Animated Video and Interactive Video: Marketing on a Budget

March 31, 2022

You know that 73% of consumers would prefer to watch a video about a product or service rather than reading text.

You know that video marketers deliver a 66% increase in qualified leads.

You know that 88% of viewers have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

But...isn’t video really expensive? Glad you asked. Let’s talk about how outsourced overseas animation and Mindstamp Interactive Video give you the tools to rapidly test and explore the power of video in your marketing campaigns.

First, let’s talk video animation. Pure labor arbitrage (meaning leveraging overseas talent) has made it easier than ever to find highly skilled resources in markets with dramatically lower cost structures than

For instance, Albert Animation prices 15 different animation styles from $250 - $600 per minute with unlimited revisions.

A 2-3 minute explainer video with high quality animation can be had for under $1,000. And those can be created in under a week. The key to success is to come prepared with a very detailed storyboard and narrative so your focus is on animation execution. Plan for off hours exchanges and work, but with the right attention, your result will be more than satisfactory.

In fact, this video about how Mindstamp interactive video can drive product sales was created with overseas animators for under $500.‍‍

So if you have any advertising or marketing budget, you can include animated video. But how do you make the absolute MOST of that video asset? The answer is to make it into an interactive video experience. Interactive video lets you:

Capture Your Viewer’s Attention: With simple interactions like chapters, dynamic navigation and choose-your-own-adventure choices, your viewers will immediately know that they are an active participant in the video experience. Even a simple ‘let’s get started’ button will grab their attention and increase engagement.
Drive Your Desired Viewer Actions: From basic call-to-action buttons (Buy Now, Subscribe Now) to hotspots that activate specific products or product features within your video to drop products in carts or open additional videos with drill-in details, interactive video elements increase the return on the actions your viewers take and let them take that action at the optimal moment.
Collect Viewer Insight: You can augment your animated video with simple questions that are designed to engage the viewers, and in addition to then directing the viewers to the information that interests them most, collect informative data about your viewers that you can integrate directly into your CRM platform, like HubSpot or Salesforce, to then optimize ongoing marketing campaigns and offers.
Personalize Your Video Marketing: With personalization, you can change the calls-to-action, greetings, details, messages, buttons, questions and anything else you can add interactively to the video in a manner that draws the viewer in and maximizes engagement. If viewers feel like the video was created just for them, they are eager to engage and see more.
Create Engaging Product Videos: By activating products within your videos, or providing drill-in information on specific features that let viewers explore your video based on their interest you can take awareness to deep understanding and compel a purchase at the peak moment of interest.

What’s best about interactive video, and what makes it an exceptionally effective and low cost video marketing tool, is you aren’t bound solely by the finished video product. It’s easy to modify interactions, change buttons change hotspot responses and tailor questions to optimize the outcome through A/B testing of your interactive video. The result is, with your basic animated video, you can actually create and test dozens of video experiences. Maximum video marketing results on even tight budgets!