You already know it’s better to create an aspirational explainer video rather than to explain what your product does. An aspirational video tells a story that effectively demonstrates the impact of a product on the lives of the people that use it.
People make purchases based on feelings and justify them with logic – a common adage in the advertising world not without a basis in reality. According to research cited by Psychology Today, a person’s emotional response to an advertisement has a greater influence on his or her intent to buy than the content, by a factor of about three to one for video content. That means making an emotional connection with the buyer is vital. How buyers feel about a brand is what causes them to act and make a purchase. So, while the facts need to be there, you still need to package them in a way that gives people a response. But what emotions are the right ones to connect with your audience?
Emotions Work for Marketing
The thing is, both humor and inspiration work. In an analysis of the top 10,000 shared articles on the Web, researchers from BuzzSumo assigned a specific emotion to each piece of content. Awe was the most shared emotion, at 25 percent, followed by laughter (17 percent), amusement (15 percent), and joy (14 percent). Only 1 percent was associated with sadness.
Other studies have similar conclusions. Quicksprout cited a study of images from Imgur.com. Reddit users voted on Imgur’s top 100 images from the year. Content that arose curiosity, amazement, astonishment, and admiration were the most common.
All in all, the most viral content on the Internet fills viewers with awe, or it makes them happy. People do share sad content, but it’s far less likely.
The Inspirational Path
After taking us on this breathtaking journey, the climber says, “this is my story, and this is how I want to share it with people,” as the Squarespace logo surfaces. All in all, this approach is emotional and compelling.
The Humorous Approach
The result is more witty than you ever thought an explainer video about asset management software could ever be. Just another friendly reminder that B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring.
Know Your Audience and Your Brand
In the end, what really matters is that you’ve connected with your audience. Not all audiences will respond to videos in the same way. A group of digital marketers might find an emotional video cheesy or overly sentimental. Another group of customers may respond more to an inspirational message than humor. Think about your brand. Is a laugh-out-loud video something your customers would expect from you? Would creating a video with this tone alienate your audience?
Regardless of the tone of your video, you can employ a key strategy to engage prospects. Both Panorama 9 and Squarespace use similar strategies to get viewers engaged: an individual acts as a persona for the target audience. There’s the rock climber, who stands in for anyone who needs a digital platform to tell their story, whether they’re a blogger or small business owner.
There’s IT Man, who obviously stands in for the IT department employees the video is aimed at. The video operates on the assumption that IT guys are also interested in video games. The premise wouldn’t work quite as well if it was aimed at a different department, like sales.
Takeaways
People tend to share content that they connect with, and they are most likely to share content that awes them or makes them laugh. So, to connect with your customers, is it better to inspire your customers or make them laugh? There’s no one answer. In the end, what matters is that your explainer video both speaks to your specific audience and engages them. A solid story with a buyer persona is really the key element to any explainer video. The tone that story takes depends on your brand and your clients but don’t be afraid to interject some inspiration or humor into your storytelling.