11. Top of the funnel demo - How to create education stage demo videos

Introduction

At the top of the funnel, your prospects are looking for a solution to a problem, but the trouble is that most of them are stil trying to educate themselves. They don’t yet have a clear understanding of how to define their problem or what sort of solution they might need. 

The Authentic Marketing Podcast provides a plan for an authentic approach to customer engagement that creates clarity within your sales and marketing, generating more leads and closing sales faster. 

In this episode, Simon Harvey and Daniel Kleber are  joined by Yuriy Polyashko the CEO of Darvideo. We’ll hear how even the most complex ideas can be transformed into short and compelling videos. He shares his shares his thoughts on how to explore the power of animated videos to create awareness and educate your prospects in the early stages of the sales funnel.

Listen in now to learn how short demo videos showing solution to prospects problem help engage with customer and earn their interest and trust.


To simplify your demo creation process, download the free demo script canvas.  By using our template canvas, you can create a memorable and effective experience that will leave a lasting impression on your audience. You can find it here (or copy and paste the link below): 

https://www.demodia.com/product-demo-script-canvas

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Episode Transcript

Today, we're going to talk about funnels, sales funnels, that is. So at the top of the funnel, your prospects are looking for a solution to a problem. But the trouble is that most of them are still trying to educate themselves. They don't yet have a clear understanding of how to define their problem or what sort of solution they might need. So this is where you come in as the guide. By providing short, engaging videos, you can help to explain the problem to your customers and give them a high level overview of how that can be solved. By doing this, you become their personal guide and earn their trust right at the start of their journey. In this episode, we explore the power of animated videos to create awareness and educate your prospects in the early stages of the sales funnel. I'll be joined by Yuri Polyashko, the CEO of DaVideo, and we'll hear how even the most complex ideas can be transformed into short and compelling videos. So let's get the show started. Hi there. And welcome to the authentic marketing podcast in association with Demodia. I'm your host, Simon Harvey, and I'm joined by my co host, Daniel Klaber. Hi there, Daniel. Hi, Simon.

Hello

listeners. So it's been an interesting week for me this week, Daniel. Um, I've actually spent quite a bit of time working with a couple of startups, um, which is always good fun. I really enjoy working with those sort of folk. Um, they've got some really cool ideas that they're trying to get to market at the moment. Yeah,

sounds like fun. Anything you can tell me

about? Um, I probably can't tell you too much about the specifics at this point in time, but the most interesting part in any case is the challenge that they're actually having. And what's that? So, for both of them, it's actually a similar sort of thing, actually. They're both working on a completely new idea, you know, so it's not something that someone's already been there and done before. It's not a market that someone else has already built and defined. It's something where they have to actually get people to understand that there's a completely different way to solving a common problem. That's something

I can understand. If people already know that there's a standard way to solve a problem, why are they going to look for something different? Yeah, exactly. I guess that's what makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurs though, isn't it? Yep, mhm. I remember a quote from Henry Ford where he famously said, If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse. He then completely revolutionized the transportation market by rethinking the horse and making mass market cars.

Yeah, exactly. So where would we be without cars? And the same is true with Steve Jobs and the iPhone, you know. He used the same quote, but then in his words he also added on there, you know, customers don't know what they want until we've shown them what they want. And that's the point of today's episode. We've been talking all about demos in this series, and today we're going to take a look at the top of the funnel, or education demo. This is one of the first interactions that a potential buyer has with your company. And it's the best chance that you're ever going to have to influence their thinking and their buying decisions.

Exactly. The problem is that very early in their buying journey, your customers don't yet really know how to define their exact problem, and they almost certainly don't know how to solve it. So the purpose of the education demo is to do two things. Firstly, You have to explain the problem. You need to do that in a very clear way that your customer can empathize with. They need to be able to say, yes, that's me. Then once you've done that, you then need to explain how that problem can be easily solved.

Yeah, and that's the important part. By framing the problem first, you're showing your prospects that you understand them. You're helping them to understand why they're struggling and you make them realize that they're not alone in the world. Then by explaining the solution to them in simple, non technical terms, you're positioning yourself as the guide. And that's the key thing here is that you don't need to go into all the detail when you explain your solution. At this point in the buyer journey, all people are really interested in is knowing that you've got a solution and how it's going to transform their lives. You know, going back to your example, Daniel, you know, Henry Ford didn't stand there and explain how his automobile worked. He just needed to say that it's gonna get the owners from A to B faster and with less hassle. It's easier than a horse.

Definitely, yeah. Education demos really are the key that opens the door to your customer's interest. They can take many forms, but one of the most common is what people often call Explainer videos. Those of the videos you often find on the top of a company homepage are being shared on social media.

So I was lucky enough earlier this week to get to talk with someone that spent his career creating great explainer videos. Yuri pko is the C E O of Dar video, and they're an animation studio from the Ukraine. And we sat down and chatted, and Yuri explained to me all about. How to create top of the funnel videos that really do convince prospects to take that next step. So here's my interview with Yuri. So on today's episode, I'm really happy to have a great colleague of mine joining us. And this is Yuri Polyashko. Yuri is the CEO of DaVideo, and DaVideo is an animation studio that's based over in Ukraine. They specialize in bringing complex ideas to life through the use of animated videos. So hi there, Yuri. Hi, thanks for joining us all the way from Ukraine. It's great to have you on the show today.

Uh, happy to see you all. Thank you for the intro. I'm Yuri from Kyiv, Ukraine. I'm the head and the founder and actually the CEO of the DAR Video Animation Studio, which is producing explainer videos for companies in the whole world and mostly for European and US market. Our team is located in Ukraine mostly, but since the conflict began, so the team is also redistributed around Europe.

So I'm really happy that you're able to join us today. In today's episode, we've been talking all about top of the funnel demonstrations and how at this point in the sales process, prospects or customers are really still looking to try and educate themselves. They're trying to understand more about the problem that they're experiencing and they're trying to understand what's the best way to solve this. So, from your experience, what's the most important things that our listeners need to consider or to think about when they're trying to create an introductory or explainer type video? I would

stress maybe a very important question about what will be the usage of the video. Because people, when they want to create and explain a video, they're not always sure of the usage and of the placement of the video. And here, the important thing you need to understand is whether you want to contact your audience for the first time, Or your audience is already prepared, and if it's like a first contact, the video should be very short, very attractive, very dynamic, and very catchy. Uh, if we are talking about the audience, which knows something about your product, they heard something, they just want to dive in and learn more. Uh, there might be a longer video, not so dynamic, like more explaining, more informational. So, less emotional, but more valuable in terms of particular information. So that's good to understand when you just think about creating a video. So who will contact with this video?

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. One of the first things to think about is exactly when in the process the video is going to be used. You're absolutely right. So if it's the top of the funnel, where people are still researching things, then you need to keep it high level. And if it's for use lower down in the funnel, then they need to consider adding more specific details in there. I completely agree. So, now we've decided on where the video will be used. What are the next parts of the process that you typically guide your clients through their NURI? So there

are three key stages, which are scripting, drawing, and animation. They are, I would say, almost equal in time and production. Inside the stages there are, like, small parts. For instance, to create any scripting, I make the script. We make the storyboard, which is very, very draft sketches of the scenes. And if we're talking about the illustration stage of drawing, this is where the still images are created. First of all, we create the style, which is one or two frames, just to improve the style and find the right characters, colors, whatever, and then we just draw everything. Still, during the artist's drawing, we also can record the voiceover, which is the parallel process. And animation is the final stage where you actually see the movie, the cartoon. Because some clients, they say, okay, after a week of work, they say, okay, I just want to ever to see everything moving. But yeah, it's, it's in the

end stage. You talked about making the script there. Uh, that's something I know is really important. And we talk a lot about here on this podcast. Storytelling is a, an essential way to captivate and engage an audience. So that's really essential as part of an explainer video too, definitely. Is there anything else specific that you recommend to our listeners that they should consider though, when it comes to scripting in this format?

Uh, again, to make it very. informative and condensed. We need to understand this technical side of this. And technical side is that if you want to create a 60 second animation, for instance, you need to have text for 120 words. And that is very strict. And when somebody wants to create a video they don't have this Framework. They just have lots of sentences, lots of pages, or whatever, and when you say, okay, 60 second video will need to have 120 words, which means that it will be something around 20 sentences. So you have 20 sentences to describe Everything you just have been developing throughout the years, so just focus on this. And within this 20 sentences, there will be definitely some introduction or the case. There will be the closing part, so you have actually 10 sentences. So it's like five features, each feature told in two sentences. So it's very concrete, and on this point, everything becomes very real. For most languages, we count two words per second, which works normally good. If we're talking about very long videos, like 5 minute videos, so this formula may not work, but for 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, works good.

That's definitely something worth noting and I must say I didn't know about that or hadn't really considered that. So if we want around a 60 second video, then we need to plan for around 120 words or 20 sentences. That's pretty specific. It's almost like trying to write one of those short descriptions that you see promoting a webinar or something like that reminds me. So just changing direction a bit and thinking about the presentation style for a minute. When it comes to animated explainer videos. I know that I've seen dozens of different presentation styles. You know, some of them are more like cartoons, others perhaps are more like these sketch drawings where you see a hand drawing something on a whiteboard. What have you found are the best or most effective ways that people could create these intro videos?

When you order a video and you just decide to make a video, you define what style format that you want to be created. And there are plenty of animation styles. Still, not everybody can really understand the difference between the complexity levels, between the formats. But it's like in every industry, like there are lots of variations and here as well, for instance, first of all, it's good to know whether you want a 2D animation or 3D animation. Basically, it's different resources, different teams are involved and very different budgets. If we're talking further, there might be a whiteboard animation, which is like a very separate, very well known style, like a doodle, a whiteboard, again, diving deeper. So there might be our infographical video, which is very abstract, like, which like more motion design video, and it can be a character told story. This character is like closer to a cartoon, and this is more emotional, more storytelling. It's good to define it in the start of the project and to find a good reference you just really like and is close to your taste, to your industry. Like for instance, production, like your hardware production, you know, so it's good to make some 3D model maybe of your thing and just to showcase if you're making a software product. So it's good to show them interface based animation.

I completely agree with you. Whilst we're talking about styles, though, I know that social media is definitely a big use case for this type of introductory demo or explain a video. Is there any particular things that our listeners should think about when they're planning videos for use within those social media platforms, you know, things like LinkedIn, Facebook or wherever they might be publishing them? And we should

definitely understand that if the video is planned to be used in the marketing campaign on some social media on some platforms where people just swipe the videos and everybody is like fighting for the first several seconds of the video. Okay. So, they, they have to be very catchy and interesting. And, uh, one small, like, nuance I want to stress is sometimes people want to put their logo or just something in the beginning of the video. And we strictly not recommend to do this, because when somebody sees a logo or some formal graphics, they consider, oh, it's an advertisement. I don't want to be exposed by the advertisement. People just want to see stories. That's why most of Explainer videos and just cool animation, they just start with a problem, with a story, with a pain, and the user is just getting involved because the topic is interesting, the theme is involving, and he has the pain, he can identify himself with the character in the video or whatever. Presentational videos are not not

great. I completely agree. So I think we're getting towards the end of our time actually, Yuri. Um, before we hang up though, do you have any last nuggets of advice or valuable tips that you'd like to leave with our listeners to help them plan and create their own top of the funnel animated explainer videos?

Most people, when they want to create an animated video, they haven't created animated videos in their lives. And, uh, before you do something you have never done. It's good to make some, uh, research, uh, or talk to different providers or studios, or just, or just spend time to watch animated videos that are created. Just to understand what is a variety of animation can be, what is this tool? I mean, if it's something new for you, it's good to just dive in the topic. And, uh, just ask people what are the best practices. Because if you haven't done any video before and you just come and say I need a video in two weeks or three weeks, it's not a good idea. So just, if it's something new in your life, this is kind of a new experience. And most people, after ordering the first video, they change their point of view on what animation is, how it works, how it's been created. What can be adjusted, what cannot be adjusted, so be calm, be cold with this decision and just not do it very quickly, because it's,

it's totally new. Yeah, definitely. I think if it's something that's the first time you've gone through this, then look and learn before you're jumping in, make sure you understand the variety of stuff that you can do. You're going to learn as you watch more of these things and you're going to learn as you go through this experience. So, Yuri, thanks once again for joining us. It's been fantastic to have you here on the podcast today. Thank you so much for joining and sharing your knowledge with us all. It's been much appreciated.

Thank you. I'm very happy to share and good to talk. Bye for now.

Thanks. Thanks again for joining me, Yuri. And thanks for sharing your firsthand insights. It was really great to have a chat with you. Um, I think there's a few key takeaways actually for me today. Uh, the first of these was to really think about the purpose of the video. For example, where is it going to be used? Is it going to be used on social media, or on your website, or in a webinar? You know, think about those key things that Yuri mentioned. The second thing that Yuri mentioned in there was that whatever you're producing, it needs to be short and concise. You know, you've only got a few seconds in front of your viewers when it comes to these demos. So you need to think about how you can get across that problem and your solution in 120 words or less. So there were some really specific things there that I'll certainly be adding to my best practices and I hope you will be too. Thanks very much for your advice Yuri. So if you're having problems creating demonstrations or if you need somebody to help you write a demo script and capture that perfect demonstration then you can hire an authentic engagement demodia. com to hire a coach that will show you how to increase the effectiveness of your product demos and give you an easier way to grow your business. So this is the point in the show where I like to give you a set of concrete actions that you can take to help to improve your product demos. Today you're going to create a top of the funnel demonstration, you know, the education demo. We're going to use Yuri's formula here, so the demo video that you're going to create will be no more than 60 seconds, and trust me, for an educational video you don't need any more than that. It's a first impression that you're giving here to your prospects and you don't want them to get bored. So, firstly, couple of admin steps. I want you to write down who your audience is and what they want to achieve. Do they want to be able to do something faster, cheaper, with less errors? You know, the sorts of things. Next, I want you to write down the problem that's standing in the way of them achieving this. So have you done that? Good. Now here's where we get to URI's formula. Next up, you're going to create a 120 word or about a 20 sentence script. Let's break that down a bit. I want you to write a 5 sentence introduction. So you're going to use the first sentence of that to describe something that your audience wants and then the remaining part of it to talk about the problem that's stopping them from achieving that. Next, you're going to write 10 sentences describing the solution. In there, you want to discuss how they can easily fix their challenge using your solution. And you want to show them how their life will be better when they've used that solution. Don't forget also in here you need to show them what failure looks like if they don't take any action. Now write down five sentences for the closing part. In this part you're going to describe what action you want them to take. This is your call to action sentence basically. So to help you out we've created a demo script canvas and you can find a link to that in the show notes or you can just go to demodia.com slash resources and you'll find it in there. Fill in the sections with your answers and use them to build your product demo story. By following these steps, you'll be able to create powerful educational videos that will position you as the guide and your product or service as the solution to your customers. So, that's all for today's episode of Authentic Marketing Podcast. Thanks very much for listening and don't forget to bookmark the podcast and follow us on LinkedIn. We love to hear what you want to know and how we're helping your business succeed. I'll see you next time.