ARE YOU CREATING VIDEO CONTENT THAT IS MAKING AN IMPACT ON YOUR AUDIENCE?

In order to make an impact on your audience, every video you produce needs to tell a good story. A good story will connect your brand, your products, and your services to something more meaningful for consumers. Good stories move beyond delighting consumers; they stick in the brain–glued there by emotion. There are other formats and messaging styles you could consider for your video production, but because you may only have one chance to get your message across, you need to make sure it is memorable.

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR STORY

Fortunately for you, all good stories honor a basic framework that is easily replicated. Filmmakers have oceans of resources available to help them in the creation of perfect stories, and while most of these resources revolve around how to write scripts for movies, we believe the same basic rules apply to video production for brands. So we’ve distilled the necessary elements of a story into three consumable parts that can easily be translated into any video concept.

PART ONE: A RELATABLE HERO

Every successful story begins with a hero that is relatable to the audience. This doesn’t mean that the hero must be like your audience, it simply means that your audience needs to be able to put themselves in your hero’s shoes with relative ease.

A good example of this is a very funny commercial by an Australian renewable energy company. With a very high-concept ad, they attempted to make the wind relatable. In this commercial, a socially awkward individual portrays the wind who is longing for love and acceptance, and even though it would seem impossible for people to relate to Mother Nature, this video accomplishes just that. Who can’t relate to an ostracized outsider simply wanting to be accepted for who they are?http://www.youtube.com/embed/2mTLO2F_ERY

PART TWO: A CLEAR NEED

A relatable hero isn’t enough to draw people into your story. To make a story truly resonate with your audience, the hero has to want something that everyone can relate to–something fundamental to the human experience. Love, acceptance, physical safety, companionship, etc.

A good example of this is a German grocery store commercial about a grandfather who misses his family during the holidays. His need for something fundamental creates curiosity for the audience (how will he solve the problem?) and taps into something emotionally deeper–we share in his pain. And that is the goal of a relatable need. Your audience should long for the hero to get what he wants because ultimately, they want the same thing.http://www.youtube.com/embed/H4a-_2kybWI

PART THREE: A CATALYST MOMENT

The last key elements your story needs is a relatable catalyst. All–and we mean all–good heroes need help achieving their goal. It’s the only way to truly make the audience connect with the hero. Your audience will inherently trust a hero who needs help, and consequently, this is the perfect part of the story where your brand comes into the picture. Your products/services should either serve as either the “A-ha!” moment for the hero or serve as the means by which she achieves her goals.

Spike Jonze does this perfectly in one of the most memorable ads created in recent years. In Apple’s Home Pod ad, we’re drawn into the life of a young woman who’s been working long, arduous hours in a big city. We’re led to believe she feels isolated and emotionally disconnected, and it isn’t until the music from Apple’s product begins to transform her apartment that she starts on the journey that eventually leads to self-discovery.http://www.youtube.com/embed/k70OczvX45k

HOW TO PUT IT INTO PRACTICE

Though it is difficult to translate terms like “hero” and “catalyst” into your brand, the execution of this strategy is easier than you might think. Here are the two primary points that you can easily replicate for your video production:

1. Your videos should have a relatable person (a hero) who wants something fundamental but has a problem getting it.
2. Your brand should be part of the solution that helps them get what they want (catalyst).

This format works for almost all types of videos, too. For example, if you’re looking to produce an “About Us” video for your food company, consider showing your founder as a mother who understood a significant pain point for families but unsuccessfully searched for a solution until she found inspiration while eating dinner at a relative’s house.

There are a few different video concepts where this formula is unnecessary, but for the most part, this formula is your best chance at creating a video that makes the most impact for your brand. And while developing a good story for your videos will take hard work, the success you experience down the road will be worth it.

WANT TO GET RESULTS FROM YOUR VIDEO?

When you’re ready to begin producing a video for your brand, let us help you. We’ll walk you through our Script-to-Screen process to ensure that your video gets the best results for your budget.