The Importance Of Animated Characters In Explainer Videos

Video content can become your key ally in your marketing strategy: it’s not only engaging but also entertaining, fun, and cool. Animated characters, in particular, are a great resource to foster the bond with your target audience even more while they help you meet your marketing goals and optimize your ROI. In today’s blog post, we’re going to explore the importance of animated characters in video marketing and learn how cartoon animation videos can help you stand out from the competition. Ready to start?

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Great In Popularity

The video marketing world offers you a bunch of possibilities to get to your audience with the right type of content, depending on the marketing goals you have set and the stage of the buyer’s journey your prospect is in. Just to give you some examples, you can resort to testimonial videos, how-to videos, podcasts, webinars, about us videos, and animated explainer videos, among many others.

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Talking about animated explainer videos, they can be used to deliver your business idea in a fast, catchy, and attractive way. Not by chance, cartoon animation videos are considered one of the most popular styles by marketers among the different types of explainer videos. And this is because they have a great ability to give your brand a good dose of emotion and personality in just a couple of seconds and help you stand out from the competition. In cartoon animation, the storytelling technique is a must, as it’s your big resource to tell the story of the main character (which, ultimately, represents your buyer persona) who is trying to solve their problem with the help of your product. In this case, the characters are the true essence of your story!

Animated Characters: Features And Benefits

Now you know that animated characters are the true essence behind your cartoon video. But why is it one of the most popular styles among explainer videos? Let me put it straight: animated cartoons give you the chance to “humanize” your brand, in such a way like no other type of video can do. And this is not by chance! There are some strong arguments behind that. Let me share with you some of them:

• Nostalgia: remember when you were a kid, and you had all those great moments with cartoons. They are all lovable memories, right? Games, joy, freedom, entertainment,…So imagine the amazing results you could get if you deliver your marketing message by using such a resource! Trust me: you will make your audience feel very comfortable, entertained, and delighted while you show them how your product can help them.

• Customization: by customizing the animated characters of your marketing video, you can get even greater results. This means that by designing your characters based on your target audience’s characteristics (gender, age, style, look, etc.) you will generate a stronger bond with them as they will feel represented by those characters on screen. In other words, they will feel that the video was specially created for them. And hey…this helps a lot to increase conversions and sales!
• Flexibility: you can resort to cartoon animation no matter if you have a B2C or a B2B company. In the first case, this type of video can help you enhance the connection even more with your viewers (cartoon animation makes use of some specific resources to trigger different emotions). In the case of B2B companies, it’s a good way to give them a more personal and human approach that could be harder to find in these types of companies. B2B companies can also generate strong emotions that help them connect with their audience!
• Versatility: you can also merge character animation videos with other types of explainer videos to achieve even better results. We can recommend two possibilities: mixing cartoon animation with motion graphics or mixing cartoon animation with whiteboard animation. Just choose the best option for your case and get the best of the two worlds!

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The Magic Behind Animated Characters

We can hear you asking yourself: “Why are animated characters so effective? What’s the special thing about them? How can they make a big difference in terms of maximizing the engaging power of explainer videos?” Here, we have compiled some arguments that will bring you the right answers:

Generating empathy

Animated characters have the ability to generate strong empathy from the viewer towards the story that is on screen: the viewer ends up having the same feeling the character is experiencing (whether it is happiness, sorrow, anxiety, fear, or any other, depending on the content of the video). Empathy can become your key ally to involve people in the story and create some kind of smooth curiosity (while you encourage them to wait for more). So, animated characters are a must to generate empathy with your target audience, and with this achieved, the viewer will then be eager to know how the character solves their problem. This type of identification is one of the best things you could aspire to have in order to meet your marketing goals!

Tip: this article about emotions and video marketing can help you understand a little bit more about the scientific arguments behind this reaction people might have.

Spawning identification

When people see that the characters look similar to them in terms of characteristics and attitudes, they will feel much closer to them: that’s why we say that animated characters cause a strong connection with your audience. And guess what? This helps you make your video much more appealing, engaging, and impressive! Additionally, you will be generating trust towards your brand as they will perceive that you have a true interest in making their lives easier with the help of your product (you have a clear understanding of their needs and are willing to provide them with an effective solution).

Making use of humor

By using humor in your animated video, you can boost engagement even further! Animated characters can help you achieve this quite easily. And with this, your video will become even more entertaining and memorable. You can resort to different alternatives: unimaginable scenarios, ridiculous metaphors, wacky circumstances, and more. And this way, you will be killing two birds with one stone: delivering your business idea in an attractive and cool way while also making your viewers have fun. Isn’t it just great? The good thing about this resource is that you don’t need to be necessarily realistic: you can get creative and surprise your audience with any kind of resource! In other words, you don’t find the limitations you may have in a standard recorded video, for instance. Just let your imagination flow!

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So… Is Cartoon Animation The Right Style For Your Business?

So far, we have seen that cartoon animated characters can bring emotion and personality to your video while you deliver your business idea in a fast, funny, and memorable way. The benefits of this style are undeniable. But despite this, maybe you still have doubts about whether it’s the right choice for your specific case. That’s why we have made some kind of a quick checklist that will help you understand if you should go with this style. Here we go:

• Do you want to make your video super short (under 60 seconds)?
• Do you want to provide your video with a more personal/human approach?
• Do you want to make people laugh?

If the answers to these questions are “yes”, then consider making a cartoon animation video. Remember that this style is perfect to deliver your messages pretty fast, connect with your audience on a personal level, and entertain them by making use of any creative resource that adds a “fun touch” (without taking the risk of using humor in another type of video, in which a “fun touch” could be “out of place”).

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Making Your Cartoon Animation Explainer Video Highly Effective

Make sure you follow these tips to maximize the effectiveness of your cartoon video:

• 100% customized: adapt the video to the characteristics of your target audience, and you will be boosting engagement and building trust toward your brand. Don’t miss these tips to learn how to fully customize your marketing video!
• High quality: a professional explainer video production company that has wide experience in video production and that keeps an eye on the details is what will ensure the best results for your marketing video. Feel free to download our E-book on “How to choose the right explainer video company” to get more valuable information!
• The right length: make sure your animated video is between 60 and 90 seconds. That’s the right time to pass out your key messages while you keep your audience hooked.
• A professional voice-over: the voice-over talent has to be a native speaker of the language of your target audience. This way, you will give personality to your video while you make it credible and highly professional.
• Branding and colors: the psychology of color is critical in marketing and branding strategies. Make sure you apply the colors of your brand to help your viewers identify and remember who is behind that product. 

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At Yum Yum Videos, we have developed many different cartoon animation explainer videos for different clients. And we have a special way of doing it: keeping an eye on the details and working synergically with the whole team to get the best results for you. Just as a reference, take a minute to watch our best 10 character explainer videos to see for yourself how we work. Of course, feel free to get in touch with us if you need some help with developing your brand-new explainer video!

Summarizing

Undoubtedly, cartoon explainer videos are one of the most popular animated marketing videos you can find in the market. Their benefits are evident, no matter if you have a B2C or a B2B business. Also, they are a very versatile style that can be mixed with other types of explainer videos to maximize their benefits. But of course, to get the most out of cartoon animation, you have to bear in mind some key recommendations that we have just shared with you 🙂

See you in our next blog post!

Meanwhile, learn a little bit more about the fascinating process of video production by downloading this free infographic on how to create an explainer video, step by step.