Picture this: You’ve finally put together the budget you need. You’ve got your brand assets and guidelines ready to go. You even found a really fun video production company to help you bring it all together.
Your video marketing effort is about to start in earnest with a big-time production!
But then, you begin to think about all the work that went into getting this project off the ground. So much time and effort spent ticking items off the task list in preparation, the thought of having to do it all over again seems daunting—and expensive. And with the pace of the world today, your video becoming outdated is much more a question of when, not if.
When you think about it like that, you start to realize just how important it is to make a video with a long shelf life. Video assets, especially in the SaaS space, should be made as evergreen as possible. Thankfully, there’s a few levers you can pull to help make that happen. Here, you’ll find six things you can do to ensure your video has some staying power—and maximize the mileage you get out of your investment.
Use non-timestamped language
You may want to include some fun stats about your past year, your current client count, etc. We all want to live in the now, after all! But by avoiding timing-specific language or dates, scripts can stay relevant. Avoiding specific references to dates, events, or trends means a longer-lasting message.
By using non-timestamped language, your video stays useful and engaging for viewers over a much longer period of time, reducing the need for any updates or revisions.
The goal with any “evergreen effort” is to create content that feels universal with lasting appeal and relevance. That way, no matter when someone watches, they can stay engaged with what’s on screen instead of getting thrown off by small details. For example, instead of writing, “Our company set forth on our mission 12 years ago…” you should instead say “Our company set forth on our mission back in 2012…” A simple change that makes a huge difference.
Limit characters
You don’t need to avoid characters entirely for evergreen content. But in the world of motion design, character design follows trends that are constantly changing. And overusing characters could make your video feel “of an era” much sooner than you might like.
By using a smaller cast of characters, or no characters, animators can instead focus on creating timeless ideas and designs that are less likely to feel outdated. Avoiding trendy characters will not only help your brand stand out, but help your video to better stand the test of time. Character animation is also incredibly complicated, making it harder or more costly to update.
Of course, we’d never suggest eliminating humanity from video all together. But, full characters aren’t the only way to bring in that human element. Consider ways to allude to people via hands, avatars, simplified outlines, or even photography. There are ways to give your video a human touch even if it doesn’t feature a bunch of illustrated humans.
Use Illustrated UI
Everyone wants to see your product and what they’ll be clicking when they try it for themselves. But SaaS tools are constantly updated and rarely look the same for very long. That’s where illustrated and representative software UI comes in. Illustrated software screens allow for greater control over the visual style and consistency across the interface. Abstracting the UI helps you make sure that every element aligns with the overall aesthetic of the video and a brand’s visual identity.
Illustrated UI helps draw focus to the features and functionalities of the product you want viewers to see. It’s all about putting function over form. Simplifying and stylizing the UI elements, makes essential info super clear to the viewer and keeps frames from getting too busy. And in terms of going evergreen, illustrated UI is much less likely to become outdated compared to actual UI screenshots.
To best illustrate this point, here’s two examples of illustrated UI. The one on the left is the representative UI, while the one on the right is an abstract interpretation. Both of these are pretty evergreen, but the one on the right even moreso. The one drawback of abstract UI, like the one below, is that users may be yearning to get a better understanding of what it actually looks like, so choose the fidelity of our illustration carefully. But hey, at least they’re curious to learn more, right?
Avoid other tech logos
If you’re not going to show your actual UI, you likely want to avoid other tech logos for the same reason. Think about how frequently social media companies mix things up and change their platforms. Or how new platforms can completely take over and push older tech to the margins.
Instead of including logos, badges or icons to highlight your tech integrations, it’s better to consider showing company names as type on screen. A name is much less likely to change, especially since new monikers like Meta and X are still pretty fresh in the world.
End the video looking forward
When it comes to SaaS products, the actual product itself is always in flux and improving. It’s a living thing with new features, benefits and more all popping as time, technology and needs change. That’s why it’s often a good idea to end your video looking forward to what you might want the product to do in the future. Or, what the larger goal you want to help your users accomplish is. You don’t need to have any specific features to talk about or tease, but you can center your ending on the benefits you hope to see coming out of future efforts.
It’s important to be honest and not overpromise. Some quick allusions to a future state where more of the tools’ benefits are realized will help the audience realize the best is yet to come, and your video can live on just a little longer.
Promote it so it succeeds
This isn’t so much about the corporate video production process but how you can make the most of the video once it’s complete. If you’re able to put together a strategy, and some dollars, to promote your completed video you’re much more likely to garner the views, conversions, conversations, etc. you’re looking for.
The goal is to get people to pay attention and remember what you have to say. So when your potential customer is making their selection for a new SaaS tool—you want your offering to be top of mind. If a video is built to be evergreen from the start, paid placements and promotions will ensure its usefulness and mindshare for years to come.
Summary
Selling a SaaS tool is complicated. Trying to condense the entire sales pitch, with its long list of amazing features and benefits, into a two minute explainer is an even greater challenge. Remembering these six tips will help you properly vet your videos for their longevity. Ensuring you can use them for many, many quarters to come.