What Do You Do with an Explainer Video?

Explainer videos are short videos that present a business’s services and/or product(s) using a creative means to make them attractive and inviting. These types of videos generally run approximately one to one and a half minutes. They consist of easy-to-understand information.

You can create explaining videos using animated illustrations, live-action, and 3D animations. You can also use a combination by mixing at least two of these.

The explainer video should have a creative angle to it, and it will depend on what the brand story is as well as the style used for each of the companies. Most television advertisements will usually use a direct sales pitch which is generally are too repetitious, sales and are hardly ever entertaining. These types of sales pitches have a tendency to make viewers turn away.

About Explainer Videos

The explainer videos are merely a short story that is converted. It is more than an easy way to make sales opportunities. Living in a space that is different, such as the internet, a place that is open and accessible 24/7, meaning you can go browsing whenever you get the urge.

Of course, explainer videos could still pick up a little knowledge from television advertisements. Both television advertisements and explainer videos can reach their viewers and give them a positive image through storytelling in combination with the use of emotional marketing.

There Are Different Types of Explainer Videos

Explainer Videos That Refer to ‘Whiteboard’

The way these videos are created the same as a person writing/drawing on a whiteboard.

However, for it to work the best, the elements should have a creative approach when it is added to the whiteboard.

There Are Several Different Styles

1. Someone writes and doodles on a whiteboard filmed, as well as edited and narrated.
2. There is the digitalized design; this is where information automatically begins to scroll onto the whiteboard.
3. An image of a hand from stock graphics is placed at the top of the digitalized design.

Explainer Videos That Refer to ‘Animated’

This style of explainer video is 2D animated and consists of moving illustrations. It is also referred to as a flat animation due to there not being a sense of depth. Using this style may be more memorable, as it gives the explainer video a unique feel. This style can either be incredibly creative, or you can just make it simple.

Then there are the 3D explainer videos. This type is generally memorable and will draw some attention. You can use the 3D animation where the setting has a 3D world, including 3D characters. You can even use it as engineering videos in areas that have the machinery and its parts which are seen in 3D mockups.

• Explainer Videos That Refer to ‘Live-Action’

This is a style where the footage involves real people. The real people will either be placed as a visual during narration, or they will be placed in front of the camera to talk. Occasionally, there will be some elements added on for motion graphics, like the text fading in and out of visual sight, lines, shapes, and colors, which make some moving compositions.

• Explainer Videos That Refer to ‘Stop Motion’

Finally, this is the explainer video on ‘stop motion.’ Plasticine characters and various other physical sculptures (which have been photographed using single shoots going ‘frame by frame’) and are used to create the ‘stop motion’ explainer videos. Which are later animated when it goes to the video editor.

In consumer behavior, the aim is to find out what influences the buying decisions of consumers based on their emotional, mental, and behavioral responses.

In simple terms, consumer behavior refers to people’s decisions and actions to meet their wants and needs through purchasing goods and services.

Adapted from the American Marketing Association, consumer behavior occurs dynamically, fosters interaction, and involves transactions.

• Dynamic: Consumer groups, targeted consumers, and society has dynamic thought processes, emotions, and behaviors.
• Involves Interaction: During this process, thoughts, emotions, and actions of the individual have interacted with the external environment.
• Involves Exchanges: An exchange of goods or services between two or more parties. People give up money and other valuable items in exchange for the goods, services, and products they want or need.

Understanding the difference between ‘customers’ and ‘consumers.’

• When we say ‘consumer,’ who are we talking about?
• Also, What is the difference between this term and ‘customer’?

The terms are synonymous, but there are some significant differences between them.

Customers are individuals or organizations who purchase products, goods, or services from a seller.

By contrast, a consumer is a person who uses this merchandise, product, or service.

Even though the customer purchases, they are not always the purchaser since they may have been intended as a gift or resold.

The parent who buys their child lunch is a good example. Their child is the one who gets to eat the goods, not them. They purchase the goods, but their child is the one who gets to eat them.

Also, it is essential to mention that the customer may sometimes also be the consumer. End-users of the purchased items are entitled to this. The clothing, food, or book is worn, eaten, or read by the individual.

Consumer behavior is beneficial to marketing

Why is a study of consumer behavior valuable to marketers? Check out the details of each of these goals below.

#1. Determine which products are necessary and which ones are obsolete

The last thing any business wants to do is invest a lot of money producing something that won’t sell. By knowing consumer behavior, you can determine whether your product can meet a specific need, provides something better than its competitors, or fills an entirely new – but essential – market niche.

#2. In a competitive market, to figure out the price at which a product or service will be offered

Businesses would experience constant headaches if they did not analyze consumer behavior. Ultimately, you don’t want to be too cheap when pricing your product to make a minimal profit. Still, you also don’t want to be too expensive when pricing your product, causing consumers to look at your competitors’ more affordable products instead.

#3. Determine which distribution channel is best for your product

Essentially, distribution channels refer to the places and means through which individuals and companies will access products and services. It is essential to take multiple factors into account when planning your distribution strategy, such as the quantity needed, the convenience of online or offline channels, what competitors do already, and more.

#4. In the interest of marketing

Consumer behavior should provide valuable insights into which channels will produce the best results since different types of consumers respond differently to each marketing method. What are the consumer’s preferences? Does the target audience prefer reading a magazine or browsing Instagram? An expensive marketing campaign can ruin a business’s marketing efforts, so no one wants to waste resources.

#5. The purpose of boosting revenue

Knowing how consumers behave allows you to identify valuable insights that drive valuable outcomes. Studying consumer behaviors and their decisions can help you understand how, when, where, why, and for whom people buy certain products. To boost sales and revenue, we need to ensure we implement the correct methods to make our products, goods, and services in demand.

#6. To personalize content

The importance of content personalization might be surprising for you if you thought it wasn’t a priority. Research has found that 41% of customers switched companies because of poor personalization in 2019. Technological advances, as well as the desire for highly personalized, unique content, are growing. When you collect consumer behavior data, you can tailor your content successfully to the needs and wants of each consumer.

#7. The value of customers

Identifying the ideal customer characteristics is feasible when you can correctly predict the customer’s overall value. Using this method, you can identify specific customer personas, and you can target them to engage brand-loyal customers before they discover your competitors.

#8. Optimization of content

As we have discussed, it is possible to customize the content, but how can it also be optimized to succeed? In addition to providing you with data to optimize your marketing campaigns, your consumer behavior analysis should also help you narrow down your focus on the most valuable customers, engage them via their preferred channels, or deliver content at the best time.

#9. Maintaining a customer base

What if you knew the difference between increasing customer retention by 5% and increasing profits by 25%? Retaining existing customers is also 6-to-7 times cheaper than acquiring new ones. In other words, loyalty to a business is essential, but maintaining them is even more critical. Identifying ‘good customers’ that are willing to be rewarded can be accomplished by understanding consumer behavior.

Can Small Businesses Benefit from Digital Marketing?

Let us cut to the chase, “The answer to this question is yes.” It offers more of a chance to compete. With digital marketing, the status of your business can be leveled up to start on the same level as your competitors, regardless of how large they may be. If you are using the right digital strategies, it is possible to create a massive following for your social media; you could even rank the highest on Google and/or have oodles of customers to sell your products to via email.

Wait, there is more! Here are a few more advantages that digital marketing has to offer you, which are not only for small businesses. These offers can benefit any business with an online presence.

Related:

• SEO VS PPC
• What Is Marketing Automation, Why Is It Important For Small Businesses?

Digital Marketing Helps PinPoint and Engage with the Audience You Choose

Investing in traditional marketing, such as magazine articles and/or television ads, will let your audience be targeted to an extent; however, this is something you can surmise somewhat already. Those of you who are interested in knowing more than that should try digital marketing as it will give you the ability to pinpoint the audience you are looking for and help you to optimize your business’s budget.

Whether the audiences you are seeking to find are unemployed parents or they are CEOs, it does not make any difference. Having digital marketing gives you the capability of identifying and engaging the buyers’ personas that you feel are right by using a variety of marketing tactics online, whether big or small and even if they seem to have no interests at all.

With Digital Marketing, You Can Reach Your Audience

Few people read magazines, newspapers, or even turn on the radio. In the United States during the year of 2018, the circulation of newspapers was at its lowest since back in 1940, and the audiences of local news have been at their lowest for over 10 years now. What has the audience of the local news been doing instead? Glad you ask; they have been browsing online!

Furthermore, nearly 70% of all internet users are on Facebook daily, while 90% of American adults are on the internet daily as well, and 75% can be found on YouTube daily. So, you want to know how those percentages are affecting businesses, huh? Those who are using the right strategies with their digital marketing can reach out and connect to their audience wherever they may be.

Digital Marketing Makes Monitoring and Tracking Easier

It is not that simple to get the tracking out of traditional ad campaigns. Although you may have an idea of the number of times your ad(s) showed up, the number of people who responded to your newspaper and/or television ad(s) would be impossible to know.

The fact is, launching a digital marketing campaign will allow you to virtually track all the details you want to. With only a couple of clicks, you will be able to visually see the number of people who have clicked your ad, including whether they purchased anything. Digital marketing even makes it possible to target those same people using another one of your ads.

Digital Marketing Lets You Scale & Adapt the Efforts You Put into It

With digital marketing, you can scale the digital strategy you feel works best for you, and just think, you will no longer be stuck watching television ads or no longer having to send mailings several months ahead of schedule. This will give you a chance to put more out on digital, and you could adapt more to the needs you have as they come up.

So, how do you go about finding what works best for you? There are analytics tools available for measuring your results. Just think, you will have complete control over your digital efforts, and now you also will have the time you wanted to try some newer ideas. If you find any ideas that you can not get out of your head, you can scale them.

If it turns out they were not what you had hoped, you are in control, which means you can stop them prior to going broke.

How to build a successful sales process: the sales cycle

Improving sales efforts rarely results in success. A tiny percentage of companies employ a lot of random tactics and see if they stick. A business that consistently succeeds in sales offers some level of guidance to its salespeople.

To know what to do next, salespeople often need a step-by-step plan to guide them. A sales cycle is often referred to as that infrastructure.

This article will provide you with an overview of a sales cycle’s various stages, along with tips on how to put one into motion.

Related:

• What Is Marketing Automation, Why Is It Important For Small Businesses?
• What is a sales funnel

What is a sales cycle?

The Sales Cycle refers to the steps salespeople take to close a new customer. There is a common misconception that sales cycles are akin to sales methodologies – frameworks for implementing sales cycles. The sales cycle generally contains stages such as prospecting, connecting, researching, presenting, and closing.

An established sales cycle is in the best interest of your company. Organizing your sales pipeline, prioritizing leads, and ultimately evaluating the results of your sales efforts becomes more manageable with this tool.

When your sales cycle is clearly defined, your reps will have a roadmap and common reference points, ensuring they can work together and communicate effectively. Teams that work well together are more successful.

If they are required to pick up where another left off, your representatives must be flexible and know how to do so. If there is no sales cycle to guide their efforts, there is no “where they left off.”

Using a sales cycle allows reps to prioritize leads and understand how far prospects are along their buyer’s journey. In this way, they can figure out how to approach the leads they are nurturing at the right time.

Additionally, it is possible to evaluate sales efforts via a sales cycle objectively. Is your sales team doing well? How did they succeed? Was there a mistake or a right decision? Have they strayed from the cycle? If they did, what would happen?

It is essential to have a perspective for evaluating how your business and your reps are doing – a sales cycle provides that perspective.

Understanding a sales cycle requires understanding its stages. Each one is listed below.

Stages in a sales cycle

1. 1. Prospect
   2. Connect
   3. Research
   4. Present
   5. Handle objections
   6. Close
   7. Follow up and generate referrals

1. Prospect

As part of this stage, any SQLs will be identified in your pipeline who may be interested in hearing more about your product/service and buyer persona.

2. Connect

Identifying prospects is the first step in contacting them. You can reach out via email and phone, or you can ask acquaintances to introduce you. You can also reach out to your prospects using social media like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ask if they’d like to learn more about what you have to offer.

3. Research

You should set up a discovery meeting if your prospect wishes to learn more. The more you learn about their business, their needs, and how you can fulfill those needs, the more prepared you will be.

You may discover that you are not the right fit during discovery calls. Other users will provide you with the insight to convince them to adopt your product or service.

4. Present

This is the moment when the presentation will begin. In most cases, your sales team tailors a pitch template to meet the business needs of each prospect.

The presentations will be held in front of a team of decision-makers, and key stakeholders will ask questions. Are you looking to improve your pitch?

5. Handle objections

There’s a good chance your sales cycle will encounter some snags along the way. At this point, expect your prospects to push back. Your product or service will probably raise some questions and concerns.

Your presentation must be followed by a response to objections from your prospects. Your pitch might involve asking about price, budget, competitors, comprehension of the product, and any other issues that may be asked about. It’s important to listen attentively and to ask questions to understand their objections better.

6. Close

Following the presentation, you will likely need to take some action. Legal and IT might need to be consulted for logistical details. Following these steps, ask the prospect whether he is ready to buy. This is the sales jargon for asking if someone is ready to buy.

Prepare the contract and give it to them for final review and signature if they say “yes.” It might be necessary to discuss other objectives or just walk away at that time if they say, “No.”.

7. Follow up and generate referrals

Landing a deal isn’t the end of the sales cycle. Your goal after a sale is to excite any of your customers, keeping them and then leveraging them to refer you to others. By providing exemplary customer service and following up on your customers, you should do everything in your power to satisfy them.

Ensure your customers are well taken care of. Your chances of up-selling and cross-selling them will increase if you keep them close. Referrals and new business are also excellent sources of happy customers so that you can keep your cycle spinning, foster more relationships, and increase revenue.

Sales Cycle Management

The sales cycle management process helps salespeople, managers, and leaders follow the sales process from beginning to end. These metrics are used to identify the most successful or least successful steps in the process.

Sales cycle management gives sales leaders and salespeople a way to evaluate where they must improve or adjust during the sales cycle. Tools like CRMs aid the management of the sales cycle.