Last updated on January 6th, 2020
We’re far removed from an era where static, colorless logos are a sufficient way for companies to position their brands. Nowadays, customers are much more likely to interact with aesthetically pleasing visuals, especially those that move (i.e. GIFs, videos, animations.). These animated visuals fall under the guise of entertainment value, something that every consumer is desperately seeking.
It’s simple. People have so many options to choose from, they’re willing to shut the door quickly on a brand whose logo puts them to sleep. As marketing president Jay Walker-Smith put it, “We’ve gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970’s to as many as 5,000 a day today.”
In an effort to draw attention to your brand, consider animation. It will improve your catchiness factor (increased impressions), as well as providing the following benefits to your business.
Brand Awareness
The most obvious purpose for animation is to raise awareness for your brand. You want to create a visual element that is timeless and noteworthy, like a cartoon character who embodies your product. This was the route taken by Giant Owl Productions.
This GIF creatively merges the “owl” element of their brand with a reel of tape to denote the “productions” element.
Part of the reason why animation works so well is because humans spend a lot longer looking at video than they do with still images. According to Online Publishers Association, 80% of users recall a video ad from the previous 30 days.
Story Telling
Storytelling doesn’t mean you have to produce an animated fiction movie. The idea is to connect with your audience by telling your brand’s story. Many marketers go the route of animating their mission statement or product explanation videos, as a way to make their brand more palatable to all ages. 90% of users say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision process.
SEO
Animation can also improve your site’s SEO, via shares, backlinking, and image tagging. In general, web pages that feature videos (or any kind of motion graphics) are more likely to attract users for longer periods of time. Google’s algorithm will always take note if you uploaded any of your site’s animated content to YouTube. Google loves dynamic content that lives on your website or that’s embedded from theirs (e.g. YouTube) so consider ways you can create animated content that connects to your customers and can be crawled by search engine spiders.
Mobile Use
Mobile has surpassed desktop as the primary way for users to access the internet. With this much smaller canvas size, it behooves you to implement catchy animations rather than drawn out text. You can add interactivity to your visuals to keep users busy, like placing QR codes within them.
If Not Animation, Try Video
If animated visuals aren’t your cup of tea, try at least adding videos to your digital marketing strategy. The goal is to post engaging content, and the simple fact is that text alone isn’t getting it done anymore. Society has always craved imagery, only the craving used to be fulfilled via poetry and literature. People nowadays need to see it to believe it, so it may as well start with a logo.
