Startup owners rarely have large marketing budgets at their disposal.

But marketing your product or service is essential at every stage of growth. That’s why you need to capitalise on your resources wisely, and spend money on marketing techniques and tools that offer high ROI.

Animated explainer videos bring plenty of benefits to startups that are short on money but want to make a mark on the industry by communicating their value in a unique way.

Explainer and how-to videos account for 67% of global YouTube viewership. Users watch 5,000 videos like that every single day.

Here are 5 tips to help you grow your startup with animated explainer videos driving your marketing campaign.

1. Explain your product or service

Startups grow in experiential, on-demand economy. That’s why they need a smart means for communicating their offer in a way that engages consumers.

Animated explainers are visually appealing and evoke emotions. They can describe your product or service better than any other form of content, especially if what you do is quite complex or difficult to present via other types of promotional methods.

Explainer videos also help to build a unique brand for your startup and make your visitors take actions – for example, download a free trial, subscribe to your newsletter or order a product demo. They’re a perfect starting point for converting leads.

For example, if you provide a set of analytics tools for marketers, you can use an explainer video to tell your audience what type of problems your product solves, what are its key benefits, and in what type of use cases it worked for others. Animation opens the door to presenting abstract data that support your claim, for example, traffic growth or higher engagement metrics.

2. Increase web traffic and boost SEO

There’s no denying that startups rely on their online presence more than any other type of business. A strong online brand is essential for startups to communicate their offer and attract potential leads. Online reviews can make or break a startup. Investment in building a relationship with the target audience and the entire industry is critical for its survival.

Website traffic comes from smart SEO optimisation which is essential for startups when it comes to lead generation. And nothing helps here like video. Forrester Research showed that it’s 50 times easier to achieve a page 1 ranking on Google with a video.

You can publish an animated explainer on YouTube and invest in SEO to reach a higher rank on the platform and redirect more traffic to your website. Don’t forget that YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web. And in search results, animated videos have a 41% higher click-through rate than written text.

Include animated explainers in your email newsletter, blog posts, and social media – that’s how you’ll drive more people to your website and convert them into customers.

3. Convert visitors to customers

Once consumers land on your page, it’s your job to convert these leads to customers. And startups target a specific type of consumers who are tech-savvy and expect an amazing user experience.

That’s another point where an animated explainer can help. Videos keep people glued to the screen – research shows that consumers spend twice as much time on landing pages that include a video than on other types of landing pages.

Animated explainers are engaging and bring in more high-quality conversions when targeting an audience used to consuming video content as a way to connect with brands.

4. Engage your social media followers

There’s hardly a startup out there that doesn’t have any active social profiles. Startups operate in a culture that demands transparency and open communication from businesses.

Startups most often target Millennial consumers who find on-demand, immersive product experiences attractive. When implemented on your social media channels, video becomes a format that delivers that type of user experience.

You can leverage the potential of social media by engaging your followers with the right content. And animated videos are versatile, engaging, and shareable.

According to Animoto’s State of Social Video 2017 report, 84% of consumers watch social video via mobile devices. Publishing animated explainers on your social channels is a smart move – they’re mobile-friendly and perfect when you’re addressing an audience that loves watching videos on social media from their smartphones or tablets.

5. Keep your marketing ROI high

Animation is a perfect format for marketers who haven’t dipped their toes in video marketing yet. They’re cost-effective and allow to show a product or service in creative ways. Mainly, because while collaborating with an animation studio you will be offered many different types of animation to choose the most suitable format for your business.

Whiteboard animations and cartoons are the cheapest to produce, and can bring startups a serious boost in engagement, web traffic, and lead generation. That’s why animation is a safe video format you could experiment with right now.

And if you’re choosing an animation type to deliver your startup’s marketing message, an explainer video is a top pick. You can make it fun or playful to reflect your company culture and brand, all the while explaining the complexities of your product or service in a simple and attractive way that your target audience will remember.

It’s worth to invest in animated videos – 47% of brands surveyed by Animoto are publishing at least 4 branded videos every month.

Animated explainer videos bring a serious advantage to startups that want to build brand awareness and promote their product/service without burning all their cash.

Don’t stay behind your competition and create an animated explainer video to elevate your startup.