What if you could develop a marketing campaign that was three times as likely to be shared on social media compared to other tactics? What if that campaign resulted in twice as many recommendations and purchases as the next most effective tactic? Or if the audience's ability to recall the message would outperform other tactics? I’d say it’s a slam dunk — sign me up! Wait...what is the tactic?
The information I referenced above is from a study conducted by Carla Clark, The Draw Shop’s Neuroscientist. Clark researched two different approaches to video content — whiteboard animation and talking heads — comparing 1,000 viewers from each category. Her research illustrates (pun intended) the effectiveness of whiteboard marketing videos. In an interview with Forbes she stated, “The beauty of whiteboard animation videos is that they have great mass appeal.” She explains how the simplicity of the medium makes retention and recollection much easier. She also talks about how flexible the tactic can be for a variety of audiences, “They don’t discriminate based on age or gender, or between skimmers and in-depth readers, or the well-informed and industry newbies,” Clark says.
Four Reasons Why Your Next Marketing Move Should be a Whiteboard Animation Video
Video is rapidly becoming the most popular method for the consumption of marketing content. In a 2017 study by HubSpot Research, 53% of people preferred video over anything else. Cisco’s 2016 Visual Network Index estimated video would soon make up 80% of all consumer internet traffic.
So it’s settled. Make sure video content is in your editorial calendar and strongly consider a style like whiteboard animation that tells a good story and more importantly, moves your customers through their buyer’s journey. But there’s one more crucial element…
That’s right: It’s not good enough to simply produce a whiteboard animation video and start sharing it across all your channels. You might see a little improvement in traffic, but you aren’t likely to see an increase of leads entering your marketing and sales funnel. In our recent blog post about content strategy, Creative Director, Meg Hoppe discusses the key elements to building content that will positively impact customer behavior. She talks about the importance of a content playbook, addressing the specific pain points your customers endure every day, and choosing the right type of content, among other things. Video is a powerful medium, but without first having the right content strategy to help you with positioning and messaging for the video, you won’t see the return on your investment you were hoping for. Do you really know your audience? If you don’t, the message will fall flat and you might as well have left the whiteboard white! The nature of whiteboard animation videos already make them engaging. Just imagine how effective they can be with the right content and messaging!
Once you know how video fits into your overall inbound content strategy, the first step is to develop some specific ideas for whiteboard video content. Find common pain points from your customers and develop your storyboard of illustrations and messages around those issues. Be as focused as possible because even a whiteboard animation can’t hold viewers’ attention forever! Remember this tactic has mass appeal, so it can work whether your audience is made up of other industrial marketers or you’re targeting plant managers or production engineers.
The next step is to get some inspiration by viewing other whiteboard animation videos. You can get a feel for the style of illustration, how much content you think should be included (remember: quite often, less is more), and whether you want the artist to narrate or you’ll handle that during the editing phase. At this point you can start researching the right agency to handle the project. These videos are cost-effective but if you’re hoping to get it done on the cheap, you might get what you pay for, so be sure to watch other whiteboard videos they’ve produced. Check out the samples below or search YouTube for whiteboard videos to get your creative juices flowing:
Whiteboard Fridays by MOZ are a low cost and effective approach to whiteboard videos
Sample whiteboard videos with a manufacturing theme
Finally, be sure to have a solid plan in place to distribute and promote the video to get leads from it. Make sure you have a specific call to action at the end of the video or somewhere on the landing page where the video exists that moves the viewer through your sales funnel. A well-done video will see a lot of traffic and you want to take advantage of that in generating meaningful leads.
Topics: Content Marketing
