“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. “
Vincent Van Gogh
With so much competition creating a stand out video can difficult. The trick is to approach this marketing task in a methodical and well-researched manner.
Over the years I have used a number of guidelines to help me refine my video storytelling. Today I will share with you my top 10 tips for creating your stand out brand video.
1. Have A Plan
The first tip is that you have got to start with creating a solid plan for your video. It is the most cost effective way of ensuring you don’t waste time and money on unforced errors when creating your video. Time spent planning will make sure your video has a chance of success.
2. Know Your Story
The key to creating a stand out brand video is to know what is at the heart of your story and being able to tell it. Think about why your story is so special and why your audience will want to hear it.
3. Walk In Your Viewers Footsteps
If you want to create a successful video you need to first walk in your viewers footsteps. Think about what is important to them, what is the problem they have that you are trying to solve. Know what style of visual communication is likely to appeal to them. Understand what makes “them tick”. In short, do your audience research well. Use your audience research to make your video relevant to their lives.
4. Generate An Emotional Reaction
Facts and statistics educate your audience, however you need to create an emotional connection with them to become relevant in their lives. Think about how you can do this with your video content. How can you make them care about your story? One way to do this is to make them the hero of your story. Whatever way you decide to do this they need to feel a strong emotional connection with your story to be impacted by it.
5. Capture Your Viewers Imagination
There is so much video content available nowadays; you need to do something special to capture your viewer’s imagination. The advantage with video is that it is possible to create unique visual imagery to tell your story. Forget about being a pale imitation of your competitor’s videos and think about unusual and fresh ways to tell your story.
7. Treat Your Sound With Care
I cannot over stress the importance of sound in your video. We are more likely to stop watching a video because of poor sound rather than poor visuals. Since most videos have a reasonable level of sound, you should start thinking about adding sounds effects to enhance your video. For example, if somebody is talking on beach add coastal sound effects or in an office add background sound effects. Even limited use of sound effects will enhance the storytelling impact of a video.
7. Less Is Definitely More
It is a bad idea to “pad a story “ just because you can. Use only the visually imagery you need to tell your story. Show your audience you think their time is important by telling your story as briefly and effectively as possible. They will respect your consideration for their time constraints.
8. Keep It Simple
The best brand videos are the ones that tell a great story without confusing their audience. Keep your story structure simple and use creatively chosen visual imagery that makes the story easy to follow.
9. Start With A Bang
You only have a few seconds at the start to capture your audience’s attention. Make your opening count; use it to entice your audience to want to watch the rest of the video.
10. End With A Clear “Call To Action”
Nothing is as infuriating for a viewer than to watch a great a story and not know what the next step is. Make it absolutely clear to your viewer what they should do next. Make the “call to action” compelling and easy to act on.
The Next Step
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
Mark Twain
Creating a stand out brand video is about completing these small individual steps, which in themselves won’t do much for your video, but when combined will elevate your video production. The key is to prepare your plan carefully, understand your audience, tell them a story they will easily understand and make them care about it.