5 Steps to Building Brand Trust with Animated Videos

Online videos are taking the marketing world by storm. 87% of online marketers use video content.

The massive shift in the audience’s media preference for digital and online sources is the main cause of online video’s rise in popularity. In the U.S. alone, a mind-boggling 85% of internet users watch videos online.

The rising demand for online videos is being met by an abundant supply. More videos have been uploaded within 30 days than the major TV networks in the United States have created in 30 years.

Businesses are also affected by the popularity of online videos. Styles that are particularly popular at the moment are startup explainer videos and SaaS explainer videos. 69% of business people, including sales, marketing, and other professionals, have used video in their efforts to grow. The remaining 31% are planning to.

Why Do Online Videos Matter for Marketing?

On a larger scale, almost every company (93%) uses online videos of various genres, including explainer videos, for various purposes, including making sales, ramping up their marketing, and smoothing communication with clients.

When asked if they are planning to use online video(s) in their content marketing within the next year, 96% of companies say yes.

What all of these facts tell us is that consumers’ attention shift to online videos makes it almost essential for companies to do the same.

Your Audience Loves Online Videos

We can summarize it like this: Whoa, this video thing is getting crazy.

But why?

We know that companies go where their audiences are–which is the Internet. But people prefer to watch online videos for several reasons.

First, compared to other sources of media and publications such as TV, newspaper, magazines, and radio, online videos are more mobile and accessible. With the continuous advances in smartphones and laptops, online videos can be viewed almost everywhere.

Second, online entertainment is self-curated by the viewers themselves. Traditional TV channels provide their shows by schedule, which kinda sucks. If you are a 9-to-5 worker, it can be hard for you to watch your favorite shows that air at 2 p.m.

This is why online services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video are so popular: Users can watch their favorite TV shows wherever and whenever they feel like it.

Even free platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have a great array of independent creators whose works are basically on par with corporate TV shows — minus the complicated corporate workflow.

Third, the entire entertainment industry seems to be going along with the shift to online videos. Movies and TV shows are using online platforms to publish promo content like movie teasers, trailers, interviews, and behind-the-scenes shorts.

Why Your Company Needs Online Video

With all that said, online videos are a good type of content for a company to have. Here’s why.

1. Your Audience Is Watching Stuff Online

As I discussed earlier, people’s tendency to spend their time online looking for entertainment is the number one reason why online videos should be among your types of content.

The more time people spend on the internet, the more likely their online videos will be discovered and watched. This leads us to point number two.

2. Amazing Brand Awareness Source

The internet offers unlimited potential for exposure and brand awareness that you can’t get from any other publication media, especially when you use online videos.

However, virality and a truckload of views are merely icing on the cake. The real value is in exposing and introducing your brand to people who fit your ideal customer persona.

Odds are they already spend most of their free time online.

3. Data Analytics

The third reason–and this is an important one–is the capability to track and measure every single one of your videos.

Traditional media like billboard ad spots, TV ads, flyers, and newspaper ads can reach a large audience, but they lack analytic features.

The ability to track who watches your video, and when, where, and how they interact can give you great feedback for improving your future videos.

For a business that looks to grow, online video is the on-demand content you need.

According to Nielsen and the IAB, switching from television to digital video can enhance your campaign’s reach at a lower cost.

In addition, it makes the campaign’s reach more effective—generating an increase in the general recall by 15%, brand recall by 33%, message recall by 45%, and likability by 40%.

How Badly Does Your Brand Need Online Videos?

The true answer depends on this question: Who are you selling to?

If your target audience group is anyone between the ages of 15 and 34, you need it badly.

Consider spending most of your marketing resources on online videos and promoting them using PPC (pay-per-click) targeted ads.

In the US, 97% of adults aged 18-29 use the Internet. This is the best platform that exists for companies that target millennials.

There is almost zero chance that your ideal buyer doesn’t conduct online activities that involve video and social media.

If perchance your target buyers are more old-school and prefer email over social media, you can always leverage your explainer video through sales emails or directly embed videos into an email to make explaining things easier.

Nowadays, an older audience also spends time online regularly, but not as much as the younger ones. That’s why you should divide your budget in two:

Half to spend on online videos and promoting them, and the other half to spend on other media like TV or newspaper ads depending on which one best suits your ideal buyer.

Use this chart by the Pew Research Center that references the demographics of internet users in the U.S.

Looking at the data, internet users are virtually all ages. The number increases over the years.

In short, even if your target audience is really old, and not likely to be on Instagram, creating online videos will not be a waste of your time.

In a few years, grandmas and grandpas will be on Instagram, and your early practice in making online videos will be useful.

In other words, videos are a future-proof choice for your company.

Online Videos and Animation: The Perfect Combo

If you have a business and are looking to gain popularity online, including an animated marketing video on your landing page is the best choice.

It will strengthen your company’s online appearance and give you the best chance of capturing your target market.

Explainer videos deliver a strong message about your business and products to your customers. To create an effective one for your campaign like the Black Friday campaign, year-end sale, etc –you’ll need help from video marketing and advertising specialists.

We know all the ins and outs of promotional animated video marketing and its importance in creating a successful campaign.

Most online companies experience an increase in conversion rates after introducing an animated marketing video, as they are able to succinctly explain their products and services to their clientele.

Video tends to keep an audience’s attention longer than straight text, as well as being easier to remember.

An interesting and exciting animated marketing video is a good solution for your marketing campaign.

Breadnbeyond is a specialist in creating animated marketing videos to promote your company.

Our videos engage users, encouraging them to stay on your website longer. After watching the video, your audience will likely be curious about your products, leading to potential customers.

There are lots of end-users who spend hours on the internet browsing funny animated videos. There is no doubt that lots of visitors will view your animated marketing video.

We make videos using the primary foundations of your business as a base and then centering the video itself around your target audience. This is more efficient than any other marketing and advertising approach.

How to Generate Trust Using Animated Explainer Videos

For the past few years, animated explainer videos have been considered a must-have type of content for startups.

Not only do they explain things, as their name says, but they also appeal to an audience visually and educate them about all kinds of things in your niche.

There are literally millions of explainer videos roaming the internet these days, popping up all over the place.

This means that the competition in making explainer videos is getting tougher by the day.

So to impact your audience, simply making an explainer video isn’t enough. You have to focus on its quality.

But exactly what is the purpose of making animated explainer videos in the first place?

The answer to that question is brand building. Read on for 4 tips on building brands with animated explainer videos.

1. Characterize Your Brand

The purpose of an explainer video is to assign a certain character to your brand. Having a certain persona assigned to your brand will result in an improved customer experience.

Imagine this: You want to file a complaint with an internet service provider (ISP) company via email. You try emailing them and you receive a reply from [email protected].

Wouldn’t it be much nicer to talk to a specific person, say [email protected] or [email protected]?

An explainer video works similarly, but instead of determining the character for one specific position within your company, you create a persona for the whole company.

It puts your brand a step ahead in building a closer, more personal relationship with customers.

2. Use Brand Mascots

Another best thing about animated explainer videos is that you can create or add your endearing brand mascots to the video.

Mascots are the unique faces that lend your brand a distinct personality. This, in turn, will differentiate you from the vast sea that is the crowded business world.

In other words, it’s effective to increase your brand recall and generate more trust. Your brand mascots will become your ageless brand representative that can endure different times and trends to keep your business strong.

At Breadnbeyond, we have Mr. Clunkington (you can see him in the featured image) and Puffy Fury as our brand mascots. We include them in almost all of our content (our own explainer videos, images, infographics, and more) to create a sense of continuity that can make our audiences feel more at ease and comfortable with us.

When you add your brand mascots to your explainer videos, you will ensure your audiences that they’re dealing with something familiar and reliable. They become more primed to put your business in their mind map and listen to what you say in the video.

How To Prepare Illustration Assets (Infographic)

In this case, you might want to learn how to group the background assets to make sure that your characters or mascots blend perfectly with background settings and any other elements in your videos.

Here’s a quick guide to grouping assets:

3. Research Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience is fundamental for successfully building your brand with an animated explainer video.

Start by finding out the problems they face frequently and that overlap with the product you want to sell them. Take a look at SatPhoneCity’s explainer video.

In a nutshell, SatPhoneCity is an online store that sells satellite phones. Their target market is made up of people who spend a great deal of time off the grid, like hikers and adventurers.

Obviously, hikers’ main problem is the scarcity of coverage when they’re out in the wild. SatPhoneCity sells satellite phones which solves that problem.

4. Involve Your Viewers

SatPhoneCity’s target audience is hikers, adventurers, and campers who most of the time can be characterized like this:

In a nutshell, SatPhoneCity is an online store that sells satellite phones. Their target market is made up of people who spend a great deal of time off the grid, like hikers and adventurers.

Obviously, hikers’ main problem is the scarcity of coverage when they’re out in the wild. SatPhoneCity sells satellite phones which solves that problem.

Similarly, characterizing your brand with your target audience is a great way to build a relationship with them.

Because they are familiar with the character you assign to your brand, it’s much easier for them to relate.

By characterizing your brand as “one of them,” you’ll start gaining their trust. The level of trust is a decisive factor when it comes to customers making a purchasing decision.

Another way to build brand trust is by making sure that every aspect of your explainer video is customer-centric, from the very first second.

In fact, brand trust is one of the reasons people prefer to spend more and not worry about their purchase of name brands (think: Nike for shoes, Apple for phones & laptops, etc) instead of going cheap and worrying about the quality.

Be consistent, use the same character for every future marketing campaign that your brand does, and you’ll be the one and only brand people remember when they see your brand’s character.

5. Use Customer-Centric Stories

Did you notice how from the start of this article, I always use “YOU” as the subject?

That’s me being customer-centric (or in this case, reader-centric). Being customer-centric must be first and foremost on your brand’s list of priorities.

Making your (potential) customers feel good about themselves is a leap to building brand trust.

From the first sentence in SatPhoneCity’s video above, everything has pointed to “you.” This makes viewers feel involved in the video, even if they are not the intended audience.

That’s why when the video actually reaches its intended audience (hikers, adventurers, military corporations) the impact will be multiplied, because not only do they feel involved, but they can also relate to the story being told through the video.

Takeaway

Is it really worth investing in online videos, even if you feel like you don’t really need them that much?

The answer is yes.

Even if your target audience is not typically a group of internet users, an online video isn’t content that needs to cost tons of money. Creating an online video is always a good investment for your company to increase its presence on the internet.

Also, the popular animated explainer videos are an ideal tool to build trust with your potential customers.

Brand building is not something that you can do in an instant. It takes more time than you might like. But applying these tips to your explainer video is a jump-start that will give you a head start. These are the keys to brand-building with an explainer video:

• Relate to your audience by showing that you can solve their problems.
• Characterize your brand with something they’re familiar with to build trust.
• Write a viewer-centric story to make them feel involved throughout the video.

Let us help you build your brand and reach your target audience, check out our video packages today!