Brand marketing is all about finding the right medium for your message. How can you frame yourself in a way that will appeal strongest to the highest number of people? Naturally, the answer to this question has shifted wildly over the years as new technologies emerge.
These days, content creation is key. If your branding isn’t tailored to the digital world, specifically social media, it’s not going to get you very far. For many brands, motion graphics are the best way to market themselves in the modern era.
In this article, we look at what motion graphics are, how they are good for business, and how you can use them to shape your brand identity.
First, What are Motion Graphics?
Motion graphics are not quite video, not quite pictures. A middle-ground, perhaps, in which images come to life through basic animation, usually coupled with narration and music. You see them often in movie title sequences, opening credits in television shows, and yes, in branding campaigns.
They work because they ask very little of the viewer. Customers willing to give a few seconds of their time to a motion graphic enjoy an entertaining piece of media that contains an entire branding message packed into its slender frame.
Done well, they can be comprehensive, affordable, and entertaining—all key components of finding marketing success in a world that is supersaturated with new digital content.
Elegant
One of the nice things about motion graphics is that they look fancier than they actually are—like an HGTV show where homeowners change the entire look of a room just by painting it grey and getting new curtains.
A layperson’s glance at motion graphics reveals a complicated, artistic piece of media that distills significant chunks of information into bite-sized pieces. It looks great. And it is great, but that doesn’t mean it’s complicated.
Your brand can use affordable motion graphics with relative ease, either in-house through trained professionals, or on the freelance market, at an affordable cost.
Motion Graphics Share Well
Motion graphics play very well on modern content sites—particularly social media. They catch the eye as people scroll through mindlessly. They work because they are at once attention-grabbing and unintrusive, requiring only seconds of a person’s time. When the content is good enough, they are also easy to share, providing free publicity.
Modern branding efforts of any kind have no choice but to think about how messaging efforts work on social media—a medium that accounts for billions of users worldwide. Not only is the “viral” phenomenon a good way to enjoy organic brand growth, but it’s also just a requisite part of staying competitive in the modern business world.
Cost-Efficient
Motion graphics are cost-efficient relative to the value they produce. There are many reasons for this. One, is that motion graphics are more flexible than other forms of media. A traditional video advertisement is only as useful as it is current. Great when it’s new maybe, but then what if something about your brand or product changes?
Then, you have to go back in, reshoot, re-edit, and re-record. Very quickly, your ROI can disappear into the revision cycle.
Motion graphics are much easier and more affordable to edit. Because the content is modular in nature it’s very simple to go in, change a small amount of audio, and then repost, good as new.
Motion graphics also just give you a lot of bang for your buck. One motion graphic can contain the same amount of information you might fit into a dozen tweets, all distilled into an accessible, entertaining format that your customers will enjoy.
Almost one hundred percent of marketers self-report getting new sales from video content. Why? It’s accessible. It’s enjoyable. A media campaign that relies on text alone asks potential customers to scroll through dozens of posts to figure out who you are and what you do. And that’s assuming they come across you at all.
Unfortunately, that’s a losing proposition. People want their information in fast, entertaining, bite-sized segments.
More Room For Creativity
Motion graphics are a broader canvas than other forms of marketing. The written word, even when elegantly and painstakingly arranged on the screen might be limited by your viewer’s reading comprehension skills—or even their willingness to take time out to read what you wrote.
Full-blown video production is also limited, primarily by budget. Motion graphics strike a happy medium. They can be cheap to produce and they ask little of the viewers, save a few moments of their time. Yet they pack a creative wallop. Graphic artists can craft their message with visuals, sounds, and narration, quickly telling a vivid story with very simple tools.
It’s What Consumers Expect
Finally, motion graphics are simply what most consumers expect. If they scroll through a network of brand messaging—and of course, they do, every day—and your branding images are the only ones that aren’t lively and interesting, where do you suppose that leaves you?
Motion graphics are the standard now. They catch the eye. They share well on social media. And they can be a vast canvas upon which creativity may thrive. Why do it? Why wouldn’t you?
Branding is all about telling a good story. A two-part story, as a matter of fact: The story of who we are, and the story of why you should care.
Motion graphics, at the very least, help you to emphasize that second point. You should care because we are creative, talented, and interesting.
As with any new technology, what was a novelty has quickly become the standard. Plain and simple: if you aren’t using motion graphics, you will have to get in line behind the people who are.
