3 Steps to a short yet powerful whiteboard animation

Short and direct are the keys to a great advertising scribe. Sparkol's latest YouTube ad is only 42 seconds long, features eight different voices, yet says everything it needs to. These three steps from our 42-second scribe will help you to get your message across in the shortest possible time.

When it comes to educational scribes or scribes for presentation, you can afford to take a bit of time to get your message across. The focus is on sustaining interest, not grabbing it to begin with.

However, where video advertising is concerned, keeping it snappy is the key. On Facebook or YouTube, you have a limited amount of time – think four seconds – to grab the viewer's interest. They might be trying to do several things at once, travelling, or taking a quick break in work. Your video is not going to be their priority unless it is engaging and punchy.

Here are three quick steps to making your video short – but powerful.

1. Script your argument

The aim is to build a compelling argument, quickly. When writing your script, go over it two, three, four times and cut out all non-essential information until you are left with only the most important bits.

Remember, at this stage you are just trying to get the core message across. If your argument is compelling, people will follow your links to find out more.

In just 42 seconds, we conveyed the following:

You don't have to spend a fortune on VideoScribe
You can do it all yourself
There's no need for techie know-how – it's quick and easy to make engaging videos
You can use it to create explainer, promotional, marketing, educational and business videos
There is a free trial available with no obligation to buy

How much could you get across by honing your script?

2. Find your hook

Try to make your video stand out. With so many companies clamouring to be heard, it's worth taking some time to design an original look and feel for your videos.

Our hook for this video was to use our own voices, cut together. You're hearing why you should invest in VideoScribe, direct from the people who brought it to life.

Your hook might be in the visual design – perhaps adding your own images. It might be in the script, the voiceover. It might be the music that you use, or the typeface, or a combination of all of these things. What heights could you take your scribe video to with a bit more work and imagination?

That was our challenge to the designer Lizzie Everard – and look what she came up with!

3. Link to your product or service

You'll notice that our website address sits in the right-hand corner of our video at the beginning. If you don't have ages to explain, make sure that viewers can see what the product or service is from the beginning – and that there are links to follow to find out more.

You need to make it as easy as possible for your viewers to access more information. In the 'About' section for our video on YouTube, we re-affirm our offer of a free trial and direct people to our website.

Don't make the rookie mistakes of not making it obvious what the video is about, and not telling people where to find out more.