Your video lives or dies by its first five seconds.
If you can capture the attention of your viewers, chances are they will stick around and watch the rest.
If you fail, they will most likely leave, never to return – no matter how awesome the remainder of your video might be. And that hurts!
This is where animated video intros come in. They may not be the most informative element of your video content – but they are eye-catching, fun, and quite memorable.
And if you’re not using them if your videos – live-action or animated – you are missing out!
In this week’s article we’ll discuss the benefits of animated video intros, and why your content can’t do without them. But before we dive in, let’s answer one question: what makes a good video intro animation?
How to make animated video intros that rule
We wish there were a complicated process involved in making video intros… but there isn’t. It’s literally a simple checklist you can follow:
- Make sure you display your brand logo and color scheme in the intro – it’s one of the easiest ways to ensure that it’s “on brand”
- Go for fun visuals whenever possible, if they don’t clash with the video’s tone of voice and your company’s communication style
- You can play the intro at the very start of a video – or show a brief teaser/recap of what people will learn and then play it
- Use music and sound effects, or narration. Visuals are more effective when they work in concert with audio, so don’t neglect it
Now, let’s move on to why would you make video intro animation for your content? In hindsight, we probably should have led with that, but oh well…
Anyway, here are 5 reasons why!
1. Add credibility to your brand image
Even though animation in general doesn’t convey much credibility, animated videos can still look professional and authoritative – even when done in a mediocre fashion.
(But shh! It’s a secret! Don’t tell anyone.)
Plus, animation comes in a huge variety of styles. You can always pick and choose the ones that complement your brand – and steer clear of those that don’t. Finally, you can create a kick-butt animated video intro on a limited budget and with no access to costly production values that you’d need for a live-action intro!
And here’s a tip: ten times out of ten, a good artist can help you make animated intros that enhance your brand image instead of undermining it. When in doubt, talk to a professional!
2. Increase brand awareness and recognition
Having a well-made intro makes your branded videos more easily recognizable to your viewers.
At first, they might not even pay attention to your branding, because they’re just here for the content… But if the content knocks their socks off, your viewers will notice who made the video – and look for more content where that came from!
After they put their socks back on, of course.
In a world where your potential customers have to tune out thousands and thousands of marketing messages every single day, brand awareness offers a substantial advantage. Making video intros can help you build it.
Brands like Twitter, Uber, Hubspot, and others are already using whiteboard video to attract more customers. Discover exactly how they do it, along with 9 more business-boosting tips – like how to increase your conversion rates by 20%!
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3. Make your branded videos more memorable
Awareness sounds terrific, of course – but you can’t be aware of something if you don’t remember it. And 99 percent of brand messages anyone will ever see suffer from the same fatal condition…
They’re bland, boring, and forgettable. Like a meal of instant porridge – made with water instead of milk, undercooked, and without any toppings whatsoever.
If you want your branded content to “stick” in viewers’ minds, using dynamic and well-made animated video intros is a great way to achieve just that. People can remember a great video ad for up to 30 days after they’ve watched it. So wouldn’t you rather show off your branding in the intro, too – so it stays with them?
Exactly.
4. Highlight your ongoing content
Do you make series of videos on a single topic? Those could be anything:
- Tutorials teaching people to use your products…
- Q&A videos where you tackle customer questions…
- Structured online courses, free or paid…
- Onboarding videos for first-time buyers…
- Or just regular videos with a certain “gimmick”…
Then you might want to make a video intro for each of these series – to differentiate them from the rest of your branded content, increase their perceived value, and make them stand out.
As a result, those viewers who anticipate each new video in your series will see the intro and know immediately that they’re in for a treat! Remember how the opening sequence of your favorite TV show used to get you pumped for what’s to come? It’s kind of like that!
And you don’t even need elaborate, lengthy animated video intros to achieve the intended effect. Even a simple splash screen intro animation will do the trick, as long as it’s visually distinctive.
5. Provide critical information early
Most of the time, you make video intros with one goal: to impress. You emphasize the visual component, make sure the imagery sizzles and pops in a way that’s hard for viewers to ignore…
But here’s the thing. You don’t have to be flashy.
Sometimes, it’s what you convey in your intro that matters much more than how it looks. You can use animated video intros to give viewers important info about what they are going to watch.
Here, let us give you an example:
Check out the first five seconds of this video. This intro is genius. Within seconds, it tells you everything you need to know about the kinds of questions the host will be answering. Even if you didn’t see the video title, you would know exactly what to expect just from this small intro animation.
And that’s what we mean when we say that your video intros can be informative and useful!
Here’s what else your videos need to convert
Animated video intros are a quick and easy way to enhance your branded content, taking it from 98% to 100%…
…but they won’t do you much good if your marketing videos aren’t designed to engage – and most importantly, to convert – viewers in the first place.
Adding a video intro to an already great piece of content can make it exceptional. But slapping it onto something mediocre won’t move the needle at all.
So if you want to give your branded content an even better chance to convert viewers into high-paying customers, there are many more things you want to consider!
Ten of them, to be exact.
That’s why we put together a checklist that gives you all the essential elements for a high-converting video. Use it whenever you create new content, and your marketing videos will always be top-notch!
You can grab it for absolutely free right here:
Download “10 Things Every Marketing Video Must Have to Convert”
