Animation has undergone quite an evolutionary process to get to where it is today. I’d argue that when most people hear the word animation, they recall some of their favorite Disney/Pixar movies or Saturday morning cartoons. What began as a magical process for creating compelling, emotional narratives, has evolved into a medium that has infiltrated all industries for the purpose of marketing and communication. How does animation drive business? The answer to that inquiry begs another question: what is your business trying to achieve? I’ll explain three of the many ways that animation can help your business grow by simply identifying certain goals that any company would like to reach and how animation can make that a reality.
Business Goal: Clarity of the Product or Service
One of the biggest challenges companies face, especially in technology or software, is communicating your product’s functionality and value effectively. Most people don’t research products that are being marketed to them thoroughly. They want a clear and concise explanation of the product or service so they can make an informed decision. Animation is the perfect way to not only showcase exactly how your product works, but can be done in a much more appealing way than a pdf document or boring video.
Not only can advertising with animation make things clear, but you can utilize this medium to minimize other headaches. For example, by producing something like a series of animated tutorial videos that walk your customer through the product can limit confusion and allow customer service to be more manageable. Since animation allows complete freedom from a visual perspective, there are no limits to how you’re selling or explaining your product. It also allows you to establish a brand that stands out, which I’ll discuss next.
Business Goal: Building a Memorable Brand
The ability to create anything with animation comes with a challenge. Knowing what to produce and where to start can be daunting. Animated marketing content should always have your brand in mind. What I mean by that is if you can produce anything you want, you should create a world that caters to your company’s identity. Elements to consider are the color palette, the music, the mood, messaging, style of animation and copy.
All of these aspects represent who you are as a company, and if done right, will set you apart from everyone else. There’s a fine line between memorable and downright wacky when it comes to standing out with animation. However, if you have a strong grasp of your company’s core values, then it should be easy to identify certain ideas that are pushing the boundaries of acceptable storytelling.
Business Goal: Customer Loyalty
Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we’re marketing to people with individual life experiences who have nuanced perspectives about the world we live in. This can make decisions regarding marketing difficult because you’re trying to identify your target audience. The best marketers understand that the goal is not to spread a wide net and hope to catch some eyes. Instead, you should be trying to focus your attention on leads that will yield the highest potential for conversion. How do you do that when you’re just starting out as a company?
My advice would be to produce something that 99.9% of people enjoy – a good story. We often associate decision making with logic and reason. The reality is that people largely make decisions based on emotion. No matter how hard you try to be analytical about your choices, emotion has to take over or else you’d be comparing pros and cons for an eternity. Knowing this fact means that you can use narratives to drive decision-making processes and attitudes about your company. Animation is one of the best ways to create your narrative and motivate people to become your customers for life.
Conclusion
I’ve spent many years creating animated marketing content for new and old businesses and I’ve noticed a few things that are changing. There is a growing acceptance among leadership in companies across many industries of animation’s ability to drive growth and improve their public image. One industry that we’ve been focused on is the medical device sector. Medical marketers have realized the value of using animation to visualize surgical functionality, which can be impossible to shoot with a camera (also kind of gross). Predictions for the future of the animation industry have always been bright, but there will be a huge leap forward as a collective understanding of its power among thousands of companies takes hold. As we try to pick up the pieces of 2020, I’m looking forward to the animation wave that will propel us into a new age of content marketing and creation.
Written By: Steve Cook – Creative Director, Fog Coast Productions