FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

A short, engaging and often animated video to educate and sell to prospects/ customers. An explainer is normally used to show a firm’s product/ service, and sometimes process, in a concise and visually engaging way.

Is explaining the value of your products/ services a must? If so, then so is an explainer! If a picture is worth a 1000 words, how much more is a video worth? Video has been used in marketing since 1941, and shows no sign of going anywhere. Like written word and audio, video has always been a staple of marketing. The timeless explainer video format we utilise (see "What does the strategy look like for each deliverable?") will never grow old, as long as we stay ahead of the curve on the evolving nuances of it and the accompanying visuals, like can be seen in one of our latest videos here:

When choosing an animation firm, there are 3 key factors to consider:

(1) Price

(2) Turnaround time

(3) Quality

The industry consensus is that only 2 of these can be competitive. This was a driver for me starting Your Video Partner, to ensure clients don't have to prioritise only 2 of these factors, when all 3 are so pivotal! You can read more about my motivation for entering the animation market here.

Using our library of 1000s of assets, animations, characters and rapid customisation methods, we can be extremely competitive in price, turnaround time AND quality. Nothing gets compromised at Your Video Partner. Alongside this, we're a firm who has tried and tested methods with a slick process, trusted by all levels of firms in every major industry.

The main styles of video we offer are contemporary, whiteboard and legacy. Examples of which can be seen here.

See "I have a unique bespoke need. Can you tailor to this?" to learn about other styles we can offer, based on your bespoke needs.

Absolutely. While our portfolio and main content is built around our most popular styles of production we have and continue to tailor to unique requirements.

Reach out here with what exactly it is that you're looking for, and it's very likely our team will have produced something in the same style previously, and we can go from there!

We specialise in taking complex and specific businesses/ offerings and making them widely accessible for audiences.

Our recent ERC Today explainer is a great example of this.

Unlike many animation firms (especially at our price point) we are UK based so are natively English speakers, and have worked on 100s of complex and industry specific UK/ US productions.

Creating simple, engaging and easy to understand explainers from complex content and briefs is what we do!

Of course! Our main portfolio can be seen here.

We recommend 30-120 seconds; below you can see what this looks like in terms of content.

1) 30 seconds - 75 words - we can normally include your customer's pain point, your company intro, unique selling point and call to action in this time runtime.

2) 60 seconds - 150 words - this is what we recommend for most clients - we have time to effectively tell audiences what you offer and explain how this benefits them. The latter being key for engagement and conversions. See "What does the strategy look like for each deliverable?" for more on this.

3) 90-120 seconds - 225/300 words - if more content is needed than is outlined in the runtimes up to this point and addition info is needed e.g. testimonials, your process etc. this range of durations is perfect for you.

Even though many won’t tell you this as they want to draw out the runtime, anything above this often leads to a drop in engagement. At times it's necessary, but should be avoided if possible.

Normally anything below 60 seconds isn’t enough time to cram in the necessary information, with 120 seconds often being overkill, typically making that 60-90 second range the sweet spot for engagement, budget and including all those important value props!

Please see the Wistia study which demonstrates this.

The strategy we implement for your production will be primarily built around your business, your offering, your prospects and your objectives.

However the below script, and therefore video structure, is our most commonly used. This format is particularly effective for a top of the funnel explainer targeting cold/ lukewarm traffic.

1) Identify the customer's pain point and prod it so they feel it!

2) Introduce your company as the solution (the hero)

3) Explain your solution (with benefits and not just features; viewers are self-centred and we have to cater to this)

4) Provide next steps on how they can solve their problem with your solution (CTA)

This is the same structure that has helped our case study clients obtain the impressive video-driven results you can see here.

I often have some of the top marketing teams in the world from Designer1Media to Hunter to Equantiis to AgencyDesigns to Peppered Moth outsourcing their copywriting to me; this scripting/ video methodology just works.

Strategy surrounding other areas such as runtime, voiceovers, branding etc. can be seen on other Q&A answers given on this page. Please see;

• "Can I request a certain accent/ type of voiceover?"

• "What duration should my explainer be?"

• "How do you ensure the video matches my brand?"

• "How much will an explainer cost and what services are included?"
  

The latter shows the extra value adding services we provide e.g. the addition of social media optimisation with subtitling for the 69% of viewers who listen to videos in public on mute etc.

For more detailed and brand specific strategy, let's connect on a free 30 minute brainstorm here.

As the owner of Your Video Partner, I (Samuel), will be in control of every deliverable and will keep you in the loop throughout the review process of each and every one of these deliverables. You will know when to expect deliverables, what they look like before we build on them, and everything in between so there's no nasty surprises after weeks of silence!

You are more than welcome to be completely hands off during your production, outside of filling out our one-time requirements form and signing off deliverables.

We regularly work with busy executives who hire us to spend the time on the production so they don't have to, and we would love to extend this level of convenience to you!

Of course. We are always ready to create all deliverables from scratch, although are always open to edit content you already have or even use your completed deliverables if you so wish. We're here to collaborate, whatever this means for you!

Yes and in fact we recommend it. The viewer has to seem themselves in the video; the character who has their problem solved in the animation should be representative of your dream customer. So if your dream customer is a UK Female we will hire them as a voiceover, if they are a US male we will hire them as a voiceover etc. This makes the video much more approachable, relatable and engaging for your ideal persona.

Our range of previous projects means we've worked with almost all major English accents, so sourcing the one you're looking for will rarely be a concern, even if it doesn't fall into the category of an English accent.

With a track record of animations in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Romanian and Bulgarian, having your video produced in a foreign language is no problem at all. It is obviously an additional service, so comes at an extra cost, but is something we certainly offer.

On our kick-off requirements form, we request any and all of your branding material. This normally extends to your colour palette, typography and logo, all of which will be integrated in the production to make it visually cohesive with your brand.

We offer unlimited revision rounds for all deliverables, although it's rare that more than 1-2 revisions are needed per deliverable.

That being said, if a deliverable e.g. a script is signed off by yourself and we therefore send it to be recorded by a VO artist, and you then decide you need a script change, it would mean a separate commission for the VO artist which may incur an additional cost. This means as long as revisions are in scope and are requested at the correct stage, unlimited revisions are included.

Once your production has been completed and signed off, all rights will be transferred to you and your firm for any commercial or other use you have in mind!

Absolutely! Our prices, process and overall business is built for repeat clients. We have clients who have commissioned everything from 10 minutes of animation work to hours of animation work. We can even handle many of your projects simultaneously, so there’s no delay in their rollout.

We strongly stand behind our offering. If you are not 100% satisfied with the way you're production is going/ has gone, you have up to 90 days after paying your initial deposit i.e. after project kick-off, to claim a full refund. We are yet to have a customer ever take us up on this, and hope we never will!

You can book your free 30 minute brainstorm here. However, if you're not quite ready to connect in this way, you can contact us with any queries, further questions or thoughts!

It's all about discovery! Discovering what your brand is about, your overall purpose, goals etc. and how this ties into your need for an explainer. We will then talk through styles, services required, the perfect runtime and so on.

You'll leave armed with the strategy and scope of what you're looking for, whether you decide we're the perfect agency for you or not!

So let's put it in the calendar today.