5 Ways to Use Whiteboard Animation in Your Marketing

Video is the most effective form of media to promote your product or services. This is especially true for illustrating how your product or service works and benefits your target audience.

In an interview with eMarketer’s Christine Bittar, published on May 2, 2014, Cheryl Policastro, Director of Shopper Marketing and Insights at Novartis Consumer Health, spoke about using video in the marketing of prescription and nonprescription drugs. Policastro states,

 

 

“Video has probably been the most useful for us with our fiber supplement brand Benefiber. It dissolves in food and beverages, and showing that with video is a great way for people to understand how the brand works…We try to ensure that we don’t just focus on treating the problem, but also providing education about alternatives…With brands that require less education [from a visual perspective], any video would lean more toward traditional branding, especially because video can reinforce brand image or personality.”

However, producing videos with “real people” takes time and money. It involves building appropriate sets, and it requires you to adhere to legal requirements such as obtaining image and licensing rights from talent and property owners.

A less intrusive solution to creating video is with whiteboard animation. Whiteboard animation, also called scribing, is a form of doodling. It illustrates drawings of characters, objects and places on screen while the audience watches along. You can add audio, including voice-over, sound effects and music. Plus, you can add photos or video footage to your production.

Here are five ways you can add whiteboard animation to your marketing mix:

Strategy #1: Create and Promote Your Whiteboard Animation for Tablet Users

Mobile device users, particularly for tablets, are a large yet underserved marketing channel for marketers. According to a May 1, 2014 report by eMarketer, the time adults spend watching video on tablets is growing faster than on any other medium. They project tablets will overtake PCs in the near future as the leading device for watching digital video. Tablets have larger screen sizes than smart phones, making it a much better device for viewing more videos. This same report also reveals that despite the growth of mobile video viewing and relative stagnation of video viewing on PCs, ad spending heavily skews toward online video.

A viable strategy is to create your whiteboard animation for tablet users AND promote it through mobile ads. Creating your whiteboard animation for tablet users enables your company to ride the marketing trend and capitalize on the biggest audience frenzy. Promoting it through mobile ads gives you a presence where there are fewer advertisers to compete with in this space. This window of opportunity is likely to be short because mobile ad spending will likely increase over time.

Consider sponsoring a data plan with one or more of the mobile carriers. That’s because 67% of mobile video viewers who watch at least one video a month are almost twice as likely to exceed their data limit than the 36% who consume mobile video less often, according to an April 25, 2014 report by eMarketer. This report indicates that 78% of mobile video viewers express a strong preference for sponsored data plans.

One BIG benefit of the strategy to create and promote whiteboard animation for tablet users is they are more likely to share the viewing of your video with people in their home and work environments. When viewing on a desktop people tend to be alone, whereas when viewing on a tablet they tend to be around other people. Sharing with others can build your brand promotion and accelerate the rate of referrals to your business.

Strategy #2: Create a Whiteboard Animation to Tell Your Story

People love stories. It’s what Hollywood sells. To see a story unfold is why people worldwide go to the cinema and watch movies on television or through their computers and mobile devices.

Every company has a story to tell, and whiteboard animation is one big way to communicate it. Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies must share their stories with professional and consumer audiences to get them to buy in on the services and products they sell. Whiteboard animation is an ideal way to make a complex topic into a simple story.

The following is an example of a whiteboard animation that supported the public relations campaign promoting an FDA-approved treatment for cancer. The whiteboard animation enabled patients and caregivers to better understand the disease and process of diagnosis of a certain type of lung cancer.

The results showed this whiteboard animation was more effective than some people with bias toward a traditional talking head video had previously thought.

Strategy #3: Create Whiteboard Animation for Employee Training

Employee training is in high demand today. A February 4, 2014 report by Forbes says U.S. spending on corporate training grew by 15% last year to over $70 Billion. This is the highest growth rate in seven years.

The report also reveals this fast growth dovetails with another trend: organizations today suffer from a “skills supply chain” challenge. The report states,

“Not only do more than 70% of organizations cite “capability gaps” as one of their top five challenges, but many companies also tell us that it takes 3-5 years to take a seasoned professional and make them fully productive.”

This requires training.

Who says you need to present all employee training with a real person? In today’s world many company employees and contracted freelancers work remotely. Video is a popular medium for training, and whiteboard animation is a perfect solution to help new hires get up to speed on your company or teach existing team members something new.

Here is a whiteboard animation that shows the benefits of an employee training and motivation services company.

As you can see, whiteboard animation involves one or many characters that your audience can readily identify with in their lives. Plus, the animation conveys a training message that involves both showing and telling.

Strategy #4: Develop Animated Videos to Promote Your Technology, Product or Service

Let’s face it. New technologies and products are not always the easy way to show or explain, and when it comes to selling these gadgets, you can use all the help you can get.

Whiteboard animation videos can make serious technology or a boring product appear fun, exciting and simple to use.

Take a look at the animated video Lowes uses to promote a new security product.

As you can see the animated video, though not a traditional whiteboard animation, shows how easy it is to use IRIS home management systems. Plus, the video shows you how to set the system up. It helps Lowes boost sales of the product, and you could create something similar using whiteboard animation.

Here is an example of a law firm promoting its services with the use of whiteboard animation. Notice how the video involves a story and how that story pulls you in to watch it to completion.

Strategy #5: Product Demonstration

One of the biggest challenges for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers is to show prospects how a product works. This is why manufacturers invest in product demonstrations at live events. Yet, when promoting to an online audience, many manufacturers either do NOT have a video or the video does not adequately promote the product.

For many types of products, creating a demonstration video is not always possible without the use of animation. For example, showing a patient how a drug works inside the body or how a plumbing solution cleans out pipes is not possible with traditional video, but whiteboard animation is perfect for these types of products.

Next Steps

Video is a viable way for you to communicate with your target audience. Whiteboard animation is a cost-effective method of producing videos that engage your audience members and motivate them to act. The five strategies aforementioned are just a few ways in which you can apply whiteboard animation in your marketing. Once you start producing these videos, you may realize the potential they have in building your business.

                                           

Eric Wagner

While Eric now focuses on internet marketing, he also has a background in web development. He loves being among the first to find out about new tech—and better yet, being a part of making that tech succeed. Eric is known to be a good listener, seeking to understand how each individual sees the world. He is a harmonizer in group settings, cultivating unity while constructing the overall goal and strategy. When he’s not busy helping i7 clients dominate the online marketplace, Eric enjoys drone videography (he’s got a UAV pilot’s license), woodworking, community service, and all things outdoors.

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