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Four Compelling Reasons to Incorporate Animated Storytelling in Your Marketing Strategy

From our earliest days, storytelling has been an integral part of our lives, captivating us with narratives that entertain and impart valuable lessons. It’s no secret that a well-crafted tale, intertwined with moral messages, has a more profound impact than a direct presentation of facts, rules, or opinions. Marketers recognize this inherent human inclination for storytelling and leverage it as a potent tool in their arsenal.

In the marketing realm, storytelling transcends mere dissemination of information; it involves weaving narratives as captivating as legends and fairy tales. The primary objective is to showcase a charismatic yet unobtrusive protagonist—your product or service—within the confines of an engaging plot.

Distinguish Yourself with Animated Stories

The ultimate goal of marketing communication is to attract customers, requiring differentiation from competitors. Without storytelling, marketing efforts risk presenting a mundane array of product facts. Animated stories offer a unique avenue to breathe life into your brand, incorporating explainer videos, animated brand videos, or even an entire cartoon series related to your services. Embrace this innovative approach before your competitors do.

Move the Audience Emotionally

The power of storytelling lies in its ability to evoke emotional associations with a brand. Animated stories facilitate a connection between the audience and the advertised product by introducing colorful and engaging characters, providing your product with relatable personality. A well-designed story not only places your product in the minds of customers but also offers them an emotionally charged experience. When planning your narrative, consider the desired emotional impact, whether it’s excitement, amusement, curiosity, relief, or a sense of security.

Efficient Information Retention

Beyond emotional engagement, storytelling offers the advantage of efficient information retention. People find it easier to remember information presented in the form of a story compared to dry, enumerated lists or dull text documents. By creating a compelling narrative, you enhance the likelihood that your audience will retain and recall the information you wish to convey.

Take Control of Perception

As the saying goes, “a moving picture is worth five thousand words.” Animated storytelling provides the visual appeal akin to cinema or TV, making it more accessible and attractive to a broader audience. Animation specialists not only craft gripping plots but also present stories in aesthetically pleasing and original ways. In this dynamic medium, you have complete control over how your marketed products are portrayed and perceived by the audience.

Create an Animated World for Your Brand

Animation offers unparalleled creative freedom in advertising. It allows for the creation of an imaginative world where characters, movement, and environments can be manipulated without constraints. Animated storytelling fosters an engaging interaction between viewers and creators, encouraging the audience to decode associations, symbols, and cultural codes. This animated world effectively conveys the essence of your brand, making it a memorable and impactful marketing tool.

Incorporating animated storytelling into your marketing strategy is a pathway to offering potential customers a unique and exciting narrative experience. Ensure you have a compelling story to tell about your product and share it through the dynamic medium of animation.

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Elevate Your Mobile App Promotion with Animated Explainer Videos

If you’ve developed a mobile app, you’re likely on the lookout for an effective strategy to promote it. While numerous approaches exist, the key is to select a marketing tactic that captures the interest of potential users, engages them effectively, and convinces them to embrace your software.

1. Engaging Like No Other

In the realm of content, videos stand out as the most captivating, expected to comprise 80% of all internet traffic by 2019. Animated explainer videos, in particular, prove to be a top choice for marketing mobile apps. These videos instantly capture the attention of your target audience, presenting them with visually appealing and engaging content that sets your product apart in the competitive mobile app market. Animated videos utilize visual cues to forge a strong connection between your brand and the story you tell, holding viewers’ attention and motivating them to stay on your website for an average of 2 minutes longer.

2. Concise Explanation of Your Idea

Animated explainer videos serve as powerful tools to convey the functionalities of your app succinctly. In under a minute, these videos can effectively summarize and communicate the purpose of your app in a clear, persuasive, and entertaining manner. The brevity of animated explainers allows you to present a complex idea in a fun and quick way, resonating with the modern and interactive nature of your app.

3. Building Emotional Connections

Visual cues in animated videos contribute to building a robust connection between your brand and the narrative. This emotional bond enhances brand awareness and strengthens brand identity. Animated explainer videos not only captivate viewers but also engage them with your product or service, resulting in an average 20% boost in conversions. Achieving the dual goals of explaining your product and connecting with your brand’s values, mission, and personality, these videos create a lasting impression.

4. Exceptional Return on Investment (ROI)

Undoubtedly, video content offers marketers the best return on investment. The production cost of animation is lower than that of live action, ensuring your explainer effectively communicates your app’s essence and the benefits users will gain by downloading it. To maximize the ROI of your animated explainer:

  • Plan ahead: Develop a strategy to ensure the video has the most significant impact on your audience.
  • Research your target: Understand your audience to engage and convert effectively.
  • Distribute across channels: Share the video on your website, social media, email newsletters, and more.
  • Create an evergreen video: Avoid referencing current dates or information that might change to keep your video relevant over time.

In Conclusion

With the mobile app market brimming with products, using animated explainer videos can set your app apart and showcase why it’s worth downloading. Statistics reinforce the effectiveness of this strategy, with 64% of customers stating they are more likely to buy a product or service online after watching a video about it. Investing in an animated explainer video proves to be a cost-effective way to spread the word about your app and highlight its unique benefits.

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Learning & Development Through Videos

Addressing the Challenges of Effective Training: A Comprehensive Approach

Trainers, both formal and informal, share a common goal: to facilitate lasting learning experiences. However, numerous challenges hinder this objective, particularly for those not well-versed in the subject matter.

Challenge #1: Face-to-face Training Constraints

Issue: Traditional face-to-face training is time-consuming and expensive, posing difficulties for industries with strict regulations like healthcare, finance, and government. Solution: Video-based learning content serves as a viable alternative, allowing for efficient communication of universal tasks, reducing time and costs significantly.

Challenge #2: Scheduling Nightmares

Issue: Coordinating schedules for face-to-face training involves multiple parties, causing delays and inefficiencies. Solution: Video-based training offers flexibility by enabling easy recording at a convenient time for trainers and can be seamlessly integrated into trainees’ schedules, avoiding extensive coordination.

Challenge #3: Global Training Complexities

Issue: Global training incurs high costs due to travel, language barriers, and time zone differences. Solution: Video substitutes for global training, providing a scalable, repeatable resource. Screen recording and video editing tools enhance accessibility by incorporating captions, subtitles, and translations.

Challenge #4: Capturing Expert Knowledge

Issue: Extracting information from subject matter experts (SMEs) in one shot can be challenging during video conferencing. Solution: Screen recording and video editing tools enable the recording of interviews, ensuring 100% engagement. Alternatively, SMEs can answer pre-sent questions via video, creating a permanent, annotated resource.

Challenge #5: Formal vs. Informal Learning

Issue: The need for both formal and informal training poses a dilemma. Solution: Video caters to both formal and informal training, serving as a cost-effective tool for creating diverse training programs tailored to organizational needs.

Challenge #6: Harnessing Smart Employees’ Knowledge

Issue: Learning from smart colleagues requires a platform for knowledge-sharing. Solution: Social learning, facilitated by intuitive screen capture tools and collaborative sharing platforms, encourages employees to create and share training videos, fostering a dynamic learning community.

Challenge #7: Slide Deck Monotony

Issue: Slide decks often lack engagement and fail to effectively communicate messages. Solution: Integration of screenshots, GIFs, and video clips in slide decks enhances visual communication, making presentations more engaging and impactful.

Challenge #8: Retention and Accessibility of Training Content

Issue: Traditional training sessions and manuals lead to forgetfulness and difficulty retrieving information. Solution: Recording initial training sessions and breaking them into short videos ensures digestible, on-demand content that can be referenced easily. Including a table of contents enhances accessibility.

Challenge #9: Time Pressure for Employee Training

Issue: Lengthy hiring processes necessitate quick and effective employee training. Solution: Video-based training proves effective, with employees 75% more likely to watch training videos than read documentation. Interactive features like quiz questions enhance engagement and progress tracking.

Challenge #10: Scaling Training Efforts

Issue: Scaling training poses challenges in terms of content creation and distribution. Solution: Video-based training content streamlines the creation and distribution process, allowing for easy updates and edits. It fosters a knowledge-sharing community for both formal and informal learning.

In conclusion, leveraging video-based training addresses the multifaceted challenges in the learning landscape, providing a versatile and cost-effective solution for organizations striving to enhance the effectiveness of their training programs.

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Unlocking the Power of Animated Explainers: Elevate Your Mobile App Marketing Game

So, you’ve crafted a stellar mobile app, and now the burning question is: how do you get the world to notice it? With a myriad of marketing strategies available, selecting the one that captivates potential users and convinces them to dive into your app can be a challenge.

Enter the realm of videos – the undisputed champions of engagement, set to conquer 80% of internet traffic by 2019. But amidst the vast sea of video options, one stands out as the top contender for promoting your mobile app: the animated explainer.

1. Engage Like Never Before Animated explainers possess an unparalleled ability to seize the attention of your target audience in the bustling mobile app market. These visually captivating videos forge a strong connection between your brand and the narrative they convey, keeping viewers enthralled for an average of two minutes – a remarkable feat in the digital attention economy. According to Google, animated marketing videos, particularly explainer videos, elevate download rates for news apps by over 10%, with a cost-effective edge of up to 40% compared to other ad formats.

2. Concise Communication of Ideas Breaking down complex app functionalities into a concise, entertaining format is where animated explainers shine. In under a minute, these videos skillfully summarize your app’s purpose, aligning with the modern, interactive character of your creation. Take a glance at the animated explainer for Alrec Symfonia, a web-based project management portal, and witness how it effectively communicates benefits and ease of use, holding the attention of tech-savvy professionals.

3. Forge Emotional Bonds with Your Brand Visual storytelling is the secret sauce for building a profound emotional connection between your brand and the viewer. Animated explainers achieve this seamlessly, fostering brand awareness and identity. Not only do they captivate and engage your audience, but they also drive conversions by a noteworthy 20% on average. The FOX Sports GO app video stands as a testament, aligning its visual style with the app’s identity and creating an instant bond with sports enthusiasts.

4. The ROI Goldmine Video, especially animation, reigns supreme in the realm of Return on Investment (ROI). The cost-effectiveness of producing animated explainers, compared to live-action videos, ensures that your message reaches your audience without breaking the bank. To turbocharge your ROI, strategize your video, understand your target audience, disseminate it across all channels, and create evergreen content that stands the test of time.

In a saturated mobile app market, animated explainers emerge as the beacon that sets your app apart. Statistics speak volumes, with 64% of customers more inclined to make online purchases after watching a video. Investing in an animated explainer video becomes not just a marketing strategy but the most cost-effective way to broadcast your app’s unique benefits.

So, why wait? Dive into the world of animated explainers and let your mobile app claim the attention it deserves.

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Unveiling the Artistic Journey: A Guide to Animation Production Timelines

Embarking on a new animation venture sparks excitement and creative anticipation. However, the burning question on every animator’s mind is: How long does it take to bring an animation to life? The timeline, a vital consideration, hinges on the intricacy of design, especially when dealing with the dimensionality of 2D or 3D animations.

Simple vs. Complex: Time Dissected A straightforward animated video, boasting simplicity and lacking intricate character animation, can wrap up in under a week. On the flip side, more intricate scenes, characterized by heightened movement, such as a dynamic fight sequence, might extend the timeline to weeks or even months.

The 6-Week Animation Odyssey As a general benchmark, crafting an animation spanning 60-90 seconds typically spans a six-week timeline. However, this duration pivots significantly on the chosen animation style – from the swift pace of whiteboard animations to the meticulous details of motion graphics.

Step-by-Step Expedition

  1. Briefing (3-6 days): A well-defined creative brief kickstarts the process, offering designers a roadmap to understand project objectives and desired stylistic elements, taking into account the target audience.
  2. Brainstorming and Script Writing (3-6 days): After crafting the brief, the studio dives into brainstorming sessions, collaborating to bring the client’s vision to life. Script writing follows, with the script serving as the soul of the animation’s narrative.
  3. Voice Over (1-3 days): Once the script is ready, dialogues are passed to voice-over artists, influencing the length and rhythm of the animation.
  4. Concept Art (1-3 days): Concept art visualizes the creative message, providing a preliminary visual representation of ideas before finalization.
  5. Storyboard (1-5 days): Post-concept art approval, a storyboard outlines the scene-to-scene structure, providing a skeletal preview of the animation.
  6. Illustrations (5-12 days): Approved storyboards lead to detailed illustrations, honing in on character design and features.
  7. Animation (5-15 days): The heart of the project, where earlier illustrations and storyboards transform into dynamic animated scenes using animation software.
  8. Sound Design (1-3 days): The final touch involves integrating sound effects and a professional music track to set the mood for the target audience.

The Balancing Act While it’s tempting to expedite the process for quicker results, it often demands substantial resources and inflates project costs. Collaboration and open dialogue between the client and the design studio ensure seamless progress, timely feedback, and alignment with the desired creative vision.

The 6-week animation journey is a delicate dance between efficiency and creative integrity. Stepping into this process with clear communication lays the foundation for a captivating end product that resonates with viewers, delivering your envisioned message effectively.

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Dive into the World of Animated Magic: Unraveling the Enigma of Animation Production Costs

If you’re contemplating the addition of an animated video to your marketing arsenal, you’re undoubtedly on the right path. With video constituting over 30% of all online traffic today, the impact of a well-crafted animated video is immeasurable. In fact, a staggering 64% of users are more inclined to make online purchases after watching a video.

Consider the success story of Crazy Egg, whose animated explainer video, created three years ago, catapulted their monthly income by $21,000. Remarkably, this video remains a timeless asset for Crazy Egg, showcasing the unparalleled return on investment (ROI) that animations can yield.

Now, you might be curious about the cost of such transformative animations. Unlike off-the-shelf products, animation is bespoke, tailored to individual needs, which is why animation studios often don’t display pricing on their websites. But fear not; we’re here to unravel the mysteries of animation costs and guide you in creating an extraordinary video for your company.

Decoding Animation Production Costs

Understanding the elements that contribute to animation costs is crucial. Two key factors serve as the foundation: video length and style.

Length: Animation studios typically initiate pricing discussions based on video length. This helps in gauging the number of designers and animators required, estimating production time, and creating realistic schedules. Longer videos may offer discounted rates, but brevity often reigns supreme in the marketing realm, with videos over 60 seconds being less effective.

Style: Crafting a unique video that aligns with your brand involves choosing the right style. While whiteboard animations were once popular, contemporary options include 2D cutout animation, frame-by-frame animation, 3D renders, motion graphics, kinetic typeset, or stop motion. Each style carries its own cost implications, with more intricate styles demanding substantial hours dedicated to character design and narrative development.

Budgeting Your Animation Project

Navigating the budgeting process for your animation project involves collaboration with the animation studio. You can either present your budget to the studio and ask them to tailor the project accordingly or engage in a collaborative effort where the studio provides extensive conceptual work.

So, how much does animation cost? The answer is nuanced, contingent on various factors. Consider a standardized example: a 60-second multi-colored flat design in cutout technique, featuring two characters, music, voiceover, and sound effects, with copyright covering internet, internal use, and private conferences. Such an animation could cost approximately 6-10,000 USD.

For 2D animation, costs may range between 3,000 and 50,000 USD per minute, while 3D animation can go from 10,000 USD for a simple video to a staggering 200,000 USD for complex projects. However, it’s imperative to remember that your first animated video serves as a first impression for your brand – an investment worth making.

Why Invest in Animated Videos?

Animated videos are not just creative endeavors; they are strategic investments. They deliver measurable ROI through enhanced SEO results, improved customer satisfaction, heightened engagement and awareness, and a substantial boost to sales and conversions.

Your first animated video is more than a visual presentation; it’s a brand-defining moment. Investing a little more ensures that your video resonates with your audience, leaving a lasting impression and positioning your brand for success. So, if you have a compelling video idea, seize the opportunity to collaborate with an animation studio, breathe life into your vision, and witness an instant elevation of your brand.

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Decoding the Art: Selecting the Perfect Animation Style for Your Brand

Navigating the vast landscape of animated videos requires more than just creative flair—it demands a strategic understanding of which illustration style harmonizes best with your brand. Amid the myriad options, how can you pinpoint the ideal style that will elevate your brand and captivate your audience?

Consider these crucial factors when making this pivotal decision for your next video:

1. Your Brand: A brand is a culmination of reputation, values, and identity. Approach the selection of an animation style with a keen awareness of your brand’s distinctiveness. Different industries necessitate unique visual representations. A financial institution seeks professionalism and reliability, while a dynamic tech startup craves innovation. Presenting an animation studio with your brand book—a meticulously designed guide outlining your brand’s principles and visual elements—serves as a strategic foundation for crafting the perfect visual style.

Take a cue from Google’s animation, a seamless embodiment of visual continuity and a robust brand identity. The video seamlessly integrates Google’s characteristic colors, ample blank space, and a simple narrative structure, showcasing the power of aligning animation with brand aesthetics.

2. Your Product: Products carry inherent visual expectations, from specific colors to overall imagery. Tailor your animation style to complement and enhance these expectations. For instance, financial and medical products may lean towards trustworthy blues and greens, instilling a sense of reliability. Dynamic and intense imagery, on the other hand, suits fashion or lifestyle products targeting a younger audience.

Witness Coca-Cola’s promotional video for XMas Cards, where the iconic red color dominates, creating an attractive animation brimming with visual cues. The incorporation of red, coupled with Coca-Cola’s logos, effectively communicates the brand’s message.

3. Your Target Audience: The character and tone of your video are dictated by your audience, be it consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B). Delve into the preferences and sensibilities of your viewers to align your animation style accordingly. While playful animations might be inappropriate for sensitive topics like cancer, organizations like Fight for the Girls leverage humor in their black-and-white animation to resonate positively with their Irish audience.

Consider industry standards and viewer expectations to avoid mismatches between your brand image and customer expectations. Research your target audience thoroughly to steer clear of common pitfalls.

Unleash Animation as Your Brand’s Driving Force: Remember, these factors are guidelines rather than strict rules. Flexibility allows for creative experimentation, as exemplified by an insurance company like Aviva adopting a funny, cartoonish look in their promotional video. On the contrary, a serious ministry might opt for an artistic approach, as seen in the animated paintings featured in a video for the State Forests organization.

In essence, there is no one-size-fits-all rule for illustration style. Your ultimate goal is to choose a style that harmonizes with your brand, seamlessly aligns with your product or service, and resonates with your target audience, ensuring successful engagement and conversion.

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In a professional context it often happens

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapor around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!

O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendor of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.

I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapor around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapor around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me.