Creating a 90 Second Explainer Video
This is the funniest video on HPC I’ve seen so far 😀
— ∇ (@relativetoyou) May 6, 2014
One of the constant complaints from people outside our market over the years is that they do not understand what we do. For years, we have tried to simplify our story to explain. We have used real examples. We have summarized. We have been long-winded. In the end, what we do is not easily understandable to many people. And that’s OK. We would never sell to those types anyway!
We recently settled on our tagline: “Faster code.” We’re excited to have a two word description of what we do.
What I am really excited about though is the Epipheo video we just launched in conjunction with our rebranding. This is a 90 second video that explains what we do. We spent $20k on it. There were cheaper video production options out there, as low as $4k. But getting our story right was vital to our goals, so we went big on it. Epipheo brought together a very creative element along with the video production mechanics.
Creating the video took 3 months. We had extensive phone calls and design iterations with the Epipheo team. We first worked on story boards. That was the most critical. We originally pitched them an idea revolving around the concept of a software shop. They threw that out and came up with a story around race cars and engines. We threw that out and they pitched the idea that we loved. It mixes just a little analogy with realistic stories of how our business makes an impact in the market we serve. Checkout the video on our homepage.
The video also brings together the fact that we both create a software library as well as provide services, using our library as a competitive advantage to provide more value to our clients. That’s a tough message to convey, and I think the video does a great job at explaining that succinctly.
For difficult to explain technologies, I highly recommend creating a wonderful video to simplify the message. We were inspired by the videos for Preparis and Dropbox that similarly explain those products.
At $20k, an intro video is not possible for most early stage startups. But as the business hits its stride, it makes sense to pursue.
What are your thoughts on creating a 90 second intro video for your business? Any feedback on our video?