The heart and soul of marketing video are not the typical belts and whistles that see in such a video. It’s not the diagrams, it’s not the infographics, it’s not the layout, it’s not even the very interesting accents of the voice-over actors. It has nothing to do with that. It definitely has nothing to do with how smooth, flawless, or sharp the images are.
Instead, what makes a video truly effective is its content. I am of course talking about its script. Screw up here and you have just wasted your money on creating a marketing video. That video is not going to do what you think it should do. How can it. It doesn’t have the tools. It doesn’t have the capacity, it doesn’t have the ability because the script is lackluster.
How do you write highly effective script? How do you outsource it? How can you tell whether the video script that have for your marketing video is solid? It will have the following five hallmarks. Ideally you should insist on all five.
Hallmark #1: Plain English.
There is a reason why really successful politicians speak at the eighth-grade English level. This is quite puzzling to many untrained observers because a lot of these politicians actually have advanced degrees like Juris Doctor or medical doctor and MBA degrees. Why do they speak like eighth graders. Eighth-grade English has very few five-dollar words. Most words are short, easy to understand and very accessible.
This is why politicians and trained speakers speak at this level. It is the lowest common denominator. If you keep it at that level most people would understand. Highly effective video scripts are written in plain English. They don’t try to dazzle or impress the viewer by blasting them with all sorts of jargon terms and acronyms. You come off as somebody who is trying to hide ignorance when you do that. You end up looking like somebody who is trying too hard to impress the viewer.
In fact, if you overdo this and you just blast the viewer with so many long, flowery, or even technical words they might even think you’re pretentious. You might come off as somebody who is trying to be something he or she is not. Plain English enables you to come off as more sincere, authentic, and real.
Hallmark #2: They are short.
Let me tell you, most people do not have the time of day to listen to a long speech. There are better things to do. This is the reason why most people don’t even read online articles. They just scan for keywords. If see the keyboard that they’re looking for, that’s when they slow down and they would read a little bit more of the article. Otherwise, they’re just scanning through. It’s kind of like going through your Facebook feed on your mobile device. You don’t have the time to thoroughly read every link. That’s just not going to happen. You’re too busy for that. The same applies to video. Highly effective marketing videos are short and to the point, but they get the job done.
They tell a very convincing personal story, it communicates a wide range of benefits tied to the solution the video promotes. They do this using many different signals and it operates on many different levels. It operates on an emotional level, logical level as well as a conceptual level. You have to understand that the ability to tell a story quickly enables you to communicate clearly in a very short period of time. You don’t have to give a long speech for that.
Hallmark #3: Easy to vocally emote.
Well-written video marketing scripts are very easy to vocally act out. You just need to read a word and read the next word that follows it in the sentence to instantly know that you have to either raise your voice a little bit, sound concerned, sound suspicious, sound excited, and a hundred other emotional signals you can send with your voice.
Great scripts are very clear as to the kind of emotional twists and turns they demand. Bad scripts make you sound like you’re just reading off a TelePrompTer or you’re just reading a book. It’s dull, lifeless, and very generic. You run the risk of sounding like some sort of robot.
Hallmark #4: Effective scripts mention case studies or stories.
If you are able to tell a story you, will be able to connect with people on a very personal note. I have yet to see a person who is convinced by just raw data. You have to at least present that data into a form people can engage with. This form is called a story. Believe it or not, people use the story form to make sense of the world. You should do the same with your marketing videos. By including a case study or tool, in the video, you make it clear to the prospect that you’re not just making stuff, but there is some hard science or hard numbers behind the claims of benefits the video is talking about.
Hallmark #5: Emotional call to action.
Highly effective video marketing scripts tie the benefit the prospect would get from buying a product with the call to action. Effective scripts don’t just say click the order button or click subscribe now. Instead, they talk about the benefit and tying it to that action. For example, the script would say gain the confidence you felt you’ve lost by losing the spare tire around your midsection. Take action today. Isn’t that much better than just saying click here or clicking the link in the description below.
Whether you are writing your own video or having it written by somebody else, make sure the five hallmarks listed above are present in the script. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time.
Joshua Shoemaker
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