2D Explainer Videos

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”center” font_size=”18″ font_style=”300″ font_color=”%23fcfcfc” font_shadow=”none”]Communicate your vision to customers, your team, and the world. The goal is to streamline your video animations to deliver your core message. Read on below for the factors that go into creating a 2D explainer video.[/text_block]

What Is An Explainer Video?

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left” font_size=”18″ font_color=”%234c4c4c” font_shadow=”none”]An explainer video is a short video that uses a combination of motion graphics, voice overs and background music to tell a story or describe something in a brief manner. Explainer videos can take business concepts, features and products and break them down into something that is clear and concise for the viewer to understand. The bottom line of all explainer videos is to relay the necessary information in an engaging manner.[/text_block]

Where To Place an Explainer Video

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Once your animated explainer video is completed and ready to go, you have to decide where to place your new asset. Formatting aside, where are the majority of your customers spending their time? Some of the most popular options are listed below.[/text_block]

Website Landing Page

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Your website is one of the top places visitors will go to learn more information about your business and services. An explainer video can help retain users and direct them throughout your site. Higher retention rates leads to higher engagement and more importantly…the retention of your company’s core message. [/text_block]

Youtube and Video Hosting Platforms

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]There’s a reason Google bought Youtube back in 2006…The primary reason is because Youtube is one of the largest search engines in the world. You wouldn’t necessarily think this was the case, would you? That’s because besides being one of the largest social media and content sharing platforms in the world, visual learners can save precious time and energy when exploring a new topic.

Video offers a way for searchers to expedite information without having to read through technical manuals. Without getting too technical, Youtube also offers its own version of video SEO (technical markup that allows users to find specific topic easier). Want you video ranked #1 for a specific keyword query? While that’s not something we do here, you can certainly read more about ranking your explainer videos with tags, descriptions and more, found here: https://backlinko.com/how-to-rank-youtube-videos.
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Social Media Shares

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Video or short animations can be a great way to quickly capture a viewer’s attention on all Social Media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.). In fact, we would argue that social media is one of the perfect platforms for sharing your videos and animations due to the nature of the social sites, perfect for short attention spans. If you do any type of Facebook or social media advertising, you will know that both Facebook and Instagram support video ads. Find more on the video requirements here:
https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/video/facebook-feed/video-views[/text_block]

What’s The Best Duration For an Explainer Video?

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]How long should your animated explainer video actually be? To answer this, you first have to determine what the purpose of the video will be. Is the video for an educational training, a quick social media post, or a statistical infographic post? Each of these types of videos will need a different amount of explanation.

The video’s goal should be to engage the viewer all the way through while keeping the information flowing. At the end of the video there is probably a “learn more” link or a pitch for the viewer to continue on to the next step (perhaps it’s a buy now button). As long as you aren’t boring the viewers your video can range in length anywhere from 10 seconds to 20 minutes. Keep the info creative![/text_block]

What Does an Explainer Video Cost?

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]If you’re thinking about the cost of an explainer video you probably have questions like: “What am I going to get out of this?” Like anything in this world, you can find a huge range of prices.  Here are three main routes that one could take in order to produce an explainer video (and estimated cost associated with them).[/text_block]

#1) The DIY Route – Major Cost: Time

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Using a combination of Adobe’s Creative Suite, Animation Software and other DIY options, you could produce the animations for simply the cost of the software subscription & license (ranging between $50-$100/month).

Of course this route, if starting from scratch, would take anywhere between 6-12 months depending on how fast you can learn to use the software, illustrate, get the timing perfect…you get the idea (tip: character animation takes far longer to animate due to the nuances of biomechanics and understanding of basic human movement). While the major cost here is time, you could get the animated portion of things ready for somewhere between $300, assuming you are a very fast learner and don’t need the software afterwards for future revisions.[/text_block]

#2) Piecing Together Elements

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Let’s say you’ve gone ahead and created the animations yourself, maybe 2-4 months have gone by and you’re in need of a voice over for narration. OR you’ve gone and found a freelancer to create the animations for you. You are supplied with a video with minimal headlines, engaging motion graphics and company features. Either way, you’ve got the animation portion ready but now you want to really make it “POP.”

While we HIGHLY do not recommend creating the voice over after you have created the video, due to timing & revisions, you could go out and find yourself a voice artist. These are professionals that make a living by creating professional-quality audio files for tv commercials, radio, and anywhere else a narration is needed. Sites like voicebunny.com do the hard work of finding a voice over artist for you, however the fees for these can quickly add up depending on the total length of the script.

These companies find voice over talent with specific accents, gender and other vocal traits. Overall this route will be cheapest (if you’ve created the animations yourself) but will be a massive trade off for the time required. There will inevitably be time needed for back and forth communication with freelancers, voice artists, and anyone else involved. You will most likely have spent a bare minimum of $600 at this point with the fees, revisions, and your own software licensing (time aside).[/text_block]

#3) The Agency Route

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Strap in here for a potential world of expenses and fees. The largest fee that stems from using an agency is employees playing an internal game of “telephone.”

Remember the game where Person A begins with a word or phrase and whispers it into their neighbor’s ear and so on and so forth until the message returns back to Person A ? At this point the message is typically distorted and humorous? This is what can occur in the world of Agencies, especially if there are no in-house animators.

The high level Marketing/Creative Director will meet on the phone with the new client and take down all the necessary requirements, information, and notes for the explainer video. Next, because the Marketing Director’s time is paid far more, the Director will pass along all information to the new junior marketing rep. The eager junior rep will want to impress all of their new bosses so they will minimize questions on their end and “take charge.” (PRO TIP: The term “taking charge” or “initiative” does NOT have to be synonymous with flying blind) If the agency is built around a skeletal model of employees, Marketing Director, a couple reps, and an outbound sales individual, they will not have any designers, creatives or animators in-house (meaning the agency needs to find and hire these individuals from Freelancing sites or other agencies).[/text_block]

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]The junior marketing rep will be tasked with finding the right animators, voice over talent, and creatives, for the project and then relaying the original client’s requirements over to these new individuals. The animators, who might not be from the same country, speak the same language, or know anything about the market (or marketing in general) will need to fully understand the project at hand. Did we mention they will have a very limited time to turnover the project? All of this internal game of telephone goes on behind the scenes resulting in extraneous fees to you, resulting in extra fees and time required. [/text_block]
[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]With all of that being said, there are the agencies that just “get it.” While these agencies may be equally as expensive, they come with peace of mind. You know they have the team to cover all angles of the video project at hand. The in-house creatives at these agencies are typically on salary and paid regardless of whether or not they have incoming projects. The great thing about these types of agencies is that they foster creativity and truly understand the marketing and analytics needed. 

The overall cost for a great agency that specializes in 3D animation, complex character rigging (backflips. somersaults, and complex biomechanic movements) range between $2000 – $50,000 depending on the production process, number of people involved and turnaround time.[/text_block]

Voice Over Narration – Extra Consideration

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”left”]Expedite double the information in half the time. People have short attention spans…no really, they do. The faster you can communicate the necessary information, the better. Give the viewer options to streamline the information, mixed between audio and visuals. [/text_block]

Explainer Video Examples

[text_block style=”style_1.png” align=”center”](browse below for some recent examples of our 2D explainer videos)[/text_block]

Other Animation Ideas From Robots Inc.

Explainer Videos

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2D Explainer Videos are a great way to summarize the features and benefits of your business or project. Mockups available.

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Branded Motion

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Animated Vector Icons created for business and brand identities. Logos, animated email signatures and more.

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Media Content

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Video and animations help by increasing social engagement and can help with your marketing click-through-rates.

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Infographics

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Need to keep a powerpoint presentation interesting? Visual data and infographics help keep ideas flowing.

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