Are Explainers dead?

Well, they are certainly notorious for being utilised incorrectly and underperforming. But they do still have a place and serve a purpose in (wait for it…) explaining stuff.

I know, that's a goddamn revolutionary insight right there. Thank you very much. Good day to you all. 

It’s worth remembering that the term ‘explainer’ didn’t manifest randomly and, In fact, it’s common use for video content predates the internet, going back to the 80s and Television Journalism - informing rather than marketing. Explainers were not something to be used as adverts. At some point since the advent of the internet those wires seem to have gotten more than a little crossed. 

If your main aim is to grab attention, then they’re the wrong tool for the job. Explainers won’t win you an audience that you don’t already have. Through social media marketing the aim is to get people's attention and ‘stop the scroll.’ Once you’ve got them hooked and they’ve taken your call to action and headed over to your site, you now have a more captive audience that actively wants to learn more. That’s when it's time to start thinking about explainers.

A great explainer can speak directly to your ideal client and their actual problems. It can show them how are you are the solve for them, build a deeper understanding of why, and grow their trust. 

One of the biggest mistakes I see is trying to do too much with one video. Weak explainers get tangled in the technicalities, try to speak to everyone (and resonate with no one) and run too long, drifting into self indulgence. The “explanation” should be how and why you solve your target audience’s problems. It shouldn’t be a brand history lesson.

An explainer isn’t a silver bullet, treat it as such and it’ll crumble under the pressure and underperform when measured against the wrong metrics, but you can be smarter in production to create more content, and tactical in their deployment to guide the audience to the next step. 

Explainers aren’t built to capture attention. So if you’re looking at the top of the funnel to improve awareness as well? Think about short, punchy cut-downs from your explainer and bake those into the production process. Repurpose animated scenes with strongly worded opening hooks. One production allows visual consistency across multiple formats and more outputs.

At the other end of the funnel, if prospects need more depth? Don’t stretch the video on for several minutes, Point them somewhere else. Send them to A white paper, webinar, demo, whatever helps them decide. The explainer’s job is to earn the next step.

A lot of the rhetoric around “the death of the explainer” comes down to that difficult place it holds in the middle. It’s hard to measure. The top of the funnel can be seen in views, engagement and clicks. the bottom in enquiries and sales, but the middle is complicated. Buyers don’t necessarily take action immediately after watching your explainer, they might return a day or two later once they’ve considered their options. But that middle step is crucial in establishing trust and good faith in your brand. Skip it out, and you risk leaving your target buyers with nothing of substance to make a decision.

So, are explainers dead? No chance. But they may be in need of a little CPR.