Update: How We Grew 30% And Plan To Hit 7-Figure Revenue This Year
This is a follow up story for Explainer Videoly Pte. Ltd.. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 3 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hi, I’m Alex - founder of Kasra Design™ - Explainer Videoly Pte. Ltd. We craft premium custom explainer videos for large corporations, SMEs, startups, education institutions, nonprofits, and more.
Our customers are from different industries including big names such as Pepsico, Visa, Panasonic, Tokio Marine Insurance, Prudential, Petronas, Shell, and IATA as well as some governments around the world.
As the demand for explainer videos has increased over the years, we’re currently making close to 7 digits. We had a humble beginning. We started from a home office and worked on mostly small scale projects.
Today, we have regular and long-term clients that engage us for multiple projects annually. The annual revenue has doubled to close to $1 million since our last conversation.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
I would say we’ve grown by 30% since we last talked, and that was a few months ago. Our team size is still about the same as before. However, as we’re getting more projects in the coming months, we’re expanding the team.
We receive more requests for 3D and collage animation. I believe it’s due to the change in trends. Clients seem to be more willing to explore 3D styles these days.
We engaged a new SEO agency to evaluate our entire online presence and SERP. They came up with a holistic plan to improve our digital marketing and how we appear on Google upon searching for important keywords. So far, the result has been great and we keep on investing in this field as our clients mostly find us through online research and review sites such as Clutch.co.
Apart from all the steps that we took to improve the traffic and sales, one important thing is to keep our regular customers happy with the quality of our video animations and customer service consistency. It is achieved through constant training of our staff and implementing the latest trends in our animation production pipeline.
This is one of the reasons our sales have improved as regular customers are making larger orders for their marketing campaigns throughout the year.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
Since we last talked, we mentioned that remote working was working well for our team. However, as we get larger scale projects, it’s hard to operate from home. We need to build new teams to manage our projects.
So I’d say one of the biggest challenges is the work arrangement for our employees. Most of our employees are working from home in different locations. Some of our employees are ready and willing to go back to work in the office, while others prefer to stay home.
While we’d love to have everyone working together in the office, we also must listen to the needs of our employees who prefer a remote working arrangement. We’re currently planning to set up a physical office again so those who prefer to work in the office can utilize the space.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
We realized that our investment in the SEO area was just a fraction of what our major competitors were investing in. According to experts, it cost us some serious loss of traffic and potential clients. Since then, we started to invest more in SEO and content marketing. Fingers crossed, we should see the fruits of it in a matter of 6 months.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
Our plan is to increase the production capacity of our 3D team. Many of our regular and potential customers request for 3D animation so we believe that’s the way forward. 3D animation requires more time to produce and it requires much higher budgets than 2D animation. We’d also like to venture into the production of animated series for longer business sustainability.
As I said earlier, we’re currently planning to set up a physical office so we can expand our team. We’re also very excited to have some of the team members back in an office environment.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
Stash Media and Motionographer are the two blogs that I read frequently and it is partly because they are a great source of inspiration in the animation industry.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
It is great to analyze and do market research before starting a business but do not overdo it.
Many things can be figured out after you start your business. If you spend too much time preparing, you might lose the opportunity altogether.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Yes, we’re currently hiring two full-time 3D generalists to assist our current 3D team with modeling, rigging, and animating.
We’d like to have someone passionate about the industry, and able to work independently and also with a team. If you’re interested, please share your resume and portfolio with [email protected].
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
