Nailing your next video script

So, you’re producing a marketing video for your organisation, and it’s important to capture your brand in your messaging.

One of the great things about writing a script for your video is that you know exactly what you’re going to say in the video – obviously! Being able to fine tune your message is a powerful tool in communicating with your audience, it helps build clarity and credibility for your business.

We produce a lot of scripted content for our clients. Having a structure to communicate your message is vital to the success of your video, we subscribe to the notion of one problem = one solution, meaning that you shouldn’t try and solve all of your client’s problems in a single video, focus on one message.

Here’s our video script structure that we recommend:

Set The Context

Only a short section, but people need to understand who you are in relation to the topic of the video – make it short and sharp – this is not your core message.

Introduce The Problem 

Talk about the problem that exists for your client – what are some of the effects that it has on your client’s business. We’re talking about their pain points here.

Introduce Your Unique Solution

When you introduce a solution, it can’t be generic – you need to provide your client with a reason to use you specifically. Why can you solve their problem better than anyone else?

End with a Call to Action 

What do you want your clients to do? And when do you want them to do it? Call you today? Email you tomorrow? Make the course of action that you want them to take clear – and be specific.

Once you’ve written your first draft, we’d recommend getting a colleague to read through it to provide another perspective. It’s also at this point you need to consider how long you want the video to be – the great thing about a script is that you can practice is and time it out, so do that and make sure you’re happy with what’s included in the script. Shorter and simpler is almost always better!

Our best tips for writing awesome interview questions

When you choose the sales documentary style of video you’re aiming to elicit natural responses from your interviewees that don’t feel scripted. To achieve this there’s a few little tricks to know when writing the interview questions.

Here’s our list of must-know tips!

Avoid Closed Questions

Most people know the difference between asking an open question or a closed question – obviously we’re looking get more than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – so phrasing your questions with terms like “Tell me about…” or “Can you explain…” or “How would you describe…” are answer-provoking ways of asking questions.

Avoid Long or Wordy Questions

When we edit this style of video together, we remove the voice of the interviewer so that only the interviewee remains, therefore it’s important for the interviewee to try and include some of the question in the answer to provide context. Keep this in mind when writing your questions – if you ask a long or wordy question it becomes harder to achieve that.

Choosing How Many Questions

Another thing to consider is how many questions to ask the interviewee. This is a question that varies depending a few factors – the importance of the interviewee, what they can contribute to the overall message and the confidence of the interviewee.

There’s no set rule on how many questions to ask, but from our experience, you don’t want to go overboard, you’re much better to have four to five really good and pertinent questions, than ten general ones.

Structuring the Questions 

Just as with a script, you need to structure the questions that you write so that you get a cohesive storyline. These are the milestones that need to be covered:

• Setting Context – who are we interviewing? Why are they relevant?

• Introduce the Problem – what problem needs solving? What are the pain points involved?

• Introduce Your Unique Solution – how can you, specifically, solve the problem? What is it about your methods that solve it better than anyone else?

• Call To Action – what should people do? What action do you want them to take?

By following these steps, it will help you write more effective questions for your interview subjects.

Your Brand, Your Values, Your Stories

Today, I’m going to discuss the idea of “branding” vs “your brand”. There’s a nuanced difference between them, and I find myself explaining this regularly.

“Branding” vs “Your Brand”

When organisations approach us to create video content, we’re are often asked to ensure there’s a lot of branding present in the videos.

By “branding”, I mean walls of logos, product shots, explicit branding for the organisation.

I don’t rage against this in every case, because there are some videos that are suited to straightforward branding. What I want to develop in you, is an idea that there’s more to “brand” than just “branding”.

To do this, I’m going to share two short videos with you. These are both sports based examples, but what we’ll discuss is relevant to any industry.

So, give one or both of these a look! There won’t be a quiz, but please do think about why I’ve asked you to watch these:

• Red Dust & Killer Whales

• The Final Stitch

Building identity

Having now watched one or both of those videos, there’s there’s one key thing I want to zero in on:

There’s little-to-no literal branding throughout these videos.

However, these videos clearly demonstrate each organisation’s values, and their brand identity, through the stories.

And they are great stories.

These brands have embraced their community, and are demonstrating that they care and invest in them.They value people, community, and they provide opportunities.

And because we show this, there’s no need for aggressive shots of branding, on t-shirts, logo boards, or items; their brand shines through.

Ask yourself:

• What positive stories does your manufacturing company have because of the products you produce?

• What impact has your aged care organisation had on your clients?

• Your educational institution has made a huge difference in the lives of your students; have you shone a light on these?

We’re here to discuss your ideas – or bring ideas to you. All it takes is starting the conversation.

Brand association with emotive, empowering, thoughtful stories is powerful. “Brand” versus “Branding”: no logos required!

Nicko

How do I get started?

Today there’s a real need to create video content. Video isn’t a luxury. It’s everywhere, on every platform, and people expect it.

But not everyone has commissioned a video provider before. There’s a first time for everything! And if this is you, you may be wondering, “How do I get started?”

So: hello! Here’s our guide for how to get started. Our promise to you is — it’s easier than you think!

First, we’ll outline a few things for you to think about. And then we’ll explain how we’ll help.

Getting started with video: three critical things for you to know

1. The due date of the project. Start at the finish, and work your way back! Knowing when your project goes live will help us schedule and plan it.

2. The video’s purpose and audience. Videos (should!) serve a purpose – to inform, sell, or entertain – and knowing who will watch your videos mean they’ll be in the right tone, style, and format.

3. Who needs to sign off and approve your project. This helps you, because there’ll be no unpleasant surprise of “oh, no, the CEO should’ve seen this before we finished it!”, and us, because there’ll be no deadline-altering shocks.

On top of this, there’s one non-essential (but helpful!) thing for you to consider:

• Examples of videos you like! There’s a whole video production language to learn, and regardless if whether it’s your first time commissioning a video project – it helps to show us exactly what you’re after. We’ll discuss your examples, filter what’s possible by budget, location, and timeline, and work from there.

How we’ll help you get started with video

And now, let’s talk about what we’ll do.

Conversation is a big part of how we work: one of our biggest skills is actively listening to your needs, to develop an understanding of your perfect project.

Once you’ve answered the questions above, you’re ready to contact us. You don’t need to know all the answers. This is enough to get started. And getting started is easy; click here to contact us.

How much will our video cost?

Moving west along Acland Street, I stalked my prey from window to window. But with an avalanche of choice, how could I decide which delicious baked item was perfect for me?

Whizzing by my face were crumbly biscotti, glistening eclairs, decadent croissants, and lavish cupcakes. But after the forth bakery, I had made up my mind: a raspberry tart would rock my world.

“I’ll grab one of those, please,” I asked, indicating a tart.

“No worries,” said the baker, moving to the cabinet. “That’ll be seven dollars.”

I moved quickly through shock, then confusion, then indignation: I’d been eyeing tarts all morning, and they’d been significantly cheaper! What made this tart more expensive?

I was fixated on the price, and I didn’t consider why it had been set that high. If I had asked the baker, he would’ve explained the unique approach to creating the tart shell, the time spent sourcing delightfully fresh organic ingredients, and the revolutionary baking process.

All in all, the tart was a piece of art. I just didn’t realise it.

(And it was absolutely delicious, by the way. I wouldn’t change a thing!)

What influences the price of a video?

When you commission a video project, there are a number of things that influence the price.

Time is a big factor, especially in between filming and delivery. Tight timelines and expedited delivery will increase cost.

The logistics (a.k.a. who, what, and where) can raise or lower costs depending on how complex they are. A (commissioned) actor demonstrating how to tickle a (hired) tiger in a (rented) circus tent will be more expensive than filming with your head sales representative, demonstrating a product you’ve manufactured, in your beautiful show room.

Some production requirements for television commercials or broadcast documentaries mean spending time planning and finessing every shot, to ensure they’re perfect – because you’re paying significantly more to distribute it – so you want it to be good. They can also influence how the file needs to be delivered – it’s not a case of drag and drop – it’s highly specialised.

But the biggest cost to consider is opportunity cost. This is the cost of you, or your business development manager, or a marketing team member needing to produce a video project instead of growing your company. Our clients trust us to produce high quality work, and, importantly, take the responsibility off their hands. We’re video producers who understand what you need – and do it. It’s that simple.

Take it from someone who completely misunderstood a tart in a suburban shop window: price is a complex thing. And you would see this when it comes to your work, and how much you charge, because you know the true worth of what you provide and the value that you deliver to your customers. When people look at your offering, they might see an expensive tart – but it’s so much more than that. We get it.

If the bottom line is front of mind for you, we’re here to help. Contact us, and we’ll show you how we’ll make an impact to your business.

Sales Script vs Sales Documentary

There are two types of videos that exist in the business marketing world: those that are scripted, and those that are not. Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of each.

Sales Script

Pretty straight forward, you write a script of exactly what you want to say to camera. You either memorise parts of the script or read from a teleprompter whilst delivering to camera. Usually scripted videos are delivered looking straight down the barrel of the camera – much like the nightly news.

Pros

+ You can say exactly what you want.
+ Can use a teleprompter to aid delivery.
+ It’s safe in terms of saying exactly the right thing.

Cons

– If you’re not a confident presenter, it more often, than not, comes across as unnatural, therefore hurting authenticity.
– Can be time consuming going over certain sections of the script multiple times to get it right.
– Can be a bit salesy.
– Teleprompter can make it seem like you’re reading. (Well, you are).

Sales Documentary

So let’s start by scrapping the script and focusing on the key points you want to make in your video, if it’s going to be a 2-3 minute video, let’s write down 3-4 dot points of the most important things you need to communicate. Now, we look at developing questions around those points.

The interviewee, needs to be well versed on the subject matter at hand – most business owners are. When it comes time to film, we ask you the questions that have been prepared, and you answer the questions as if you’re having a discussion with us about the topic.  Usually this style of filming has the interviewee looking slightly off to the side of camera engaging in a conversation with the “invisible interviewer”. When the video is edited, the interviewer’s questions are cut out, and we construct the story by what you’ve said. 

Pros

+ About as natural as it gets. Relaxed. Confident. Professional.
+ Delivers information in a friendly format – not has confronting as looking down the barrel of the camera.
+ Tends to generate more coherent answers as the focus is on sentences, not words.
+ Time effective way of shooting.

Cons

– Takes a bit of practice if not a natural.
– Need to be knowledgeable on the subject. (Not really a con because you should be!)

So which one is for me?

Well I can’t tell you without meeting you! I can usually tell within half an hour of meeting someone which is going to be easier, but if you wanted me to push you a certain way now, we’re always going to recommend the Sales Documentary route because it generates better results for those who haven’t been media trained before.

Like with scripting, you can practice the sales documentary style – develop a few questions for your video, and have a colleague ask you the questions and give your response – it’s great to do this exercise with a colleague because it allows you have immediate feedback and get used to saying it with another person in the room.

The three acts of video production

When you’ve been in an industry for some time, there’s a risk that you start taking things for granted. It might be knowledge of a particular piece of software or a specific process that is industry standard. You may also start assuming that because a practice is second nature to you, everyone else knows about it too. That’s not always the case.

In the video production industry the given is often surrounding the actual process of video production and the time it takes to put a project together. To show the process I’m using when creating a video, here’s an overview of my three acts of production.

ACT ONE – PRE-PRODUCTION

Pre-production, as the name suggests, takes place before production. But what does that actually involve? Once the whole sales process is out the way, the price settled on and the parameters fixed, you can start planning for the shoot. This might involve elements like writing a script, finding a suitable location for filming, casting the talent and determining things like music selections and what graphics might be needed. This phase usually takes up about 30 % of the time of the entire project. Considering the costs involved in producing a video it’s important not to rush through this stage. Re-shoots are costly and should not be necessary if the shoot is planned well.

ACT TWO – PRODUCTION

Production is the actual filming of your video. It might take place over a couple of hours or a couple of days, depending on factors like how many scenes and locations are required. This is the Hollywood part of the process where everyone gets to joke about when their make-up artist is coming or simply enjoy the novelty of escaping their weekly routine for a few hours. It’s also the part of the project that takes the least time, around 25% or less in most cases. As a client this is important to remember. While this is the main face time you’ll have with your video producer it’s not where the majority of time is spent on your project.

ACT THREE – POST-PRODUCTION

The final phase of the video production process is post-production – and it’s more than just editing. A solid post-production process includes capturing all the recorded data, backing up that data, sorting the files and footage for editing, the editing itself, inserting graphics and music, and then the creation or rendering of video files to make them ready to be watched on the web. It also includes delivering that file either by hard drive or in most cases by uploading to a web service such as YouTube or Vimeo. Post-production makes up 45% of the project time – it’s fiddly, and at times also tedious work.

In summary, I can guarantee that the relationship between you and your video producer will be better the more aware you are of these stages. To keep the breakdown of time for each phase of the video production process in mind ensures that your expectations are in line with reality and that all parties are satisfied.

How much information should I put in a single video?

Quite often a client will come to me with a massive bunch of ideas, of what they want to put into their marketing video. They want to talk about this, and about that, and speak to this segment of their market whilst still talking to this other niche they’ve had on the side for a few years. Essentially wanting to pack a huge amount of information for the viewer to consume.

Let’s take an analogy and see how it sits with this strategy from a video marketing point of view:

Why is it better to be Game of Thrones rather than Iron Man?

Analogy – TV Shows vs Movies

Firstly let’s ask ourselves which of the two is easier to consume? For mine, TV shows are way easier to consume. Movies require a good two hours of investment from me to understand the message and the story. Whereas, each TV episode has its own message and story but in a 25-45 minute parcel – even though a series goes a lot longer than a movie, I’m able to consume it in much more manageable stints. You can even say that TV series’ are more addicting – who doesn’t know a Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones or Dr Who nut? It’s the ongoing story that gets people really into something – you can even see the film industry trying to replicate this model with the plethora of movie franchises – but to be honest, I’ve never heard anyone rave week after week about how good the latest Iron Man movie was, but Game of Thrones on the other hand…

We’ve really only just touched on that analogy – and there’s already some points from it that we can using in video marketing.

• Bigger is not better – words many will be relieved to hear – you don’t need to cram every little thing about your business into a single video – it turns into an epic! Think about video marketing like TV shows, they slowly drip feed you information over a period of time, only letting out certain storylines and information in each episode.

• Video marketing is about creating content that people want to keep coming back for – unfortunately it’s not as easy in the business world to do this compared to Hollywood – but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, it just makes it even more important that you know your client and what they want. Don’t become the next “Ben Elton: Live from Planet Earth” flop; sacked after only 3 episodes.

• People talk about things that they love or have found helpful – even in a work environment people (i.e. potential clients) will talk about great resources that they’ve found or used – so creating content that is ‘shareable’ is a huge key nowadays.

So, don’t go in all guns blazing with multiple stories, for multiple clients – you just end up being too general. Look at focusing your messaging (story) around one aspect of your business and creating and information channel that has people coming back for more. A great mentor of mine has quite often thrown the mantra of “one problem = one solution” down my throat. It’s very pertinent in the case of video marketing – think about the one problem you’re trying to solve for that one particular type of customer – then start streamlining your ideas for your next video.

A checklist to creating awesome content

Everyone likes checklists, I know I do, I write one everyday when I get out of bed in the morning to list off all the important things I need to finish in the day. So here is a pre-made checklist just for you, it covers all the things you need to do in order to nail your upcoming video content.

Our “Creating Awesome Content” Checklist

1. Audience – Write down the name of the specific “client” or “personality”  you want to talk to – demographic, job title, where they mingle, what they spend their weekends doing – the more you know, the better.

2. Message – Write down the one problem they have that only you can solve – what is it that you offer that helps them? The key here, is one problem, don’t try and solve 5 problems in a single video. 1 Problem = 1 Solution. Simples.

3. Story – Write down the top benefits that the client gets by you solving their problem – think about it from the client point of view, what do they want to hear? Not what you want to hear – you’re not selling to yourself after all.

4. Call to Action – Write down your call to action – what do you want the client to do? This needs to be more specific than – “check out our website.” Do you want them to call you? Fill out a form? Send you an email? Pick one thing.

5. Bring all this info to your video producer – a great video producer will help you morph this into a video that is going to be effective. If you bring the right info to the table, the process is quicker and the video will be infinitely better.

6. Be open to feedback – think of the video producer as an objective party, they could deliver you some home-truths or some idea reinforcement.

7. Beware the video producer that lets you do it all – video production is a collaborative process, the onus should not be on just you or just the video producer. Work together!

So there it is: a seven step checklist to creating better content, try it out and happy planning.

Four video and digital marketing statistics – decoded

I’ve always been skeptical of statistics thrown into online articles. I’m not skeptical of the stats themselves, as most of them come from a reliable source, such as Comscore, Google or reputable research groups (unreferenced stats are, or course, a total credibility crusher). What I have a problem with is that no one explains in plain terms what the stats mean for a business and its digital marketing.

So here are four statistics about video on the web, and what they do, in layman’s terms.

16 MINUTES 49 SECONDS – THE AMOUNT OF TIME THE AVERAGE INTERNET USER SPENDS EACH MONTH WATCHING ONLINE VIDEO ADS.
(COMSCORE)

The first thing to note in this statistic is the term “video ads”. It’s important to know that much of the video content businesses make are in fact ads. The content might be educational, or even a testimonial, but in essence it’s still an advertisement for the business and its services.

This stat is important because it shows that people are watching video advertisements, either by choice or because they have too. Internet video advertising is really still in its infancy. If you think the YouTube ads and other sponsored content is the full extent of where video advertising is heading on the web, then the future has some surprises in store for you. Video advertising on the web is actually one of the most cost effective ways of advertising your business per capita, when compared to the mainstream advertising platforms of television, print or radio.

50% OF PEOPLE WHO WATCH WEB VIDEO DO IT ON A MOBILE DEVICE.
(GOOGLE)

Most people that I recite this statistic for react by nodding their head in some kind of attempt of interest and feign surprise that the number is so high. The odd few don’t even see why this is important. Every study I’ve come across, whether it be by Google or any number of web tracking companies like Super Monitoring, all indicate that access to the internet by mobile device is the fastest growing segment – most even say it’s on track for 60% in a few years’ time!

This is important for a number of reasons, but the main one is customer experience – companies that fail to have their online assets set up and optimised for mobile devices will fall behind the pack. Even now, if I’m surfing the web on my phone and find a website that I have difficulty using, I’m more inclined to leave the site and never return. I simply don’t have patience for those kinds of things and as more and more websites are optimised, neither will your customers. So always think about the experience, the way that your customers find your videos, how the videos work in that space and whether your digital assets are actually optimised and not just merely compatible for mobile devices. Big difference.

WHEN A VIDEO IS INCLUDED IN AN EMAIL, NEWSLETTER OR EDM, CLICK-THROUGH RATES ARE INCREASED BY 200-300%.
(FORREST MARKETING GROUP)

The ultimate goal with email marketing, as many of you would know, is to reach good open and click-through rates. The click-through is an important aspect because you can direct a recipient into a completely branded experience, such as a landing page or website, and get rid of other distractions. Including a video in the email provides a stronger prompt for people to click through.

Unfortunately you can’t watch a video in an email (yet), so an image that links straight to a web page with the video on it is the most effective means at the moment. The crew at Indietech have a very, very clever trick when it comes to embedding these images in emails – but their secrets I cannot reveal!

PEOPLE WHO WATCH A WEB VIDEO ARE 64% MORE LIKELY TO PURCHASE THAN OTHER SITE VISITORS.
(COMSCORE)

I love this stat, and why shouldn’t I, it justifies my existence!

So the big question around this statistic is – why? There are numerous reasons. Some people are visual, some people hate reading, some people love videos, videos add a sense of authenticity to the offering, just to name a few. For me, the most important thing is the opportunity to engage with a potential customer one-on-one. Video is one of the only formats that can truly engross and capture someone’s attention. Text, photos and graphics, whilst all necessary, allow the eye to dart all over the place on a web page, while video captures the full attention of the viewer. The real art is in capturing and holding that attention for as long as possible. This is an area where many businesses make misjudgements. The best way to start is to get to know your ideal client and learn what content they’re looking for.

So to wrap this article up, when you see statistics about web videos (or maybe anything for that matter), take a moment and think about whether that statistic is relevant to your business. Does it affect the experience potential customers have with your business online? Can you utilise an aspect of technology to better connect with your potential customers? Does it provide any additional insight into the buying patterns of your customers?

And lastly, if you see a stat that doesn’t have a source, just disregard it. After all, 62% of statistics are just made up on the spot.

Five questions any quality video producer should be able to answer

There is an abundance of choice when it comes to finding a video producer for your business’ marketing needs. So what should you ask prospective video producers – other than how much?

1. What qualifications do you have?
Don’t be afraid to ask this question, it’s always good to know a bit about the background of the people you’re working with. You can do everything from a 2-day short course, through to a Bachelor Degree in film and digital video. Seek out someone who is competent and correctly skilled for the job that you’re looking to complete. An easy way to ask this question is to inquire into the background of the person you’re dealing with and ask them about how they got into the industry.

2. Do you have any experience in working with my industry?
Having a video producer that is used to working in your industry and with businesses your size will really help kick start the relationship. It’s not so much about the knowledge they have of your products or services, but rather how well they understand the relationships you have – or wish to create – with your customers. It might not sound important but the more a video producer understands your business and your clients, the better results you will get.

3. Who do you collaborate with?
This question is not as common as I think it should be. More than just pressing a button and capturing image, video production is a creative industry. For every collaboration the video producer has with other creative companies such as digital agencies, web designers, graphic designers and commercial photographers, the more inspiration and professional contacts your video producer will have. The more collaborations, the greater the chance that you get a great result that will help promote your business and services in a visually engaging way.

4. Can you show me a relevant piece of work or case study?
The proof is in the production so don’t hesitate asking to have a look at a few pieces of work that the studio has produced. The best way to view your video producer’s past work is to see it in context. For example, if the video is supposed to be on a website, look at the website instead of through a video channel like YouTube. Also, if you find a video that resembles what you’d like to do, you will be able to probe the video producer about the successes and failures of that campaign. Get as much insight as you can!

5. So how does it all work? (A softer inquiry into pricing)
It happens that I get the “How much?” question before the client and I have even spoken about the details. “I want a two minute video for my website, how much am I looking at?” If that’s the first question I get from a potential client alarm bells start going off. Although cost is an important aspect, talking through the details and allowing the video producer to understand what is involved is the way to start. (It saves those awkward conversations half way through a project where the scope has changed and a price adjustment needs to be made.)

So how much should a 2 minute video for a website cost? Well, that depends. How long will the shoot take? How much editing is involved? Does the shoot require special equipment? These are just the logistical factors. You then need to look at the quality of work the studio produces – the possible variations of these factors explain why you can get quotes varying from $500 to $5000. Always start by asking yourself what quality you want and then discuss the price.