you write a brief. Why would you write a brief before writing a script you ask? Well, a brief helps you identify your objective, target audience, and the core message of your video. Essentially, you need to know why you’re making this animated video. What does it need to achieve? What’s the call-to-action (CTA) behind the video? And what is the core message of your video?
Once you’ve clearly outlined your brief, you can begin working on that stellar script. Now the main challenge here, and the first hurdle many businesses seem to stumble at is converting your business's core message into a simple, easily digestible, and, most importantly, a short story that will engage your audience.
Now, whether you’re creating a 15-second YouTube ad, a 30-second television ad or a 1-2 minute explainer video, your story MUST have these 3 elements; a hook, the bones, and a CTA. Remember that brief? If your script doesn’t have these 3 elements, we highly recommend you go back and start at the beginning.
A hook is the most important part of your script. It’s the first 8-12 seconds of a 1-minute video or 3-5 seconds of a 15-second video that will determine whether or not your audience stays or goes. The bones are everything that comes after the hook. It’s the rest of the story that needs to live up to the audience’s expectations. And the CTA is where or what you’re instructing your audience to do at the crescendo of the video.
Once this is nailed, you’ll move onto storyboarding which is where you’ll see the beginning of your animation come to life!
Choosing the right animation style
We’ve arrived at the second hurdle businesses encounter and ultimately fail at – choosing the appropriate animation style. You may have nailed that brief and put together an amazing script, but ultimately if you don’t select the appropriate animation style for the story you’re telling and for your business’s brand, you aren’t going to engage your target audience.
First, you need to figure out what story you’re telling. Does it require fun and creative style or is it in need of an inspirational or serious tone? Here are the most common styles of animation videos to help bring your story to life.
2D Animation
Perfect for both B2B and B2C audiences, 2D animation is the most commonly used animation video style. As many of us grew up watching cartoons, it resonates with a plethora of audiences to help develop a strong, emotional connection and increase viewer engagement.
Whiteboard
White animation videos are perfect as product explainers. They’re clear and concise (with the right script) and always provide a clear CTA to help get you more sales conversions. It simulates the effect of characters and objects being drawn in the present time on a plain whiteboard, helping to remain in the viewer's mind as it draws the audience in (pun intended).
Typography and Infographic
Both heavily utilising text, Typography is a technique mixing motion and text to express ideas in the form of video animations. It usually takes far less time to create and is the perfect format when you want your audience to focus on the words being presented.
Infographics are perfect when you need to present drab and dreary data in a captivating and engaging way. Using lots of animated graphs, maps, charts, and more can turn that boring data into an abundance of new customers.
Give your animation video the best possible chance of success
You’ve come this far and you’ve put together a fantastic brief, killer script and picked the perfect animation style to represent your business. The final stumbling block businesses encounter is, trying to do everything yourself.
There’s a reason why people say ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’ Now while it can be done, we highly recommend you seek an experienced video production team to bring your vision to fruition.
Hiring a production team will give you instant access to a team of highly skilled and seasoned animators, scriptwriters and storyboard artists, professional voice actors, and licensing to music - which your animation is surely going to need. Have you ever tried to find a license-free track before? Almost impossible.
And there you have it. The secrets to creating awesome animation have finally been revealed. If you’d like to learn more about how to use animation in your marketing strategy, check out our complete guide here!
It’s time to give your business the marketing boost it needs
Are you ready to capture your audience’s attention through powerful and remarkable animation? To really grab your viewer's attention, drive traffic and sales and build a loyal customer base, whilst establishing yourself as a household name?
Then it’s time to get in touch with Visual Domain today! We're more than just your animation specialists. We’re marketing strategists. We're your partners in production. We help you create truly inspiring, innovative videos that drive your vision and match your marketing ambitions.
Reach out now to let us know what you have in mind and we’ll bring your marketing vision to life. Let’s turn that dial up to 11 and give your business the boost it needs!