The art of storyselling – boosting sales with compelling explainer videos

Written by Nico Prins | 8th May 2024
video clap in a shopping cart
As a brand, you want to engage your audience. That means selling stories about you that make potential customers curious, move them emotionally, and stay with them enough for them to buy.
There’s no better way to do all this than through videos.
The Social Science Research Network study reveals that 65% of people learn concepts better with visuals like video content. That shows how videos can sustain engagement, ensuring viewers understand the main stories.
In this study, you’ll learn about explainer video content, in particular. You’ll see the reasons why you can effectively leverage the art of storyselling with explainer videos.
Let’s start from the top.

What is storyselling?

Storyselling is the art of telling a story to sell your products and services. Instead of enumerating your product features, you take potential customers on a narrative journey highlighting your unique selling proposition .
For instance, to sell, you could narrate how a customer met their goals through your product. Or you could tell the story of how your company started and how it managed to reach success.
But why bother creating this immersive experience instead of just rattling off what your product can do?
Because it’s effective. Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner has said that the human mind is about 22 times more likely to remember facts if they are part of a story. A Harvard study also found that when we’re told a story. These chemicals help us make an emotional connection and experience empathy.
In other words, through storyselling, you can make it easy for potential customers to remember how your product can help them. You ensure they connect and empathize with your story character, too. The result of all this? They eventually convert. Storyselling is so effective that it boosts conversions by a staggering 30%!

What is an explainer video?

An explainer video is a video that aims to guide viewers to understand a complex idea, product, or service in an engaging way. It makes learning fun and easy with visual elements such as animation and sometimes humor. It is typically short, running between 30 seconds to three minutes. These short online marketing videos can be used anywhere–from homepages and landing pages to social media platforms.
someone holding a graph together

Why explainer videos are good at storyselling

The question now is this: Why are explainer videos so effective at storyselling? Here’s why:

1. Grab attention

Have you ever scrolled through countless pages of text or images, instantly forgetting what you saw?
Standing out online is challenging, especially with how fast everything moves on the internet these days. That’s where explainer videos come in. This impactful video content can easily grab attention, ensuring your brand cuts through all the noise. After all, explainer videos combine eye-catching visuals, engaging narration, and sound effects to sell a story.
By engaging multiple senses, this visual content also leaves a lasting impact even among people with short attention spans. The result is that the story you sell also becomes memorable.
Creating compelling explainer videos can be challenging. Luckily, tools like simpleshow can help you create visually appealing videos that will make potential customers stop and watch until the end.

2. Simplify complex concepts

Apart from educating your audience, explainer videos can help you simplify complex messages. They break down stories to their main point, sharing this clearly while keeping the original meaning.
This makes the stories you tell accessible. When viewers understand what you’re ultimately trying to say about your product or service, they’ll likely take your desired action.
You can use enterprise generative AI platforms to “storify” and simplify the explanation of your product offerings and processes. Then just use this as your video script when leveraging the art of storyselling with explainer videos.

3. Tell the brand’s own story

Explainer videos are a powerful marketing tool. They allow for video stories that highlight a company’s beliefs, goals, and what sets it apart. They can share the company’s journey and its successes, ensuring an emotional connection with the target audience.
Because this method goes beyond simple advertising, brands like you can build real, lasting relationships with people. By sharing your compelling narrative in a genuine way as part of your marketing strategy, you create a loyal community around your brand, making viewers feel like they’re part of something special.
Your website is key to conversions and is usually the first thing customers check to learn more about your brand. So, make sure you include your explainer videos there. You can use website-building tools like Leadpages or other Leadpages alternatives to create an engaging homepage with the video. That should help you tell your brand story in a captivating way.

4. Build trust

Explainer videos build trust by showing the wide range of benefits of products or services in an engaging way. When people see how your products or services work and how they can help them, they can easily put their trust in your brand.
With explainer videos, you can also easily show how others approve of your brand. You do this by showcasing testimonials and endorsements. You can also answer common questions with this content, removing any doubts potential customers may have about your company.
Ultimately, when people trust your brand, they are more likely to take your desired next step.

5. Increase online visibility

Explainer videos are potent tools that can also help boost your brand’s online visibility. They are highly shareable, making them valuable for digital marketing. In fact, an impressive 92% of videos viewed on mobile devices end up being shared with others.
Search engines prioritize content that is both informative and engaging for users. This means explainer videos also greatly improve website search engine rankings, which can result in more website traffic.
This overall increase in visibility ensures more people know about the stories you tell with your video content. Ultimately, you can improve engagement rates, generate more leads, and get more opportunities for sales .
woman with phone, emails and laptop

Conclusion

Explainer videos tell captivating stories to promote a brand, making them highly effective and a secret weapon for digital marketers and sales teams. You can effectively leverage the art of storyselling with explainer videos because of many reasons.
Explainer videos grab the attention of potential customers and simplify complex concepts. With these videos, you can also share your own brand story in an engaging manner. Building trust is also easy. Explainer video content can showcase how others approve of your brand. It is also shareable and can help boost your SEO, enhancing the visibility of your stories.
Ultimately, with explainer videos, you can speak directly to potential customers and convince them to buy.
Now, it’s time to find a powerful tool and start creating this type of content. Good luck.
Visual Messaging: 3 Pro Tips for High-Impact Communication
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Author's bio

Written by Nico Prins, the founder of Launch Space. The company works with enterprise SaaS clients, helping them scale lead generation globally across EMEA, APAC, and other regions.

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