How to Enhance Your Branding Strategy with Effective Explainer Videos

All brands, digital or otherwise, live and die in people’s minds.

It is why many of them choose to go for video marketing, as they know that enjoyable audiovisual experiences stick in the viewer’s mind for longer than text or images ever could. But there’s a bit more to it than just that.

Yes, we are highly likely to remember things we enjoy, as well as eye-catching visuals and well-crafted stories. And in that sense, it’s not surprising that most experienced video companies have explainer videos as a go-to style.

After all, explainers tend to be lighthearted, easy-to-follow, and visually striking. Especially when animated.

The thing is, you can make a memorable explainer that doesn’t exactly progress your company’s image – which is what usually happens when the video includes little or no branding. And I’m assuming you want all the pieces in your marketing to make your brand memorable!

So, today, I'll share with you some tips and tricks to make the most out of branding in that successful video style. Shall we start?

The Power of Your Brand’s Colors

Did you know that the Starbucks webpage has a lot of dark green elements in it?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, that’s the color that comes to our minds when we think of the famous coffee store.

Your brand probably has a color scheme of its own as well. Those colors that appear in your logo and decorate your website, newsletters, and possibly, almost every piece of content you generate.

That is the color palette that people tend to associate with your brand and that you should leverage when creating your explainer video.

Look for opportunities to incorporate your brand’s defining colors into your video’s aesthetic! Take them into account when designing the characters' outfits, the setting, the objects on the screen, and so on.

The video below is a perfect example. If you find out more about Re-TRAC, you’ll see the exact same color scheme across most of their channels! See how they keep them consistent and prominent in the piece.

Now, that’s not the same to say that you are only limited to your company’s color palette. But even if your explainer uses other colors, don’t let those overshadow the ones that define your brand. It’s okay to use them in little things as long as they combine with your colors, but they shouldn’t prevail in the picture.

Timing is Everything When It Comes to Logos

Another way of effectively branding your explainer is knowing when and how to include your company’s logo.

You see, there are certain moments in an explainer when your logo can have a greater impact on your audience.

The first one is after the customers’ pain-point is addressed, and it's time to introduce your brand as its solution; that’s also a great time to present your logo. The second one is near the end, as a closure to the video, to leave viewers a final reminder of who you are. Those are the times when your logo should definitively be in the spotlight.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you shouldn’t incorporate it any more than that. I’m only pointing out that you should do it subtly to avoid cheapening its impact if you do.

Thinks of it like this: when your logo appears again, its presence should feel organic and coherent with the narrative. Show it in some elements of the story, like the back of a laptop, a card, a sign… you get the idea.

Don't overuse it, though. It's not like you should add your logo wherever you can. It's more like dropping little reminders here and there that the video is about your brand.

Videos Aren’t All About Visuals

One of the things that makes video marketing so successful is that it involves more than one sense. It’s not just visual, like a picture. It also concerns hearing, making room for another kind of memorable sensation.

The thing is, many companies tend to overlook the audio part of an audiovisual piece. It's common -and understandable -that the visuals take most of the video creators’ time and attention. But you can’t ignore that sound design has a lot of branding potential.

Just like you would use different colors to come across as a techy brand or a delicious restaurant, you should resort to sound design to hint at certain aspects of your company. And there are a number of audio elements that can help you with that:

• A Cool Jingle.

In case you aren’t familiar with the term, it refers to a short and simple audio clip that represents your brand. It’s often paired with its visual counterpart, to the point that many people can recall a logo just by hearing its audio version. Your explainer video shouldn’t be the exception to this rule: sound and visual logos should go hand in hand.

Most explainer videos out there involve a narrator. That person should have a tone that goes in tune -no pun intended -with your brand's attitude. It's not only about the sonic features of their voice, but it's also about the mood it reflects. It stands to reason that if you want to be remembered as a juvenile and cheerful brand, your explainer's narrator shouldn't have a voice that can cure insomnia.

• Suitable Music.

Your explainer’s music should also match the impression you want your brand to leave in the audience’s memory. It should also be appropriate to the narrative. Sometimes that means changing the music when the story mood does.

For instance, an explainer can start with a slow, sad tune when addressing the customer's pain points and introduce a cheerful song when it begins to talk about the brand and its solutions.

Animation Pairs Extremely Well with Branding

Have you noticed there's a high number of animated explainer videos out there? There are good reasons for that!

Live-action videos are made with existing and tangible resources, such as clothing, locations, actors, etc. That brings some limitations to the mix since it ties you to the possibilities of reality.

In that framework, branding with live-action is also limited. Yes, you can incorporate your color palette and your logo in some of the video’s elements, but only to an extent. You can try to push those limits as far as you can, but that can result in high costs of costumes and production design.

On the other hand, with animation, a lot of different professionals work together to ensure every aspect of your video can be tweaked. It’s not hard to do the math: if everything can be shaped, everything can be branded as well! The only limit is your imagination!

However, your brand permanence can grow not only with extensive branding but also with animation’s storytelling power.

Remember what I said about how much easier it is to retain things that we understand? Well, animated stories can use an almost unlimited number of resources to come up with an explanation. Sometimes that can make the topic more understandable -and therefore, more memorable -than if you were using live-action.

Wrapping Up

When you are producing an explainer video, you probably worry about having good sound design, impressive art, and a fun and compelling script. And that is great.

The thing is, you should also take care of making your brand shine through each one of those elements. Whether through the sound cues, the color palette, the placement of the logo, or all of them combined. Otherwise, people will remember your video, but not your brand!

One final caveat before you go, though: don’t get carried away! The branding should be as natural as possible. That means it shouldn't call the viewers' attention since it involves their subconscious perception.

If the branding is too evident, the video can turn out to be too ‘salesy’. And that defeats the purpose of most explainers.