Brand Video vs. Explainer Video: Which One Does Your Company Need?
The most common question we get from new clients: "We need a video. Should it be a brand video or an explainer video?"
The answer depends on one thing: what you want the viewer to do after watching.
What an explainer video does
An explainer video answers, "What does your product do and why should I care?" It's functional. It drives a specific action—sign up, book a demo, or start a trial. It lives on your homepage, in your sales outreach, and in your paid ads.
The goal is conversion. The metric is click-through rate, demo bookings, or trial signups.
What a brand video does
A brand video answers, "Who are you and why do you exist?" It's emotional. It builds trust, communicates values, and creates affinity before someone ever evaluates your product.
The goal is trust. The metric is harder to measure—but you feel it when a prospect says, "What's more? I already felt good about your company before we talked."
Brand videos live on your About page, open your conference keynotes, play at recruiting events, and get shared on LinkedIn when someone asks "what's your company about?"
The mistake: choosing one when you need a sequence
Most companies don't need to choose between the two. They need both in the right order.
If you have zero video presence, start with an explainer video. It drives immediate ROI by converting traffic you're already getting. A brand video with no traffic is a tree falling in an empty forest.
Once your explainer is working, build a brand video. It strengthens everything upstream—prospects who watch your brand video first convert at higher rates when they see your explainer later.
Think of it as a funnel: brand video creates trust at the top, and explainer video converts at the bottom.
When a brand video comes first
There's one exception: if your company is entering a new market or launching a major repositioning, a brand video can set the tone before product marketing kicks in.
We've worked with companies post-acquisition, post-merger, and post-pivot that needed the market to understand "who we are now" before "what we sell." In those cases, the brand video is the strategic foundation on which everything else is built.
What they cost
Explainer videos start from $2,000 at PSTUDIO. Brand videos start from $2,500 — the story workshop process adds time upfront, but it's what makes the video worth watching.
Both can be produced in 3-5 weeks.
How to decide
Ask yourself: "If a prospect watches one video and nothing else, what do I need them to walk away knowing?"
If the answer is "what our product does"—an explainer video. If the answer is "who we are"—brand video. If the answer is "both," start with the explainer and add the brand video within 3 months.
