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The 10 most important application areas for explanatory videos

Natalie Ediger, March 6, 2017· Communication

10 areas in which an explanation video is used

“This is Paul. Paul owns a small cafe and…” A few years ago almost every explanation video started like this. But times have changed. Explanatory films have grown up and are at home in many areas of content creation. The following enumeration is to clarify you, how variously explanation films are used nowadays and which purposes they fulfill.

The classic explanatory video

Probably the best-known explanatory film format has probably already crossed your path several times. Usually it explains a service in a classic way. How it works and why we need it.

Here is an example:

The product video

In addition to services, products must of course also be explained. Here we distinguish between the instruction video and the product video. With the latter, the goal is clear: to arouse desire.

The instruction video

Here, too, it is usually a question of a product. The form of presentation is reduced. After all, this is no longer about why I need the product, but about how it works or is connected.

There are great examples at Logitech:

The image video

Since not only the product is interesting for the potential target group, but also the company which manufactures and sells the product, there is the image clip. Here not individual services or products are explained, but the enterprise values are moved into the center.

The Content Marketing Video

This is not about a concrete product, a service or the image of a company. Content marketing videos are used to support the respective content strategy. This looks like this in the case of the Guardian:

The Social Media Marketing Video

Of course, no one will stop you from posting every video on Facebook, for example. But also here there are certain special features to consider. The formats of the videos should be adapted to the respective social network and Voice Over texts should be renounced. If this is not possible, subtitles must be set up, as videos usually play automatically without the sound being heard.

The study film

Explanatory films also make sense when they are not about goods or services. For example, to simply present a complicated study and make the results accessible to a broad mass of people.

The political film

Of course, studies are not the only thing there is to communicate besides goods and services. Explanatory films are also excellent for explaining political concerns, plans, concepts or legislation and calling for participation in protests and movements in social networks.

You can see what it looks like here:

The internal corporate film

Of course, the target group of an explanatory film can also be your own employees. For example, new management systems are explained or how the server is structured.

The e-learning film

A special type of explanatory film is the e-learning film. It is intended to introduce people to topics more easily and to help them understand complex systems. No matter whether a company wants to train its executives or an online university wants to present complex topics in an easily understandable way. The e-learning film makes it possible.

Iversity has a special way of making these movies:

As you can see, the fields of application are manifold and certainly not yet completely listed here. Write us gladly what we have forgotten.

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