An explainer video is a short online video that explains and illustrates an idea or service.
More and more businesses now view them as a necessity instead of an option, because basically, they’re stupefyingly good at promoting services, products and ideas.
But then I would say that, I make them…”Where’s the proof?” you might ask.
Well, with the aim of converting your cynical soul over to the side of explainer videos (or explanatory videos; means the same thing), I present the three simple reasons below. These are not all the reasons of course, but hopefully enough to whet your appetite:
Why Explainer Videos?
1. They are 38% more effective than TV ads and cost waaaaaaay less (comScore.com)
Yup, that’s right, TV advertising – the golden child of big business, the darling of SuperBowl – is less effective at converting viewers than online video according to comScore.com.
Not only that, the costs of producing online video is massively cheaper next to it’s TV equivalent.
On average, an explainer video will cost between$5k and $15k depending on it’s length, quality and complexity. The cost of hosting and distributing this content to potentially millions of people will run to less that $200/year – and that’s only if you choose to use a professional service instead of YouTube.com (for more information about where is the best place to host content check out this article)
Now obviously you then have to promote your video in order to reach viewers, but this is not so difficult (or expensive) using social media. email advertising and simply locating the video in a good place.
Nobody denies the effectiveness of using TV for promotion, so having a more effective tool at much lower cost makes using an explainer video a no-brainer for any marketer.
2. They are a “sticky” medium and increase visitor engagement
Sticky how and why is that good? Explainer videos almost invariably increase visitor time on site by a large proportion. That means when someone comes to your web page, they’ll stick around longer if you have a video for them to watch.
This is important as “time on site” almost always increases the amounts of leads, conversions and sales generated by a website.
It’s exactly the same concept used by traditional stores – the longer somebody stays in the store, the more likely they are to buy.
Video normally increases time on site by an average of 2 minutes according to comScore.com. Of course, this applied to retail videos, but the concept is sound for all video content – as long as the video is placed in a good location and is properly hosted.
Also, according to CurveBall Media the average time on site for a website with video is 770% longer than one purely using text and images.
3. You’ll have 52% more chance of getting 1st page Google ranking (eMarketer)
People like video which means that Google likes video too.
The search giant likes to serve up what it’s user want, so on average a website with video content is 52% more likely to show up on first page organic search results than a site without video content.
That’s huge and practically makes video essential to anyone concerned with improving their SEO.
Conclusion
So there you go, three basic proofs of why you should consider using video as part of your online marketing strategy.
Welcome to the fold.
If you would like more information, let us know and we’d be happy to help you out.
Kenny Simpson
Connect with Kenny on Google+ Kenny Simpson is a Creative Producer at ExplanatoryVideos.com If you would like to have an explainer video produced or would like more information, click here to drop us a line and get a FREE CONSULTATION and QUOTE.
