What’s the most effective way to tell a story?
If you’re using video marketing to promote a brand or business, knowing how to tell a story is extremely important. It’s how you connect with people and build an audience.
It’s how you grab attention and get people to watch your video all the way to the end.
At Content Puppy Productions, we’ve worked with hundreds of clients to help them tell stories more effectively (just what you’d expect from a Corporate Video Production Company.
Here are five storytelling tips to consider before producing your next video:
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Start With the Ending
Great stories usually have a memorable ending. It might be an unexpected plot twist, or a conflict resolution. If it’s a funny story, the ending is the punchline.
In the case of marketing videos, that ending usually makes a point of some kind about a product or service.
If you can imagine the perfect ending to a story—something that reinforces a key product feature or benefit—start there. After that, you’re just filling in the details, the story elements that lead up to that ending.
A Corporate Video Production Company (like Content Puppy Productions) can help you organize those story elements, so your story has a clear structure.
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Focus on One Important Point
The most effective marketing videos are usually short and concise. In the case of TV commercials and social media videos, we’re talking 30 seconds or less.
So you don’t have time for an epic journey or introducing multiple characters.
And if you’re telling a story from your own life, it’s hard to know which details to include and which ones to leave out. The best storytellers learn how to focus on the bigger picture, and only include the details people need to know.
If you have a complicated product with multiple features and benefits, consider breaking it up into multiple videos. At Content Puppy, that’s one of the Charlotte Creative Video Services we offer.
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Draw From Personal Experiences
Great stories often come from personal experiences—things that happened to you. It could be an anecdote about how you met a colleague, or how you started your company.
But even when a story isn’t about you, you can draw from your life experiences to fill in the details. Where you live, things you do, the names of your children—those little details add flavor and authenticity to the story you’re telling.
And remember, it’s usually the details that people will be able to relate to.
Think in terms of emotions you have felt—joy, pain, regret. That’s the stuff that makes a great story.
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Don’t Forget About Keywords and SEO
In the age we live in, digital marketing is built into everything we do. Great storytelling won’t matter if people can’t find and consume those stories.
That’s why video ideas should always be organized with SEO in mind.
What Google keywords work best for the story you’re telling?
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The Most Important Question—Will Anyone Care?
At the end of the day, the most important question to ask yourself is “Will Anyone Care?” Is this a story that will captivate and engage an audience, or fall flat?
One important aspect is the PERSPECTIVE of a story. Are you using words like “I” and “Me” and talking about yourself the whole time? That can turn an audience off.
If you can use the word “YOU” more often, you’re inviting the audience in, and helping them put themselves in your shoes.
Content Puppy Productions
These storytelling tips were put together by Harry Hayes, founder and owner of Content Puppy Productions, a North Carolina video production agency.
If you need help telling stories on video, you can contact Content Puppy through their website at contentpuppy.com.
Read more: weirdcourse.com