Did you know that 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute? So, how can your product stand out amongst all that brushwood? The answer is not so hard. To be the real king of the jungle you need to deliver a high-quality video with a thoughtful written script and a stellar design. A whiteboard video is a great tool to do that and, at the same time, explain what’s unique about your product in only a few seconds.
But wait! Don’t create a whiteboard video until you really know how to do it right. Not any whiteboard video will deliver the results that you expect. In this article we’ll tell you all the secrets to create a perfect whiteboard video for your business that will make your brand shine on the results page.
What are the benefits of whiteboard technique?
Educational focus: We all connect a whiteboard with a learning situation, that’s why we tend to pay attention to what is said and drawn in front of us. In fact, using this style, there’s an average 15% increase in remembering information compared to ordinary talking head videos.
Engagement power: As the action is developed in front of our eyes, we are curious about what the next drawing is. If you combine that engagement power with an educational focus you can convey a complex message in a compelling short video. Given that it brings educational value without losing your audience’s attention, whiteboard videos work great with complex products.
Polished website: Nobody likes big chunks of text on your home page. A whiteboard video allows you to sum up your core brand message. The result is that your home page will look clean and simple and, at the same time, you’ll have your product or service explained in a more engaging way.
Easily updatable: A marketing video can keep giving benefits for a long time. However, in the long term you’ll need to update your video to fit your brand’s evolution. This can be a little bit difficult with certain styles but not with whiteboard videos. Characters can be put into new scenarios, new elements can be added in no time and you can add or cut content at your desire. That flexibility is truly priceless to keep your investment going.
Multiple uses: I bet you‘ve thought about a whiteboard video to introduce your product but that’s not the only possible use of this technique; telling your company story or creating a training program for your employees are also great occasions to make a whiteboard video.
THE KEY ELEMENTS OF A GREAT WHITEBOARD VIDEO
1. An engaging story
An impactful explainer video needs a thoughtfully written script. The simplest way to do this is to think of a story in which a character has a problem and your product is the hero who will help him/her to solve that problem. This kind of marketing plot has three moments:
The what: You need to show what problem your product solves. This way, you will quickly grab your audience’s attention and keep them interested till the end.
The how: Now that they know what problem you solve, you’ll need to show how your product can improve that issue. In general, at this moment your logo will appear.
The why: Tell your target audience why your product is the best choice in the market to solve their problem.
Here is a good example of an explainer video from our production company, Yum Yum Videos, where you can see these three moments crystal clear. First, we explain the problem of their target audience—which, in this case, was the head of innovation of any important company—then we present how the product can help him/her and finally why it’s better than the other options.
2. Create the characters
Well, you have already met our lovely Professor featured in the video above. The other character is the Head of Innovation who represents the target audience. It’s very important that one of your characters represents your target audience. Your viewers need to feel related to that character so gather some data about them such as gender, age and job position. The main character needs to be fully customized to fit that criteria and provide that sense of recognition for the viewers.
3. Keep it fun
There are some whiteboard videos that don’t harness the power of explainer videos. The secret is to deliver your brand message is with a funny story and entertaining characters. A hint of humor is life-saving when we’re talking about video marketing. This will make your video more engaging and shareable.
A good example is this video on American educational standard which is a pretty serious and complex topic. However, they manage to add witty characters to lighten the topic:
4. Be classic
Well, what’s a whiteboard video without a whiteboard? If you add backgrounds maybe you’ll end up with a great video but it won’t look like this technique.
Apart from this element, you’ll need a hand that will draw everything. Back in the day, professional artists used to draw the characters live in front of the camera. Can you believe it? That’s where this technique comes from. Nowadays, the hand is a digital image and the whole story is created by a cool digital artist who now works behind the scenes.
The third element is the black marker! Don’t forget about it!
5. But don’t be too classic
Good technique is all about balance. As we said before, basically you’ll have a white background and black drawings featured in this kind of video. So, how can you brand a black and white video? Well, easy, just add some colors!
Any color? How much color? I wouldn’t recommend too much. A great tip is to use your brand colors to highlight some parts of the design.
6. Connect your drawings
This is what sets apart great quality from the rest. A real whiteboard video shows a continuous and interconnected drawing, not individual ones. Of course, sometimes you’ll need to clean the whiteboard, but try to do this as few times as possible. You don’t want to break the story into too many pieces and lose your audience’s attention.
Why is this important? These interconnected drawings hook your audience’s vision. They follow the action as it is developed on the screen. This whiteboard video by Fraudlogix is a great example.
CONCLUSION
Remember that Your script is the foundation of your whole video’s structure. Without a compelling story you’ll never get an engaging video. First, try to Focus on your audience’s needs, not on your product’s features. That’s how you’ll make them feel related to the story. A professional explainer video will deliver quality and you’ll drive awareness of your brand, traffic to your site and produce more conversions.
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