Writing a Corporate Video Script That Sells

Vision? Check. Strategy? Check. Content? Check again.

The corporate video script is designed to increase sales, fanfare and, of course, fun. How a company goes about engaging its customers, however, can mean the difference between losing them in the noise or luring them into the lovely garden of its sales funnel. Head south for the top four video writing secrets, revealed.

#1 Let the Show Begin

The key to script writing that sells is to avoid letting the content sell it all. Here’s the trick. Show, don’t tell. When a company spells out its talents, achievements and values in wordy terms, it robs its clients of doing the same. What could have been a delicious branding opportunity falls short. Take one Psychology Today study, for example. When people labeled themselves with admirable qualities, they were significantly less likely to live them out. Self-labeling with positive traits may also incite skepticism from the receiver. When an audience is free to form brand connections on their own, labels like “authentic”, “innovative” and “industry leader,” the relationship is forged or solidified. Many companies give lip service, the greatest don’t need to.

#2 Authenticity Wins Hearts

Love is a battlefield, and so is marketing. According to Forbes, (and the rest of the universe), every move a company makes can be viral in seconds time. “This poses a challenge for marketers: They must navigate the latest and greatest means of meeting the customer where they are and ensure the messages they put out are both genuine and in alignment with their brand principles.” It also makes it imperative for a company to maintain composure, class and transparency on all fronts. With a corporate video script in mind, customers can feel genuinely cared for when they’re spoken to on real terms. “For so long, brands have valued traits like, ‘clever,’ ‘funny’ and ‘witty’ over traits like, ‘honest,’ ‘trustworthy’ and even ‘vulnerable.’” A carefully crafted corporate video script also bears in mind who customers are and what they search for. Every company should know its audience’s favorite subject (hint: themselves). Using this information, pulled from current customer data and researching brand experiences, a business can devise a plan with everything its audience needs to know. Ultimately, this will send the message they are cared for, humanized and seen. Hello, loyalty.

#3 Moving Pictures

“Today, content only succeeds if it delivers what consumers want, when and how they want it. Fortunately, it’s easy to keep up with the changing landscape when you invest in cutting-edge forms of content, such as video marketing,” said Forbes and every savvy marketer, ever. When most companies hear video, they think blog. Yet a video blog, or vlog, is just one of the myriad ways to present eye-catching content. When writing a corporate video script, think outside the four-walled box, which can often take center screen. Projected at more than 80 percent of all web traffic by 2019, videos up companies’ consumer game. The most strategic locations include otherwise text-only marketing emails (to bump up click rates) or embed the text in landing pages of a company’s website. Product page videos, which roughly 90 percent of customers report supported their purchase decisions, are also an excellent ally to digital product content. With these insights in mind, video content can also surround web, email or social media campaigns, new product launches, blogs and news articles. If a photo’s worth a thousand words, a video captures 1.8 million.

#4 The End

From childhood to the golden years, literature to the movies, the clear draw to stories is an easy in for script writers. Once upon a time, a company thought like a creative. Introducing the final script writing instruction, by the award-winning creator of Toy Story and WALL-E, Andrew Stanton. Watch below as he unveils insights all businesses can draw upon.

Story Lesson and 19-Minute TedTalk Break:

A screenplay isn’t far from a script. Stanton’s best advice? Start from the end, and work toward the beginning. A terrible way to take in a book or film, an excellent way to market. The best story begins with the happily ever after. Where is the company headed? What does the company value? Where is its heart at? Who is it after? What is its punch line? From the first line to the last, its single end goal must be clear. “Drama is anticipation, mingled with uncertainty,” Stanton quotes another famous creative. All viewers, being fully human, must know they are about to receive the unexpected. Like storytelling, the content may even cross the barriers of time, past, present and future, or erase the differences between one person or culture to the next. It hits universal human truths, like the need to feel secure or for a sense of belonging or purpose for existence. The point isn’t creativity. The point is to make viewers care–emotionally, aesthetically… whatever lane a company desires. Make a viewer care, and the company is nearly there.

Keys:

The first words must promise the story will lead somewhere worth waiting for. “A well-told promise propels you forward through the story to the end,” Stanton said.

“The audience actually wants to work for their meal, they just don’t want to know they’re doing it. Your job is the hide the fact that you’re making them work… We’re born problem solvers, and it’s the well-organized absence of information that draws us in… A strong theme is always running through a well-told story.”

Where does the inspiration come from?

“Use what you know,” the WALL-E writer advises. “Draw from it. It doesn’t always mean plot or fact. It means capturing a truth from your experience. Expressing values you personally feel deep down to your core… The secret sauce is to invoke wonder. When it’s tapped, the affirmation of being alive reaches to almost a cellular level.”

Do you have any successful tips on how to create a corporate video script that sells? Comment below and let us hear from you!