Whether you are filming a documentary, a narrative film, or a piece of marketing content, every video needs a compelling story. Storytelling in video entices your audience and guides them though the video. It will help your viewers remember your brand and take action.
Storytelling doesn’t just mean communicating a narrative. It can be subtle and be just as effective.
Let’s take real estate as an example. You may not think of telling a story while showcasing a property, but you absolutely can. Think about why people buy a home. It’s not just a place of residence. They may be starting a new chapter in their lives, whether that’s starting a family, a new business, or simply having their own space for the first time. To effectively market that property, guide your viewers through the house. Put them in that house so that they can see themselves waking up to an amazing view, preparing their favorite meal in the kitchen, relaxing after a long day on the patio, or even playing with their kids or pets in the yard.
It’s important to develop a compelling story in your video content to keep your audience engaged and interested. Here are a some more tips on how to create compelling video marketing content through storytelling.
Create characters in your videos
Creating character is an excellent way to engage your audience and create familiarity in your video content. You may think of characters in the fiction-sense, but think about characters as an element of your video. Your employees can be characters. Your leadership team can be characters. They all have their own individual personalities that will bring a unique perspective to each video.
Characters don’t always have to be people either. Furniture is a great example of an inanimate object that is also a character. If you have a unique chair, couch or desk that appears in all of your videos, that piece of furniture is a character. It may play an important role in your content and branding, and when viewers see that piece of furniture, they will immediately know it’s from you.
Use basic storytelling elements.
Think back to your days in elementary school when your English teacher introduced the elements of a story. A good story contains these 5 elements
- Exposition – Set the stage and introduce your characters.
- Inciting Incident – Introduce the problem.
- Climax – Highest point of tension and turning point
- Falling Action – The result of the action taken at the turning point
- Resolution – Close out the video and add a call to action.
By incorporating these 5 story elements into your video marketing, you’ll create a compelling story that engages the audience and keeps them watching until the end.
Incorporate emotion into your story
Emotion is one of the biggest ways to relate to your audience and keep them engaged in your video. Emotion can be positive or negative, and the goal of your video should be to make your audience feel what you are trying to get across.
For example, if you’re product is a tool to make changing a tire easier, incorporate emotion by showing someone getting a flat tire on the side of the road. Almost everyone has been in that situation, and it can be extremely stressful, frustrating, and even scary. When someone sees the character in your video get a flat tire, they will immediately relate to your character and feel those emotions.
This will make your product even more desirable to them. Your product eases their stress, frustration and fear and makes the process quick and easy. If I’m someone who’s nervous about being stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire, I am way more likely to buy your product after seeing how it removes those emotions.
Next time you are creating a piece of video marketing content, make sure to incorporate these storytelling elements in your vide to keep your audience engaged. By creating a more compelling video, they will not only be more likely to remember your brand, but also become more engaged in your brand’s story and future content.
