Interview w/ WizMotions’ John Socratous
Animated video marketing is starting to thrive within the digital landscape. Many business online are using explainer videos to better showcase their products. They are even becoming more prominent in the legal industry as well. We interviewed John Socratous of WizMotions, the master of video animation, for a review of WizMotions to help us better understand explainer videos and how they may help your law firm. Thanks John.
1. What is an “explainer” video?
An explainer video is an animated video that EXPLAINS a business concept, product or service in a way that even a 7-year-old kid can understand and engage with it…
And as you already know, if you engage with your prospects in a DEEP emotional level, there’s a very high chance of them choosing YOUR law firm instead of others.
There’s a reason that the trend “explainer videos” became so popular these days, and that’s because it just grabs the attention and builds anticipation in the viewer’s mind.
Here’s an example:
Whiteboard video for Pershing Square Law Firm from wizMotions on Vimeo.
2. How are explainer videos better or more effective marketing tools than a traditional video a lawyer might have produced? Is there a special process or method to these videos that gets viewers to convert better?
Explainer videos are more effective for quite a few reasons, and most of these reasons are related to psychological factors. Why? Well, because people buy for emotional reasons, never logical.
Let me explain just a few of the reasons why explainer videos perform way better than a traditional type of videos and why it’s CRITICAL for any law firm to get more clients.
First, it creates a pattern interruption in the viewer’s mind and grabs the attention big time.
Let me give you an example of what I mean…
Let’s say you’re among a group of people, and you clap your hands ONCE but really loud, what do you think would happen?
Well, most likely everyone will pause and turn to you with a weird look to see what’s going on, right?
You have their attention because something unusual just happened that people didn’t expect. That’s an example of a pattern interruption.
The same goes with explainer videos; it gives people the “unexpected” touch they need to give their 100% focus — at least for the first few seconds.
Next, what keeps the momentum and engagement going is the fact that we’re all visually wired and engaged to storytelling!
In fact, studies have shown that 50% of our brain is involved in visual processing and 150ms (milliseconds) is all it takes us to understand a visual scene.
That’s why while driving a car you see a red sign that indicates the road is dangerous from falling rocks instead of using a written sign of “BE CAREFUL! FALLING ROCKS!” – it’s because visual processing is in our brain and DNA. We understand visuals better and faster.
The next piece of the puzzle is the “Storytelling”. Since childhood, we’ve been enjoying listening to stories, especially fun stories we can relate to.
Visual + storytelling (aka Visual Storytelling) it’s a magic combination that creates ENGAGEMENT and make people buy from you. That’s why explainer videos work, and businesses are hiring wizMotions.
We’re implementing this methodology on every single video we create, and we’ve created 1500+ explainer videos to-date including law firms, small businesses all the way up to Fortune 500 companies such as Google, CBS, Ericsson, Kaspersky and more.
In fact, 40% of our clients doubled their income with a single video. It’s an important investment for EVERY business, not just law firms.
3. Are explainer videos more difficult or expensive to produce?
A decent explainer video that converts, it’s not an easy task; that’s for sure. It requires VERY strong marketing and animation skills.
There are two ways to get an explainer video done:
Option #1. Create it yourself
If you’re on a budget, using software is OK. However, if you are a serious business owner without any designing or drawing skills, you’ll experience a lot of painful trial and error issues as well as limitations in what images you can use. The question is: How much is your time worth to you?
Option #2: Hire a professional animation company
Given the fact that time is money, if you value your hourly rate at let’s say $30/hour and a DIY video will take you an average of 30 hours to create, it will cost you $900 to create just an average-looking video. So why not invest that money in a video animation company that will make REAL PROFESSIONAL work for you. A video that will set you way apart from your competition and convert video viewers into action-takers and make your phone ring and bring profit to your business.
- The BAD news: If you take a look around, a decent CUSTOM animation video costs between $5000-10,000/minute. It’s that difficult.
- The GOOD news: While others are charging thousands of dollars our prices start from $397, depending what video style you’re looking to get done and if you want us to write the script for you, etc.
We charge a fraction of the cost because we’re not the middle man, we have a team of 24+ full time people, plus we count on repeated business from our clients.
4. Can illustrations, content, calls to action and things like that be customized with explainer videos from WizMotion?
Absolutely! We create only 100% original artwork hand-drawn by extremely talented artists. Unlike other companies, we don’t use clipart or stolen images ever! (be aware of this!)
We also provide UNLIMITED revisions to the script writing and storyboard artwork. That makes it a risk-free process with a 100% satisfaction, and we won’t stop tweaking it until you’re fully satisfied with how the explainer video looks.
5. Do you load my video onto online video sharing platforms or can I share the video file on platforms of my choice?
We provide clients a HIGH definition format (MP4) video file which they can use anywhere they want. You can upload it to YouTube, Facebook, on your website and anywhere else you want.
6. Do you give guidance on what kind of stories work for marketing or do customers have to come up with marketing ideas on their own? How much creative direction does the customer have?
There are two types of marketing stories that work, the DIRECT APPROACH and the STORYTELLING APPROACH. We ask the customer if he has a preferable choice or if he wants our professional opinion on what will be the best option for his particular purpose and his video campaign.
We have a team of copywriters specialized in this particular field — converting the message of a law firm INTO a compelling visual message/storytelling that holds the viewer on the edge of their seats.
7. What is the process like for making an explainer video? For example, what basic steps can an attorney expect from start to finished video? How long does it take?
Our process is pretty straightforward and risk-free because it requires client’s approval first before we move to the next phase.
First of all, we give the client access to our project management system so he can start monitoring his project 24/7. This way he will never feel asking us “Hey, any update about my project?”.
The client is involved in every step of the way. 
Here’s a quick breakdown of our process:
- Step #1: Discovery Phase – As soon as we kick off the project it’s when we ask the client to fill out a 4-Step Creative Brief Questionnaire. This allows us to understand clients’ goals so we can come up with a video style and angle that is best for their business.
- Step #2: Script Writing & Initial Storyboard – We then move to the script writing and initial storyboard guidelines phase. A script is the make-it-or-break-it point for every video. If you have the best artwork but story is not engaging, the video is not going to convert very well. Our experienced writers are trained to create engaging stories and killer scripts.
- Step #3: Visual Storyboard – After the script is created and approved by the client, their project will move into the actual art design. We will create the visual storyboard and client will be able to see all of the artwork and make any desired corrections. We provide unlimited revisions.
- Step #4: Voice Over Recording – A professional can do magic. We have over 25+ voice over superstars you can choose from. If you prefer to use your voice, we can use your voice instead.
- Step #5: Video Production & Preview – All the work we have put in, up until this point, finally comes to fruition. The client can preview, download and share the video with the world.
Assuming timely approval/feedback from the client, our standard delivery time for the entire video is about 2-3 weeks (we usually deliver sooner). We do offer a 5-Day rush delivery option. However, this costs extra as it puts the project on top priority from all the other open projects we have and our team will work around the clock to meet the client’s deadline and deliver everything in 5 business days.
If you’re an attorney who wants to generate new leads and clients using the power of visual storytelling through a custom explainer video, check out our attorneys explainer video services.
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