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You know that video is essential in your online marketing strategy, but before you start filming you need to have a clear game plan. Crafting an impactful script with a captivating story is undeniably one of the most important steps in creating quality video content.
Here’s a how-to guide to write an impactful video script for your business.
Step 1: Create a brief before writing your script
Before writing your script you should know exactly the purpose and objective of this video. What message are you trying to get across? You should clearly determine who your target audience is—the more specific the better. The best way to achieve this is to use a questionnaire. To get you started, we’ve found a sample video scripting questionnaire from internet video hosting and analytics company Wistia.
Feel free to make adjustments in order to personalize your questionnaire and add additional questions that will help clearly define the purpose of your video. The three main factors that your questionnaire must answer is the goal, audience, and takeaways in your video. While you’re in the planning process you may want to check out effective features that companies have included in their branding videos.
Although this step may seem obvious and repetitive, your brief serves as a guide to make sure you and your team stay on track as you write your script and as you film. It’s easy to get sidetracked from the video’s initial objective; you may be including too much irrelevant content or writing content that may not exactly be suitable for your specified audience. So stick to the core objective!
More importantly, when you start filming your video and your script is interpreted by multiple individuals on your team, your brief will help keep your crew members stay on the same page. If someone decides to make a change that doesn’t exactly align with your objectives, you can pull out this simple questionnaire and say, “Hey, this is what we agreed to do.”
Step 2: Write an intro for your script. Be clear, honest, and concise.
Like any other form of advertising, you should always start with an impactful elevator pitch. 20% of the audience that starts watching a given video will abandon it within the first 10 seconds (AdAge), so get straight to the point.
Don’t make this about your company, make it about the consumers.
What is your product going to do for the consumer? Avoid info dumps—they don’t need to know how great you are, they just want to know how you will solve their problems. You should be able to convey the problem and solution related to your product in no more than 2 sentences.
Step 3: Write the core of your script. Keep it short yet thorough.
Use plain language.
It’s simple, clear and easy to understand for most of the target audience. You should make the audience feel like they are being directly spoken to, address them as individuals and make sure to use the appropriate language and gestures across different cultures.
Change the pace.
Don’t spend too much time on the same thing, speak with a unified voice, make sure what you present matches the style of other platforms used in your company. You should tell a story and be able to connect with the audience emotionally—coming across as funny and genuine. Learn about four different types of brand videos to enhance your corporate image and see how these companies are making an impact on their target audience with video.
Remember to be thorough.
Include all the details in the script i.e. using multiple shots, characters, stage actions, directions and scenes. Differentiate the main narrative from the text overlays, voiceover and B-roll. Scripting every word allows you to avoid re-dos.
Do not use bullet points.
Avoid bullet points in your scripts because it relies on you to improvise on the spot which most often will result in re-dos. Make sure to capitalize on videos’ full capabilities i.e. sound and visual elements, as it is often an effective way to help you tell your story. You should be able to hand your script over to someone else to film.
Keep your video short.
Your script should be 2 pages max. Try not to structure your script too much because it will sound forced and each additional point you add has a declining marginal benefit. 60% of viewers stop watching a video after two minutes. Therefore, keep your script to the point, leaving the viewers wanting more after the video is done. If you have trouble keeping it short, start with a full script and chop away at it until you have a concise and effective script.
Step 4: End your script with a call to action. Why does your video exist?
What’s the main takeaway of your video? Is it to increase awareness? Is it to generate sales by persuading viewers to purchase a product? To increase traffic to your page? Or do you want viewers to share your video?
(Remember: 80% of internet users who watched a video ad, 46% took some sort of action after viewing it. Video and email marketing can increase click-through rates by more than 90%.) Let the audience clearly understand what you want them to do, which is why having a call to action is vital.
Step 5: Read your script out loud. Do a table read.
Words often look great on paper but when read aloud, may not sound as clever as you thought they would. Having a table read will allow you to sharpen the flow of your script. It’s also a great practice to bring your script alive on camera.
Now you’re set to start writing a powerful script for your business!
Remember, 70% of B2B consumers watch a demonstration video before making a purchase, and buyers who watch a video are 1.8 times more likely to buy an item than those who don’t. So get to writing!
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