Video storytelling is now one of the leading tools in this digital marketing era. Unsurprisingly, innovative brands leverage video storytelling to connect better with their targeted audience. The benefits are beyond what publications and emails could achieve.
In recent times, marketers and brands have used storytelling to connect effectively with consumers, even before the emergence of the internet. Even the direct mail ads of the early 2000s were able to tell brand stories, conveying the solutions to the customers’ problems, while simultaneously introducing their products.
Unfortunately, only a few brands and marketers understand this method of telling their brand story because of inadequate training in video production. In this article, you will get some critical insight into the power of video storytelling and how it can be used to tell your brand’s story.
What is Video Storytelling?
Video storytelling is the art of telling stories through a visual medium, such as film or video. It uses various techniques, including camera angles, lighting, sound, and editing, to create a compelling narrative that engages and captivates an audience. Storytelling via video can take many forms, such as documentaries, short films, digital ads, or social media content. It can be used for various purposes, such as entertainment, education, marketing, or advocacy.
Video storytelling for a brand involves using video content to tell its story, values, and products or services. This can be done through various types of videos, such as promotional videos, brand documentaries, customer testimonials, and social media videos.
The goal of video storytelling for a brand is to create an emotional connection with the audience and build brand loyalty and awareness. It can also showcase the unique aspects of the brand and create a consistent brand identity across all platforms. It is a powerful tool for brands to engage their audiences and make a lasting impression.
How to Make A Storytelling Video for Your Brand
Storytelling for a brand might be pretty complex. Still, with the proper guidance, you can navigate the rigorous process and deliver a quality storytelling video. The steps involve:
1. Determine Your Target Audience
Making a storytelling video begins with determining your target audience and what message you want to convey. No matter how long you have been operating your brand, you must invest time and resources to understand your viewers – their motivations and the problems they must solve. This will help you build a video that connects to your viewers, thereby increasing engagement.
2. Create A Script and Storyboard
The next step is to create your video script and storyboard to help you outline the storyline, characters, and scenes you want to include in the video. This script and storyboard will act as a guide to producing your brand storytelling video.
3. Hire A Video Production Team and Screen Actors
After creating the script, video production begins. You will need to hire video production experts to help create blockbuster-worthy content. Using camera techniques, such as framing, angles, and lighting, emotionally impact the video. You may also need to hire actors with quality experience to drive your message to the hearts of your targeted audience.
4. The Post-Production Phase
This involves hiring video editors to help choose the right visuals, soundtrack, and voice-over or narration that will help you tell your story effectively. Video editing can include adding text overlays, transitions, and visual effects.
5. Call to Action
Ensure you add a call-to-action at the end of the video to encourage viewers to further engage with your brand. This will direct the potential client on what to do or what is expected. It helps in driving engagements and conversion.
6. Publish the Video on Various Platforms
This includes social media, your website, and YouTube (among other video platforms). Also aim to promote it to your target audience to increase its reach. Remember, creating an emotional connection with your audience is the key to making a compelling storytelling video for your brand. You can tell a compelling story that resonates with their values and experiences.
Benefits of Video Storytelling for Your Brand
Brand storytelling is one of the most beneficial strategies to boost sales and engagements.
There are several benefits video storytelling can offer to your brand:
1. Increased engagement
Video content is an excellent way to increase engagement and deeply connect with your audience. Video storytelling can help humanize your brand, making it more relatable for people to connect with.
2. Improved brand recognition
Video is more memorable than text, meaning people are more likely to remember your brand if you use video content. Creating meaningful, remarkable video stories can help improve your brand recognition.
3. Increased conversion rates
Video storytelling has been proven to increase conversion rates. By creating compelling stories that resonate with your audience, you can influence them to act, whether by signing up for your newsletter, purchasing, or sharing your content with others.
4. Improved SEO
Video storytelling can also improve your search engine rankings. Videos rank higher in search results than text-based content, making it easier for people to find and engage with your brand. Overall, It is an effective way to build brand awareness and increase engagement. It also improves conversion rates while humanizing your brand and making it more memorable.
Video Storytelling Tips
Aside from understanding the steps involved in making a storytelling video, there are some essential tips to learn. This will give you an edge while creating your storytelling video.
Here are some tips:
- Define your purpose: Before creating a video, you should define the purpose of the video. Are you trying to inform, educate or persuade your audience? Knowing your goal will help you create relevant and engaging videos.
- Create a narrative arc: Every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. The same applies to video storytelling. It would help to create a story arc that takes your audience through a journey with a clear beginning, middle, and ending.
- Use visual effects: Visuals help to add depth to your story and make it more interesting. You can include photographs, graphics, or animations to illustrate your story and create a more engaging experience for your audience.
- Keep it concise: Attention spans are shorter than ever, so keeping your videos short and to the point is essential. Keep your video under three minutes, keeping your audience engaged and interested.
- Use music and sound effects: Music and sound effects can help set the mood and create emotional connections for your audience. Use background music to enhance your narrative storyline or add sound effects to make sense of realism.
- Edit properly: Before you publish your video, make sure you go through multiple rounds of edits. Remove any unnecessary footage or dialogue and tighten the storyline where possible.
Conclusion
Telling your brand’s story through video is an effective means to attract people to your brand and make people want to purchase your brand’s product or services. You can create a storytelling video that is either educational or explains a particular concept. Your video doesn’t need too much dialogue; it just needs the right visuals and an engaging story.
Storytelling for your brand through videos involves a lot of processes. Still, it ultimately pays off, earning you engagement and conversions. You can hire an expert to do all the heavy tasks, but if you want to create a brand story that converts successfully, the steps above will help you get started today.
Also read: Importance of Employer Branding for Your Business
