13th November 2015

9 Marketing Experts Reveal the Most Common Explainer Video Mistakes

expert roundup

Explainer videos are a crucial part of any company’s online marketing strategy, but many errors can be made. Making a successful explainer video is a multi-step process that needs careful attention during every phase. We asked seven video and marketing experts what they thought was the most common occurring mistake companies tend to make in their explainer videos — here’s what they had to say.

VIDEO MARKETING MISSTEPS

expert roundup

Nicholas Bodell, Works at Brid.tv

No call to action, not making it personal, and not solving customers’ problems all go hand in hand. People tend to talk more about their company or product than the benefits for their customers.

 

Serpwave

 

Serpwave, Video Marketing Services

Not using video embeds on high authority web 2.0 properties.

 

 

Rahul Rathore

Rahul Rathore, Video Streaming Expert

If the video has to be placed on the homepage, it has to be quick and finish in less than a minute. If the video has to feature a product and solution(s), divide it into multiple videos.

 

 

STORYBOARD NEGLECT

Rahul Rathore

Rahul Rathore

Storyboarding has to be perfect, with the right amount of flash and special effects in transitions. Tell the story in form of animation and text to support the story and add value to each scene.

 

expert roundup

 

Marc Scott, Voice Actor & Blogger

Making the video too long, and not having a great storyteller.

 

 

expert roundup

 

Nichola Stott, Marketer at themediaflow

Trying to convey too many points, instead of picking 2 or 3 impactful strong values.

 

 

expert roundupGary Elmer, Cinematographer/Producer

#1. Taking the video script from the company brochure. The thinking is: the written brochure already has the key points, why reinvent the wheel? But brochures are a completely different communication vehicle than the website or marketing materials. For instance, “xxxx-sized warehouse space” is good thing to say in print but comes across as unflavoured tofu in a video voiceover.

 
#2. Videos that are bland show and tells (with lists)! “We have so much of this”, “we have that”, “we care”, or “we are professional”. Lots of stats and cliches. It just goes on. So the video gets checked off the to do list, is embedded on the website — and nobody will ever watch it through to the end because it says absolutely nothing. Sometimes the video is just music with no content. Without breathtaking visual content and an extraordinary musical score these rarely work well.

 

SKIMPING ON AUDIO

expert roundupShaun Hildner, Video Producer, Basecamp

Don’t skimp on audio! It’s easy and inexpensive to make a great-looking video these days, but even if it’s just a nice screencast, people tend to think of the audio portion as secondary. Nothing will make me turn off a video quicker than unintelligible dialogue or voiceover. Invest in a nice mic and spend some time mixing it after your edit. Most customers are going to be hearing these through crappy laptop speakers or earbuds, and your video should be as clear and clean as possible.

 
What are some of the most common mistakes you’ve seen in company explainer videos? Share with us in the comments.

 

 

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About the Author

Anish hails from London and holds a degree in software engineering from the University of Manchester. Following his education, he worked for several years in the financial industry as a platform administrator before founding Revolution Productions in 2008. In addition to over seven years of video production, Anish is seen as an industry professional, adding his insight in publications such as VentureBeat, ReelSEO and Wistia.

Response (1)

  1. Mamary lynn
    17th November 2015 at 11:43 am · Reply

    I totally agree with Serpwave and can ensure you using Video embeds in your campaigns
    on blogs like WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, etc. pass a huge amount of authority to the video
    and is a major factor in ranking your video the top of YouTube and Google.

    Whether you use it as your first tier and build to it with a 2nd Tier of web 2.0’s, social bookmark or even a network of GSA Ser links It is an absolute must. Take it from me, I’m a client of Serpwave and they know how to rank video, fast and effectively!!

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