Russ Law designs animated explainer videos for his clients. PowToon is a free online software for making your own animated explainer videos.. You can make your-own animated videos using Powtoon or have Russ make one for you.
Read it out loud! Especially if a script is intended for narration (vs. on-screen text), reading the voice-over out loud ensures it has a natural flow and easily fits within the necessary video timeframe.
Look up samples of videos similar in tone, energy, and content to the one you want to write. This will not only help put you in the proper writing mindset, but will also help you avoid ripping off other scripts (accidentally or otherwise).
Stick to a consistent format. Find a simple, basic, script-writing format and use it for all your drafts. This way you aren’t starting from scratch whenever you begin a new script, and your clients will also become familiar with that format and can more quickly review and adapt each script you deliver.
Make every script element as clear as possible. Note what parts are voice-overs. Note which parts are meant to be visual pieces. Note fade-ins, transitions, fade-outs. This can help eliminate confusion during the final video production.
Establish clear client expectations. Have a detailed conversation discussing your client’s goals for the script, including the main message they want to convey and the primary actions they want viewers to take after the video ends.
Know what to avoid at all costs. Knowing what phrases, images, or other content should never be included in the script is just as important as trying to figure out what to put in. Plus, it can help you avoid extensive re-writes.
Start with an outline. You don’t need to create a fully realized script in a single draft. Try outlining the main points the video should hit first, and then go back through and flesh them out to make sure you aren’t missing any major parts of the message.
Remember your audience. Unless you’re scripting a video that you’re never going to show anyone else, keep your audience in mind at all times. Be honest and ask yourself: Are you writing a script just for you…or one your target audience would find just as engaging?
Include that call-to-action! You can have a wonderfully snazzy, jazzy video script with all sorts of clever phrases and imagery—but if you get to the end and the audience doesn’t have any idea of what to do next, then what’s the point? Give them clear guidance or info on the follow-up steps they should take.
Choose a single, powerful image. If you try to cram in too many metaphors or visual allegories into your script, it can be confusing and lose impact. Select a single example that best conveys your message and stick with it throughout the script.
Focus. A video script that tries to accomplish too many things at once isn’t going to be nearly as effective as a script committed to a focused message and goal. What one thing should this script achieve? Figure that out and hold to it.
No essays, please. Videos are often best when short and simple. Audiences enjoy messages that get to the point, rather than meandering or following lots of little mental rabbit trails. Pare down to the essentials and try to make as an big impact with as brief a script as possible.
Josh Vogt writes dynamic content that gives you a standout image and compels your audience into action! With 7+ years in copywriting, sales, marketing, branding, and web journalism, he remains dedicated to quality, creativity, and his clients’ complete satisfaction. Find his freelance services at Write-Strong.com or contact him at joshrvogt@gmail.com.
Every week Tom Evans will share a one minute animated video clip with a great tip how to promote your products and services. See all of Tom’s videos here.
Tom Evans is a BBC-trained broadcast engineer turned author and writer’s mentor. He specialised in clearing creative blocks and teaches simple techniques on how to tap into unlimited creativity. He has written six non-fiction books and two short works of fiction. Visit www.tomevans.co for more information.
If you own a small business you know you have all these great services to offer and you know you can’t afford the marketing budget some of your larger competitors have. Do-It-Yourself animated videos solve the budget problem. So now what?
5 Ways You Can Use Video Marketing to help your small business:
1. Home-Page Explainer Video
This Video Created by Realty Ninja for their new website explains the new visitor what the service does. It’s great because people don’t like to read long explanations about services. An explainer video often takes a less formal approach via a case study that the viewer can relate to. It illustrates what it’s like to use the service rather that describe features and benefits. And the results? Studies show that home-page explainer videos can increase conversions by 300%.
2. Landing Page sales pitch Video
Here is an example we used for our Small Business Landing Page.
In this sales pitch video we address the visitor directly and follow a simple format: 1) address the viewers pain, show how it can be solved 2) present PowToon as the solution 3) show the impact PowToon would have on the user’s world and 4) top off with a call to action.
3. Promotional video
Have an event, launching a product? How about those webinars or private consultations you give? This video is a great example of how to get people sold on your event and sign-up for it. It features instructions, benefits, calls for action and humor. This video is great for sharing on social networks and posting on a blog.
4. Thank You video
These can be very powerful because they create emotional engagement and therefore are likely to go viral. This particular example has a unique twist to it. But you can make a simple thank-you, happy holiday or a congratulations video and email direct or send via social networks.
5. Video Blog with info-videos
An info-video does not have to be as long as the example below but it could also go much longer as long as it offers real content. Visitors will appreciate your sharing of knowledge and come for more and since video ranks so much higher on Google search, your blog will stand out of the crowd.
Want a professional voiceover for your Powtoon? When you log into your account you can now see an icon on the right-hand side of your “My PowToons” page (Just like the one to the right of this text). Click it and you are on your way.
Here is how it works: You post your script and get back a professional recording you can place right into your Powtoon. And the best part is: you can have it back with a super quick turnaround time!
Powtoon recommends minimizing the amount of text in your videos. We have noticed that the best of the best PowToons have a great, simple narrative with supporting animations. You can record your own voiceover on your desktop or, if your voice is not up to your own standards, get a professional voiceover in any language and accent you prefer from VoiceBunny!
Author illustrator Katie Davis is creating a theme for Powtoon.com and now’s your chance to ask her to draw elements you’ll later be able to use in your animations. She has created a great social campaign using PowToon. Take a look, this is your chance to be part of creating a new Powtoon theme!
Category5 TV – The popular internet TV show from Canada – aired a review of PowToon “CNET style”. Watch here to get an unbiased up close look into how PowToon can easily be used to create professional web-animations and power power-point alternative presentations. Check it out!
A Website’s Google search ranking is vital to acquiring new leads and key to revenue generation. Google is always looking for new ways to accurately rank sites and has recently released an update to its ranking algorithm called Panda 2.5. Our inside contact at Google told us that sites containing video or animations indeed rank higher. The algorithm, he suggested, appreciates sites where videos are used organically to enhance the users experience and provide relevant information. So here is our advice for using video to increase your search engine optimization (SEO): Use simple short animated video clips to showcase relevant information about products and services.
Here are the top 4 ways to use PowToon’s video animation software to increase the SEO of your website.
Hi there! I’m Kjeld and I’m blogging about the things I encounter while working with PowToon. I want to share my thoughts on certain subjects and hopefully share some tips and tricks that you could use while creating your videos. Please let me know your thoughts!
For a Powtoon (animated presentation) I had to create a Restaurant scene. At first, I got a bit nervous because there aren’t too many PowToon attributes to create such an environment. So, I started adding multiple characters to the frame – to make it look like a crowded place. I gave them something to drink and something to eat. But in fact, it got too messy and you really couldn’t see it was supposed to be a restaurant. Obviously that didn’t work.
I had to come up with something more simple.
And there is a very simple but effective way to show that you are at a restaurant: just put the word RESTAURANT in the corner of the slide. That’s it.
I hear you thinking: “yeah whatever”. I know. But it works!
You don’t have to create 12 tables with people eating steaks or drinking wine. No chatting couples at the bar, no bartender pouring Martinis and no waitresses carrying around plates. Now you can focus on one or two people holding a drink or just show a fork and a knife, because we all know: it’s representing a restaurant. Because it says so! The same goes for Bars, Discoteques, Karaoke, Clubs and so on.
Alright. Just putting up the text RESTAURANT or BAR isn’t too exciting, I admit. That’s why I had to give it a nice little twist. Do you know those flashy neon bar signs? I wanted to create one of them. But that text effect doesn’t come standard with PowToon. So I experimented a little. See the video above.
Tip: background noises of a Bar or Restaurant could definitely help to set the atmosphere! See if you can find those too.
I hope you like this effect. Let me know if you use this too and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
This is a post by Kjeld, Master PowToonist at Creanimate. If you need an awesome animated video, you can contact him at the PowToon Market Place.
Shortly after we launched PowToon we came across a cool Powtoon (an animated presentation). It was the first CV made using PowToon and Since then Kjeld created many Powtoons and is now a Master Powtoonist in the PowToon market place . it was awesome! As we started chatting to Kjeld, the creator of the Powtoon, he helped us find bugs and suggested features. and We helped him with his queries.
Kjeld took a few moments from his busy Powtooning schedule to answer a few questions:
1- How did you find out about PowToon?
I read an article on Techcrunch.com about PowToon, a cool online animated presentation tool, and I thought that it looks pretty cool, so let’s give it a try! So I signed up for an early invite and immediately got hooked.
2- What did you initially use PowToon for?
Initially I used PowToon for a job application at Dutch television studios. They were looking for a creative to develop new TV formats, so I decided to use PowToon for this. It was really fun and easy creating this job application video.
(You can now find it as a template in the PowToon playground, which is pretty awesome!)
3 – When did you decide to join the PowToon marketplace?
Well, the video worked! I got invited for an interview, because they liked my video. But it turned out they were looking for someone more experienced. That sucked. But I posted my video on YouTube and got great comments and even emails from people who were asking to create a similar video for them. And to create other videos as well. Also the PowToon guys contacted me to have a look at their marketplace. I gave it a try and in no time I got requests coming in.
4 – What’s your favorite visual style?
Marker style is my favorite visual style. I love the cartoonish (is that a word? ) of it.
5 – How long does it take you to create a Powtoon now? How long did it take you when you started?
That still depends. First I created Powtoons just for myself, and I was pretty much experimenting with adding this and that, trying this and that, working on the script while creating the video… Now I know some cool tricks and possibilities and I obviously got more routine in creating videos, so the actual creation time of the video is shorter. But now, communication with clients and revisions takes more time.
6 – Who are you clients, what industry and Powtoon types are they are asking for?
Basically all of them are website owners such as startups, established businesses and marketing agencies. Most of the time they are looking for Powtoons that explain their business in short. Currently I’m working on a Powtoon for a charity foundation.
7 – What do you most enjoy about PowToon?
It’s easy and it’s fun. I enjoy creating funny videos the most and PowToon is excellent for that. And of course, I enjoy the marketplace.
8 -Can you share an interesting anecdote or case study from your work?
I think the anecdote of creating a video for a job application and it turning out into creating videos for a job is pretty interesting .
9 – what is your favorite Powtoon?
My favorite Powtoon is ‘Pet Pushing’. It got some nice little tricks in it, which I personally like a lot. And I love the music/sounds too! You can find it here:
Kjeld van Kippersluis is a master PowToonist specialised in creating animated presentation for startups, charities and marketing agencies see more of his works here.
A Website’s Google search ranking is vital to acquiring new leads and key to revenue generation. Google is always looking for new ways to accurately rank sites and has recently released an update to its ranking algorithm called Panda 2.5. Our inside contact at Google told us that sites containing video or animations indeed rank higher. The algorithm, he suggested, appreciates sites where videos are used organically to enhance the users experience and provide relevant information. So here is our advice for using video to increase your search engine optimization (SEO): Use simple short animated video clips to showcase relevant information about products and services.
) of it.