Is Making an Explainer Video Easy?

So you’ve been thinking about getting into the explainer video game for your marketing campaign. You see everyone else do it. But, wow, they can sure be expensive for a good one. But how hard can it be? For this week’s blog post, we’re going to answer the question, “Is making an explainer video easy?” And the short answer is “yes and no.” It’s a big undertaking with a lot of processes, some you might not have even thought about before. So let’s break down what that looks like and all the ways the Digital Brew can help.

The Foundation

So the first step in the process (besides deciding you want an explainer video) is figuring out what exactly you want your explainer video to be about. We’ve covered this a bit in the past. It’s so important to have a clear goal in mind for your explainer video. But after you’ve nailed that down, the next step is the script. It’s so important to make sure the script is good and hits all the points you want. This is the real foundation for your video. So with a bad foundation, it’s going to be a bad video. That’s why this step is so, so crucial.

Part of the process here at Digital Brew is having a creative brief. During this hour-long call, we’ll go over everything about your business and what you want to accomplish with your video:

• What do you want people to take away from your video?
• What kind of language does your company use?Do you call your customers “members” or “clients?”
• What tone are you going for?
• Do you want something more fun and silly or something more serious? 

These are the kinds of things we want to learn before we have our writer craft the first draft of your script. We of course say “first draft” because we know there’s going to be a bit of back and forth before we collectively get the script to where it needs to be. We’re the marketing experts, but you’re the experts of your industry. So that collaboration is important.

What Will Your Video Look Like?

Every video we make is completely unique to you. So you might tell us some videos of ours that you like the look and feel of, but we’re going to make your video fit your brand. So depending on the type of video you’re looking for, we’re going to send you a mood board. This is filled with a lot of different artwork that we think might fit your video well. You’ll pick a few of them and we’ll use that as the direction for your artwork. You might like none of them (and that’s okay). So we’ll give you more options to choose from. Or you might have a very strict style guide already and we’ll follow that. The options are limitless.

After you’ve decided on the art style for your video, we’ll create what we call “Style Frames.” These are a handful of frames that’ll be used in your actual video that will give you an idea of what your artwork will look like. And once you’ve approved that, we’ll storyboard your entire video. Of course, just like the script, we can make any adjustments you want until you’re happy with it. Once the whole video is storyboarded, you’ll have a really good idea of what your video will ultimately look like. Still wondering “Is making an explainer video easy?” Well, we’ve still got a long way to go.

What Will Your Video Sound Like?

The voice over for your video is a crucial part that not everybody thinks about. If you were making it on your own, you might be thinking, “Well, Bob in accounting has a really great voice. We’ll just have him do it.” Now we’re not saying Bob doesn’t have a wonderful voice, but doing voiceover work is a skill that’s harder to master than you might think. So part of Digital Brew’s process is putting out a casting call to help find you the right voiceover artist.

Not only do you want someone who is good at voiceover work, but you also want them to capture the spirit of your company. If you’re primarily doing work in the UK, then you probably don’t want someone who has an American or German accent. Or if you’re doing an explainer video about beauty products, you’ll probably want a more feminine voice. A lot of industries can go either way. We’ve done research and for the most part, there’s no hard data proving that certain voices make a big difference in conversions. It’s all about finding the voice that captures your brand and speaks to your industry. And we’ll get as many options as you want to find the right voice.

Bringing Your Video to Life!

Script? Check. Storyboards? Check. Voiceover? Check. Now here’s the big part of your animated explainer video. Animating it! With everything we’ve created so far, one of our talented animators will combine your script, storyboards, and voiceover to bring your video to life! There’s a lot less to say about this step because it’s an animator or two working hard to make your characters move the right way, your transitions smooth, and your video really shine. And because we’ve mapped everything out, there shouldn’t be any surprises when you see the final result. But like always, we’ll be able to revise things if there’s something you need changed.

Is Making an Explainer Video Easy?

So back to our original question: Is making an explainer video easy? Well only if you can write, do voiceover, draw, and animate all on your own. But that’s why a company like Digital Brew exists! We make the process as easy as we can for you! We like to think of ourselves a little like an extension of your marketing team where we can do all the heavy lifting for your explainer video. And our goal is to always make videos that help you make money. If you ever want to find out more about how we can help or want to talk marketing shop, you can always reach us here.

Let’s Brew This!