By now you’ve heard it over and over again: Video marketing is not a passing trend, and it’s time to get on board. But maybe you’ve sat down to put together some promotional videos and felt stumped by step one: You have no idea how to write a script for a video.
While it may seem intimidating at first, writing a script for a video doesn’t have to be complicated; it just needs to be carefully done. So, pull out your pens and paper (or your Word doc) and let’s walk through 6 essentials you’ll need to grasp for how to write a video script.
1. Identify your questions.
In script-writing lingo, this beginning process is known as a brief. It’s the master document that outlines your goals and objectives, the keywords of your message, and the core questions your marketing video will try to answer for your viewers.
If it’s possible for your company, consider sending out a short questionnaire to a few employees or customers with questions like “Who is our audience?” or “What’s one issue you’d like us to address in a video?”
Having multiple people give feedback on the information you hope to convey through your script for a video will help you communicate what’s most essential as you think about how to distill your business into a video.
2. Find the essence.
Related to the first point, this part is all about simplification. If you can simplify the undoubtedly wide range of your business’s message into a visual metaphor or concise question, you’ll be well set up to catch your audience’s attention. The better you can articulate the core of what you do, the better you will know how to write a short script for a video that effectively combines your message with what it means for potential customers.
This is another opportunity to gather outside feedback from customers or employees so you can capture the full picture of what you offer. Sometimes we know our own business so well we can tend to miss the forest for the trees, so use whatever resources you can!
3. Personalize.
Video can integrate personalization for the individual customers in a way no other marketing can. Once you’ve honed your message to its core and outlined your marketing goals for the video script, you’ll be better able to identify your target audience and appeal directly to those specific demographics.
Using personal pronouns (you, your, etc.) when you’re writing a script for video is one of the simplest and most effective ways to ensure personal impact on the audience. Stats and data have a place in marketing, but video is a unique sphere that engages multiple senses, so save the stats for infographics or charts on your website, and let video draw viewers toward more information. How do you achieve this? Read on!
4. Think narratively.
“Story” is having a heyday in marketing these days for good reason. You can use traditional narrative structure as your skeleton: Start with exposition/introduction, move to rising action (maybe the “problem” your video addresses), then the climax (how you solve the “problem”), which leads to falling action (try a success story here), ending with resolution (the perfect spot for CTAs!).
One blog calls this the 40/60 rule: 40% of your video should focus on your products or services, and the other 60% should tell the story of the human element or the personal problems you solve, with an emphasis on emotional appeal. Elements like the community you serve, the demographic of your clientele, or the history of your business all humanize your company in an appealing and personal way, so add these in as layers of your story if possible.
5. Go for the big picture.
When you think about how to write a script for a video, consider how language tells one part of the story and the other elements of the video tell the rest. In video marketing, diction works in tandem with music, graphics, timing, sound effects, editing, and more. Take timing as a specific example. Graphic designers know that white space on an ad actually communicates a lot, and in the same way, intentional timing in a video, like pauses in the dialogue, gives the audience space to process information they’re being shown and invest their own stories into the content.
6. Don’t forget to revise.
It’s a good idea to give your video script a few rounds of edits before it’s perfect. Try reading your script out loud 3 times with varying inflections and pauses so you can get the full sense of the words, and then revise based on what comes across as awkward or stilted.
While you may want to get into the technical aspects of your company, remember to keep your language on the level of your audience. If someone who doesn’t work for your business can explain your product or service after watching your video, you’ll know you’ve achieved the right balance of information and story.
Final Thoughts
The goal of video marketing is to leave viewers wanting to take action by the end. Creating a feeling is important to achieving this, and the real crux of the video should revolve around the action viewers are impelled toward by watching your video. Video is a multi-layered platform that has the unique ability to integrate aural, visual, and narrative in a way that pure text-based marketing can’t, so when you’re writing a script for a video, you’ll want to think through all these steps to make the best marketing video.
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