Explainer Video is a versatile and proven marketing tool for all kinds of industries. In short, an explainer is generally short videos (from 20 seconds to 2 minutes) focusing on a particular point and explaining a product’s or service’s benefits in a concise and entertaining way. They can also be quirky or fun with the visuals and are often more conversational feeling than a more formal corporate video style. Explainers can be filmed or animated but are often animated video productions. 

Whether you’re an SME, global brand, charity, or government institution, a professionally made explainer video can help your marketing and communication efforts in several ways. Explainer videos are highly shareable on social media platforms, and they can generate buzz around your brand and reach a wider audience.

Compared to traditional advertising methods, explainer videos offer a high return on investment. Once created, your team can use them across multiple platforms without incurring additional costs; but you may also choose to create cut-down vertical versions for social media as well as a landscape version to make the best use.

Explainer videos can be made accessible to a wider audience by adding subtitles or captions and can be easily localised into other languages. The visuals can designed to be very clear, making the content easy to digest.

Explainer videos can be powerful sales tools. They can be shared with potential customers, demonstrating the value of your offering. Videos can also improve your website’s search engine ranking, as search engines heavily favour platforms like YouTube. Embedding your video on your site can boost your visibility.

Industry-specific Explainer video applications

As a professional video production company, we’ve created animated video content for just about every industry around the world, from finance to charities to education, construction, technology like apps and software and much more. We’ve used our in-depth knowledge and experience to quickly summarise some of the ways explainer videos can be used in different sectors to boost engagement and increase ROI. We’ve also included some video examples and explained a little about them and what makes them work well.

Tech Industry

• Demystify complex technology with clear and concise animations.
• Create engaging software tutorials to guide users through features.
• Showcase app functionalities in a visually appealing and fun way – showcasing the benefits, not the features.
• Deliver compelling startup pitches that highlight unique value propositions.

This is a high-concept style explainer video for a tech company to promote its software and advanced machine learning capabilities without showing any software at all.

Charity & Non-profit

• Effectively communicate an organisation’s mission and goals with heartfelt videos and friendly illustration styles.
• Explain how the charity works.
• Give service users anonymity by sharing their stories without showing their faces – using illustrations instead.
• Inspire support and donations through compelling stories.
• Share successes to build trust and credibility.

This is an explainer-style About Us video for the Power of Nutrition organisation to accompany its new branding. It uses a mix of animation and supplied footage to create a rich experience.

Healthcare

• Improve patient understanding of medical procedures and treatments with clear, easy-to-understand animation.
• Visualise drug mechanisms and benefits for healthcare professionals.
• Raise awareness about mental health issues and promote support services with clear signposting.
• Showcase hospital or clinic services, facilities and specialities.

Patient information explainer video for The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as part of their OASI 2 project to help pregnant women reduce the chance of severe tears during birth. The video included a mix of clear anatomical imagery and friendly illustration to make it very visually clear. It was also localised into 6 languages, with a further 6 subtitled for full accessibility.

Finance

• Simplify complex financial concepts like investments, loans, and insurance with well-designed visuals.
• Clearly communicate product offerings and benefits.
• Visualise potential risks and solutions for risk management.

Quirky icon style explainer video for Finance company about open banking and the implications

Education

• Promote online courses with engaging video content.
• Create visually appealing lessons and tutorials for students.
• Showcase a school’s values and mission through a branded About Us style video.

This explainer video promoted new educational software to help students revise for exams. It used some software screens combined with typography and a 3D approach.

Government & Public Bodies

• Raise awareness about important issues like public health, safety, or environmental concerns with public service announcements.
• Explain eligibility criteria, benefits, and application processes for government programs.
• Explain processes, demonstrating transparency, and building public trust.
• Encourage citizen participation in government, explaining how to get involved, and promoting civic engagement.

This explainer video is for The Supply Chain Transition Programme. It aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the West Midlands diversify their customer base by winning new orders in growing areas of the economy. This short video was for their conference opener to quickly show the opportunities ahead for businesses the region.

Tips for creating effective explainer videos

Understand your target audience: Tailor your video content to resonate with their needs. What are their pain points? What are their interests? Where do they consume video content?

Keep it concise and engaging: Grab attention quickly and deliver your message clearly. The first few seconds are vital, along with a diverse range of imagery and exciting animation throughout.

Leverage data and analytics: Track video performance to make data-driven improvements. Find drop off points and determine what other products or services needs a video to increase time on page.

Include a strong call to action: Encourage viewers to take the next step. What do you want them to do after they’ve watched the video?

Conclusion

Explainer videos are a powerful tool for businesses across all industries. By effectively communicating your message and engaging your audience with a good story, strong well-branded visuals and a call to action, you can achieve a higher return on investment and build stronger customer relationships.

Ready to create an explainer video that drives results for your organisation? Contact our video production team today for a free quote.