I’ve watched silent movies in the past, and a couple of the ‘oldie’ cartoons (e.g., Tom and Jerry) that had no talking. But I would never have thought a full-length movie for kids, without words, would work in today’s dwindling attention span society. Well, I was wrong. Shaun the sheep has NO talking. No captions either. The entire 1 hour and 25-minute cartoon movie conveyed the-grass-is-greener concept, conflict, obstacles, heroism, loyalty, and emotions. And, it did it all through actions, through animation. I took my grandsons to the movie several years ago and the theater had lots of other grandparents with their grandchildren. Every child was captivated, the adults too. In fact, you forgot there were no words – no dialogue. My 9-year-old grandson (at the time) who has ADD paid attention through the entire movie – and, he didn’t want to go in the first place, thinking it was a baby movie. I was amazed, not only that it held his attention, but it held my attention. Me, who is always thinking of what I have to do next. Quite an accomplishment. This is the power of animation. And, just imagine if an hour and a half animated movie can hold children’s attention, think how it will hold your readers’ and visitors’ attention on your website in short focused clips. But, aside from my own viewpoints of Shaun the Sheep, there is research that backs up animation’s benefit in book marketing. Some Statistics According to TippingpointLabs.com: • People are 64% – 85% more likely to purchase your product or service after watching an animation/video – that’s a significant boost to your conversions. • Visit lengths are another factor that gets a boost. Visitors will stay on your site at least two minutes longer with animation/video. • And, there’s the power of YouTube. You’re 53x more likely to get on Google’s first-page for search results by embedding video on your site. (1) Along with this, another site that is now closed explained that, “Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL are among the hundreds of Search Engines that give priority listings to websites that host video content.” Taking advantage of tags, descriptions, and any other kind of SEO strategies allowed when publishing the video is another avenue of search visibility. If this isn’t enough incentive to jump on the animation bandwagon, think about the social media marketing aspect. Sharing and clickthrough rates are increased significantly with video. Animated videos can be humorous, serious, entertaining, and educational. Using animation in your marketing, specifically your blog posts, is a win-win strategy that you should be taking advantage of. For the icing on the cake, according to Hubspot: • Ninety percent of the information the brain receives is visual. • The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text. • Videos in posts get 3X the inbound links than posts with only text. • Animation (visual content) increases engagement. (2) If you’d like to try your hand at a free animation tool, go to PowToon.com and click on the FREE option. (I’m NOT an affiliate, I just think it’s a great marketing tool.) References: (1) http://www.slideshare.net/tpldrew/steal-this-slide-ecommerce-video-conversion-rates-statistics (2) http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx This article was originally published at: http://www.articlewritingdoctor.com/2015/08/shaun-the-sheep-and-marketing-with-animation/
I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach. Let me help turn your story into a book you’ll be proud to be author of. You can send me an email at: kcioffiventrice@gmail.com to discuss your project. Or, you can give me a call at 834---347---6700 Let’s get your story in publishable and marketable shape today! Or, if you'd rather give it a shot and do-it-yourself, check out my book, HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN'S FICTION BOOK.
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