Does Animation video in digital marketing really work?
Did you know that 76% of marketers say that animated marketing videos increase profitability? No, well the stats don’t lie, using animated videos in your digital marketing is great way to not only cut costs but give a refresh to your marketing strategy. So does it work? That’s what we will cover in this article. We’ll go through a few points
- What is the right style of animation to use?
- What are the benefits of animation for digital marketing?
Animation Video in digital marketing
So, let’s get into it. Firstly you need to take a look at a few things, like what style of animation video to use, ultimately this decision should be made by yourself, but take a look at what some other businesses in your industry are doing to see what may work for yourself. The main options will be 2D, 3D, stop motion or motion graphics. Let’s take a look at the differences between the different styles.
2D animation is simple, and the most cost effective type of animation, it has its faults though, it can be a lot less dynamic than a 3d animation style. But a benefit of that is that you can create more complex shapes as it’s easier to make than 3d animation. 3D animation allows for a more realistic style of animation, which is why its common place in marketing of real estate companies and pharmaceutical, it allows a more in depth view of products, so perhaps if you have a new product and want to provide an insight then 3d animation is the way to go for you. The next type is stop motion animation. This is commonly used in animated explainer videos, this is good if you’re promoting a service, as it allows you to easily show what you’re capable of. Finally you have motion graphics, these are a great way to keep your animated videos within your brand guidelines, and this style is definitely more corporate than the other styles so perhaps this would be better if your business is aiming for more corporate clients. All of these styles have their pro and cons and it’s really down to you to take a look at what message you want to put across in your marketing. Let’s do an example, if you want to make a video showing how your company was founded, why not use a hand drawn 2d animation, in this example that would be a great way to show the passion behind the company, while also having a personal touch on it, obviously if you’re targeting corporate clients then this style wouldn’t work and we would suggest a clean 3d animation.
What else do you have to think about?
Pacing is a crucial part of animation, you need to take a look at the video you’re doing and see how you want to pace it, people have short attention spans, so make it too slow and people will get bored, make it too quick and people will lose interest as they’ll be confused, so getting the pacing right is paramount. Make sure you put your key points first, that way if people do lose interest, they will at least hear your key points which could keep them watching. You also have to consider what music to use, firstly don’t use copyrighted music, unless you have a license for it, we’d suggest use royalty free music, which you can find pretty much anywhere. But then you have to match it to the video, so look at the style of video and match the music to it, if we go back to our example of the 2d hand drawn video of your company’s history, perhaps have some happy music over it. Matching the music can really help create the effect you want your video to make so that’s something to think about.
What are the benefits of animation for digital marketing?
Animation can be a really cost effective way of getting your message out there. The difference in costs between animation and live action can be huge. The cost of a small crew for 1 day of filming plus locations and talent is usually going to start at around £10,000. Where as a simple 2D animation might start at around £3000. Ask your London production company for entry level costs for animation and live action and by and large you will get the same answer. So then it comes down to the tone of the animation – can you find the right tone and approach to sell your product, brand and message? Thats where engaging with a creative video agency will help as they will be able to asses what is the right creative approach within your budget constraints.
Animation is a great way to add a personal touch to your videos, this is because you can have your own unique style of animation on your video that sets you apart from everyone, making you videos look… well personal. Another benefit would be that they hold attention better. Around 65% of people are visual learners so creating visual engaging content like animations you hold peoples attentions for longer.
Animation is one of the most cost effective methods of marketing. When using animation you don’t have to pay for a location to film in, cast and crew, the only real cost would be paying an animator to create your video, and perhaps voice over artists, but even then you can do it yourself if you wanted to, obviously we would recommend an animator over doing it yourself as their quality of animation would in most cases be a lot better.
Google loves video
Did you know that that one third of all online activity time is spent watching videos? Making high quality Animated videos are the perfect way to engage potential customers since they provide a way to present essential information in an attention-grabbing and interesting manner. Also using animation allows more creativity within your marketing, as you can really do anything you want in animation, you don’t have the limits that creating a project in the flesh has. Finally animated videos can actually help with your SEO, Google loves videos so including an animated video on your website can help your business rank higher on Google searches. This makes you more visible and accessible to potential customers. Google’s algorithm for search rankings also considers the amount of time visitors stay on your website and this is one of the many reasons that animated videos have been helping growth.
At Beast we are currently producing a series of 3D animations for super cool mattress company, Simba Sleep. Here you can see some development work that went into the production of our latest video for Simba.
So should you use animation for your digital marketing? If it fits your brand, absolutely, as we’ve mentioned you really have no limits to what you can do with animation. A final point would be that you do have to mix up your video marketing to keep it fresh, so don’t just use animation make sure to compliment it with live action from time to time.