What to Prepare Before Explainer Video Production Starts in 2026
Author : Sana Shaikh | Published On : 26 Feb 2026
Explainer Video Preparation 2026: What Clients Need Ready
Companies starting explainer video production often arrive unprepared. They expect production teams to extract every necessary detail through interviews while they passively approve work. This approach causes delays, increases revision rounds, and compromises final quality.
Strategic preparation before production starts accelerates timelines, reduces costs, and improves results. The 2026 production landscape moves faster than ever, but quality still requires thoughtful input only clients can provide.
Understanding what information production teams need and when they need it helps you gather materials proactively rather than scrambling when requested.
Brand Materials Assembly
Production teams need comprehensive brand guidelines before visual development begins. Incomplete or scattered brand information creates alignment problems requiring expensive revisions.
Gather complete brand style guides including color specifications (hex codes, not approximations), typography standards with font files, logo variations in vector formats, and visual style examples from existing marketing materials.
Collect 5 to 10 examples of marketing materials representing your brand well. Websites, presentations, brochures, and previous videos all help production teams understand visual language and tone expectations.
Document brand voice guidelines explaining personality, language preferences, and forbidden terminology. Should messaging sound authoritative or approachable? Technical or accessible? Formal or conversational?
Identify any mandatory compliance requirements affecting content. Healthcare, financial services, and regulated industries have specific language and claim restrictions. Flag these constraints early preventing compliance issues discovered late.
Competitive Intelligence Gathering
Production teams benefit enormously from competitive context. Companies often withhold competitive information assuming producers don't need it. This assumption limits strategic opportunities.
Compile 3 to 5 competitor explainer videos representing different approaches in your market. Include videos you admire and those you want to differentiate from. Strategic competitive analysis informing production decisions helps teams avoid saturated patterns.
Document what competitors emphasize in messaging. Do they lead with features or benefits? Technology or outcomes? Understanding competitive positioning helps identify differentiation opportunities.
Note what competitors do poorly creating opportunities. Overly technical language confusing prospects? Failure to address specific objections? Your video can exploit these weaknesses.
Customer Research Documentation
The most valuable preparation involves documenting real customer language and concerns. Companies have this information scattered across departments but rarely consolidate it.
Request 5 to 10 sales call recordings featuring prospects asking questions about your offering. These calls reveal actual language prospects use, objections requiring addressing, and what drives purchase decisions versus internal assumptions.
Compile support tickets showing common confusion points. Questions asked repeatedly signal explanation gaps your video should address. Support teams possess invaluable insight into communication failures.
Gather customer testimonials highlighting specific problems solved and outcomes achieved. Real customer language sounds more authentic than marketing-written benefits.
Document the customer journey from awareness through purchase. What touchpoints matter? Where do prospects get stuck? Understanding this journey helps position video strategically.
Internal Stakeholder Alignment
Preparation includes internal alignment preventing stakeholder conflicts derailing production.
Identify decision-making authority before production begins. Who has final approval power? Which stakeholders provide input versus veto authority? Clear authority prevents endless revision cycles satisfying everyone while converting no one.
Document existing messaging debates within your organization. Do product and marketing disagree on positioning? Does sales emphasize different benefits than marketing materials? Surface these conflicts early allowing resolution before production.
Gather examples of past messaging that failed. What taglines got rejected? Which value propositions didn't resonate? This negative knowledge prevents repeating mistakes.
Compile internal presentations explaining product strategy, target audiences, and competitive positioning. Producers shouldn't recreate strategic work already completed internally.
Technical Specifications Documentation
Clear technical requirements prevent format mismatches requiring expensive post-delivery corrections.
Document every intended use case for finished videos. Homepage placement, social media distribution, email campaigns, sales presentations, trade show displays, and paid advertising all have different technical requirements.
Specify platform priorities. Will Instagram receive most traffic or LinkedIn? Should producers optimize primarily for mobile viewing or desktop? Platform prioritization affects framing, text size, and aspect ratio decisions.
Identify language localization needs upfront. Multi-language versions require different production planning than single-language projects. Voice talent, subtitle files, and text animation all differ for localization.
Note any existing video hosting infrastructure or requirements. Some companies have enterprise video platforms with specific encoding requirements.
Product Information Organization
Producers need deep product understanding beyond marketing materials. Organize information facilitating quick comprehension.
Create product demonstration access allowing teams to experience offerings firsthand. SaaS products should provide sandbox accounts. Physical products might require samples or detailed photography.
Document product roadmap indicating upcoming changes. Videos produced today shouldn't become outdated in three months when features launch or interfaces change.
Compile technical specifications, feature lists, and integration details. While videos shouldn't recite every specification, technical understanding informs script accuracy.
Gather analytics on which features drive conversions versus which get emphasized internally. Production teams should prioritize what sells not what product teams find technically interesting.
Budget and Timeline Realities
Preparation includes honest budget and timeline documentation preventing misalignment.
Document total available budget including production, distribution, and potential revisions. Hidden budget constraints create problems when discovered mid-production.
Identify hard deadline requirements with context. Product launches, trade show dates, and campaign start dates all affect production scheduling. However, explain whether deadlines are genuinely fixed or somewhat flexible.
Note any seasonal considerations. B2B companies often need videos before fiscal year planning periods. Retailers require content before seasonal sales peaks.
Acknowledge internal review timeframes realistically. If legal requires two weeks for compliance review, factor this into overall timeline rather than discovering it during production.
Decision-Making Preparation
Prepare stakeholders for decisions required during production avoiding delays when input becomes necessary.
Identify voiceover preferences early. Should narrator sound authoritative or friendly? Male or female? Specific accent or neutral? Collect voice demos from production teams making selection efficiently.
Discuss music style expectations. Upbeat and energetic versus calm and professional? Modern electronic versus traditional orchestral? Music significantly impacts emotional tone requiring strategic alignment.
Determine revision round allocation. How will you use 2 to 3 included revision rounds? Which stakeholders review at which stages? Planning review processes prevents chaotic feedback.
Prepare legal and compliance review processes. Regulated industries need systematic approval workflows built into timelines not discovered when videos await final approval.
Content Asset Preparation
Some videos benefit from existing content integration requiring advance preparation.
Gather high-resolution product photography, screenshots, or interface recordings if videos will showcase actual products. Producers shouldn't screenshot from public websites when better source materials exist.
Compile customer logos for social proof if you have permission to feature them. Verify usage rights allowing public display in video content.
Collect data and statistics supporting key claims. Specific numbers require verification and source documentation preventing last-minute scrambles validating figures.
Prepare any mandatory disclosures or disclaimers requiring inclusion. Legal language needs review before script development not during final production.
Preparation Accelerates Success
Thorough preparation accelerates production, reduces costs, and improves final quality. Companies arriving organized respect production partner time while positioning videos for strategic success.
Ready to prepare strategically for explainer video production? Work with production specialists who provide clear guidance on preparation maximizing efficiency and results.
