by Jace Vernon | Jun 7, 2013 | Animated Whiteboard Videos, dry erase board animation, Explainer Video, video, Video Marketing, video online marketing, Video Scribing, Whiteboard animation, Whiteboard Video, Ydraw
5 Ways Whiteboard Videos Can Help Your Business
Big or small, every online business can benefit from a whiteboard video marketing campaign. Here are 5 reasons why you should consider a whiteboard video:
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Whiteboard Videos Are Affordable
In some instances, the cost may be as little as a pack of dry-erase markers from the drugstore. Whiteboard videos are super easy to DIY, and if you’re a bit of a talent then you might be pretty much set. However, if you’re like the bulk of us who can’t get evolve past cave-man drawings – there are several companies out there that will collaborate with you to create a whiteboard video that will stun and inspire any audience.
Whiteboard animation is more dynamic than text, a talking head or radio ad. With whiteboard your characters’ abilities are only limited to your and your writers’ imaginations. Whiteboard videos can also be a lot more interactive, with clickable links and thumbnails that take viewers to other related videos or a separate call-to-action page.
- They Make it Easy to Explain a Concept
Whiteboard videos are especially useful for services or products that require a little explaining to sell. If your target market just isn’t quite picking up what you’re putting down, they might need a little education on why they need what you’re selling, and whiteboard is the easiest and most cost-effective method. This is why whiteboard videos are often referred to as Explainer Videos.
Whiteboard animation is not only more interactive and versatile, it takes your message and condenses it to only the most pertinent information – making it short, sweet and to the point. These are the kinds of videos consumers are willing to share with their friends and family – no one wants to be the guy infamous for always sending those long, dry six minute infomercials.
Whiteboard has the unique ability to grab the attention of all types; its use of images, narration and sound effects are captivating to both right and left brained people. There was a recent post written here at Ydraw that studied the differences in viewer engagement and abandonment across all types of video formats – unsurprisingly, whiteboard videos were able to keep the attention of a greater percentage of viewers for a greater length of time. You can read all about that study HERE.
Don’t hesitate – sign up HERE for a chat with the boss and a personalized quote.
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | May 30, 2013 | animated doodle videos, animated explainer video, Animated Whiteboard Videos, Animation Video, Creative Marketing, dry erase board animation, Explainer Video, Hand Drawn Videos, les olson, Marketing, video, Video Marketing, Video Scribing, Whiteboard animation, Whiteboard Video, Ydraw
An Insignificantly Significant Testimonial
TRUE STORY: The other day I was at my mom’s house and she was watching TV. During the commercial break, there was an ad for the Les Olson Company that was made using whiteboard animation. My mom (who doesn’t know a whole lot about what I do) was watching with wonder when she exclaimed “I’ve seen those kind of videos, but none of them have ever been like that!” Of course, she was referring to how well done and professionally made the whiteboard video ad was, and after I told her that it was a Ydraw video, she remained amazed. Apparently she didn’t realize she had ties to such a fantastic company with such outstanding products – it was a lot to handle, as you can imagine. So there you have it, even a civilian can see the difference.
There’s a reason that Ydraw is at the top of whiteboard animation companies. With the great writing, fantastic art, and incredible editors that compile it all together, we truly make a video worth watching and yes, being amazed by. Don’t just take one mom’s insignificantly significant testimonial though, check out the Les Olson video for yourself. We bet your mom would love it too.
You can see the difference too – watch it. Les Olson Whiteboard Video
Don’t you think Ydraw ought to be doing your whiteboard ad? Contact us today to find out more information on whiteboard animation videos, video scribing videos, explainer videos, cutout videos, 2D and 3D videos, and the list goes on and on.
We have no shortage of options for you and your company or product, and we would love to help you market it better. We care about you, our customer, and want to make sure you have the best advertising available to use towards your advantage.
+Jessica Anderson
by Jace Vernon | May 13, 2013 | Animated Whiteboard Videos, Creative Marketing, Marketing, Memory, Video Marketing, video online marketing, Video Scribing, Whiteboard animation, Whiteboard Video, Writing a Script, Ydraw
Writing whiteboard video scripts using Ethos, Pathos and Logos
When you sit down to begin writing the script for your online marketing video, you want to keep three little words in your mind: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. These are the modes of persuasion. When trying to persuade somebody to do something – say, buy your product – you need to make sure we sound credible, appeal to the emotions, and prove certain truths about our company and product. If you’re a good marketer, you’ve obviously lived by the E.P.L mantra, but with whiteboard animation things can be a little different. Here’s some information on how using ethos, pathos and logos in a whiteboard video can work for you:
Ethos is the integrity of the presenter. It is how qualified the presenter appears to be to the audience. When writing a script for a marketing video such as a whiteboard animation video, you have to rely more heavily on everything other than body language or presence to get your message across. If you’re trying to sell something, have an image of the CEO telling viewers all about the company. Write a part with some testimonials. Whoever your main character is, make sure they look the part, and that the audience can tell they are a notable figure and have vested interest in the company or product.
Pathos is triggering emotions. In your whiteboard video, throw in a metaphor or simile, or deliver your message powerfully and passionately. Make the audience feel something, whether it is sadness for the characters who don’t have your product, joy for the characters who do, or excitement at the prospect of purchasing your product themselves. Pathos may also be used to provoke fear in order to sway viewers – but it is always better for whiteboard videos to focus on the fun, positive aspects. Try to play on viewers’ hopes and dreams by describing how their life could be when they follow the call to action.
Logos is the logical appeal used when describing facts and figures that support your cause. Logos and ethos are sort of related – in the sense that using logos can strengthen your ethos by making you look even more knowledgeable on the subject. However, be tasteful in your use of logos when making a whiteboard video – you want your audience to retain information with ease. If you use charts and figures, make sure to incorporate it into the theme of the video, and don’t throw so many statistics at them that they can’t remember why they clicked play.
These are what you need to keep in mind when writing. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Thanks Aristotle.
by Ydraw | Apr 30, 2013 | Video Marketing
The Perfect Call to Action
How important is the perfect call to action (CTA)? Well, according to this most recent study found in Dan Pink’s book “To Sell is Human” a good CTA can increase your conversions 300% or more. I do not really care to go into all the nitty gritty details about the study so here is the last paragraph:
“A specific request accompanied by a clear way to get it done ended up with the least likely group donating food at three times the rate of the most likely who hadn’t been given a clear path of action. The lesson: Clarity on how to think without clarity on how to act can leave people unmoved.”
Whoa! This simple paragraph has made me reconsider all my marketing efforts. I noticed my home page needs a CTA along with a thousand other pages. We can do better. In the next 500 words, maybe 700 if I feel long winded, I am going to educate all of us (yes, I am included) on ways we can improve our marketing efforts through simple CTA statements. Does that sound good? Of course it does! Why else would you be reading this article if you were not interested in improvement. So let’s get started!
When you create your video, a website, or marketing material, you have to remember to give a very strong CTA. A CTA is a statement that moves your audience from a passive state of mind to an active one. In other words, it is saying the right thing to get the person up off the couch. A great CTA does not just benefit your business; it can also benefit the user because you are giving them direction on what they need to do to take advantage of your product or service. If a user watches a video, visits your site, walks into your store, or reads your material, they have two options, proceed or leave. If they leave, they will have left feeling unsatisfied. Nobody wants that.
A great CTA is irresistible. It moves the user to a predetermined goal that you have set. It can be as simple as “Download” or as complicated as “This Tuesday at 10:00 pm log into the website to join a conference call. There is a Join Now button directly below this video. Click on it to sign up! We will then send you a reminder. “Join Now!” Ok, I just made that up on the fly, so I would not recommend using that one. But you get the picture right? A CTA can range from 1 word to a full site. I do not believe in absolutes, because as we all know, a Sith Lord believes in absolutes and I myself am not part of the dark side. So please do not buy into the fact that there is only one way to create a CTA. Sometimes, the most random CTA’s will produce the best results. We should all test and keep testing to see what works the best.
Firefox Call to Action
Firefox has a simple call to action “Firefox Free Download.” If a person is going to visit Mozilla, obviously they are looking to download their browser. They make it fast and simple. This is something that goes a long way with today’s confusion.
KissMetrics Call to Action
The owner of Kissmetris is really good at creating compelling content. I have gone through a couple of his pages and they all are very well written. His home page CTA is “Find your most valuable customers. Sign up for free to learn who your most valuable customers are and how to get more of them. Start Your 14-Day Free Trial.” This is a great example of a good CTA. When in doubt, simply use what someone has already created, but put it in your own words, of course.
Scribecontent Call To Action
These guys are also great at creating compelling content. Their whole page is targeted toward getting people to take action. They use words like, headline, sub-headline, testimonial guarantee, risk free trial, and a pricing plan labeled “our most popular plan.” They are all good! Go to scribecontent.com if you want to check out their entire site. One thing everyone can take from scribecontent.com is their ability to focus on feelings and benefits. They use words that express how the customer will feel and what benefits will come into their life if they have their product. We often times get caught up in all of the features when we should really focus on the benefits and how our product will make them feel.
Benefits Sale, Features Tell
Adobe Call to Action
When it comes to Adobe, we all could learn from what they say and do. I attended a conference in San Francisco where I heard one of Adobe’s Head marketers give a presentation on conversions. Adobe will drop hundreds of thousand of dollars just to test which color of button converts the best. They are always testing. Check out the page above and identify all the different ways they are hitting your hot buttons- the buttons that will make you take action. Whenever I see something from Adobe, I will pay attention and find a way to apply their ideas to my sites. Let’s just hope I do not use one of the sucky testing pages.
The fact is you can’t make people do something they do not want to do, nor should you really want to. Often times those are the people that turn out to be the worst clients. Although you should not force anyone, that should not stop you from persuading them. If you provide a great product or service that can help people, you should get them to take action. Use Video, Words, Buttons, Free Stuff, and images- these are all powerful.
Our Action Plan!
I am hopeful that you now understand how important a CTA is. Now, it is time for our action plan.
CTA Step 1. Identify places you should put a CTA. If you are like me, I have to go back through my old material like webpages and videos to see what needs to be changed. Like I said earlier, I am going to start with my home page. Where are you going to start? Does each one of your pages, videos, or marketing material have a CTA?
CTA Step 2. Identify the action that you want your audience to take. Why are they searching for your product? What action do they need to take in order to take advantage of your service? What is your objective? Make sure to spell it out for them. Tell them exactly what you would like them to do.
CTA Step 3. Call Your Mom and Tell Her You Love Her.
And there you have it. By following this ‘call to action’ advice you can live long and prosper and if that doesn’t happen you will at least get some business coming through your doors.
Happy Birthday
+Jace Vernon
by Jace Vernon | Mar 27, 2013 | Video Marketing, video online marketing
The demographic reach of online video – who views most? / part II
…And we’re back. Today’s segment is Part II of the Demographic Reach of Video Marketing series.* Sit tight, all you video marketing enthusiasts, as we dispel some rumors about who and how many people are online streaming video:
Last week I suggested that the bulk of online video viewers are in the 18-35 age range. Upon further study I discovered this is mostly true. But there were a few categories of consumers that are often overlooked, and I found some surprising statistics about them:
[image from pewinternet.org]
Though young adults are well aware they can catch up on their favorite media with the click of a mouse or swipe of a finger, older demographics are slowly realizing they can watch their favorite clips of Coach for free on YouTube or entire episodes for a mere $8/month on Netflix; saving them thousands per year on their satellite subscriptions (you’ve heard nothing good is ever on TV these days anyway). Though their numbers may seem significantly smaller than their young adult counterparts, the adult and elderly demographics are spending more time online each year (41% compared to 90%, respectively).
You may also be surprised to hear that teenagers do not make up the bulk of online viewers. Yes, that does mean they’re not the ones watching all those cat videos. That’s us.
Teenagers make up only 5.6% of online viewers, however once they pass into the 18-35 threshold, they tend spend about 14% more time online.
Take a look at this graph created by ReelSEO:
According to ReelSEO, the largest demographic of online video viewers are in the 25-44 age range. This holds pretty true with what I suggested in last week’s article. However, the second largest group is not the age group younger, but older. Consumers aged 45-64 spend almost double the amount of time online as young adults. Which can only mean this:
Though they’re still slow on the road, the adults and the elderly have the money and the fastest internet speeds – and that deserves some attention.
+Jessica Anderson can’t wait to spend more time browsing online and dropping dough.
*series is a somewhat loosely used term here.
by Jace Vernon | Mar 22, 2013 | video, Video Marketing, video online marketing
Demographic reach of video – almost everyone views, but who views most?
Video marketing is great for everyone, but it is especially appealing to the young adult (under 35) demographic. Roughly 70% of consumers aged 18-30 are regular online video viewers. That’s a large percentage, and here are three reasons why this stat is totes good news for your business, brah:
1. Fantastic Plastic
Young people usually don’t have a lot of money, but they also don’t have anyone to tell them how or how not to spend it – and even if they did, they don’t really have to listen, do they? This means you’ve got a better shot at coaxing them to give you their money than you do an elderly senior who has scrimped and saved his or her whole life just for a comfortable retirement.
2. Full-On Addiction
While some seniors are having conniptions over how to work them darn smart telephones and computer boxes, young people have them permanently embedded into their palms. Young adults are so passionate about technology that they’ll wear it as eyeglasses – they can watch your marketing video as they walk right into a streetlamp pole.
3. In a Way, Ingenuitive
Young people are lazy (wait a minute now, hold your britches); they’re also smart. If, while browsing YouTube at the office, they find there is a product out there that will make their lives easier – they’ll usually buy it – freeing up more time to watch more video work on meeting that deadline.
This post may over-glamorize the gullibility of young adults and their eagerness to spend – but the main points are these: this demographic watches video, and they watch it often. If they have money, they’re usually looking to spend it. They’re basically carrying around a mobile advertising device everywhere they go. If you don’t have a marketing video yet – dude, what’s your deal? YOLO (your onlookers live online)!
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Hold on… don’t go dismissing the middle-aged and the old-timers, there is research that suggests they make up a pretty significant chunk in Youtube views, too. Stay tuned – more on that subject to come.
+Jessica Anderson would like you to know she does not use the terms “totes,” “brah,” and “yolo” on a regular basis.
