Unlocking the Power of Storytelling
How Professional Video Production Can Elevate Your Brand
Main Points (for all you skimmers out there)
Professional video storytelling is an essential component of building a brand and gaining traction in the marketplace by reaching your target audience with relevant connection points. Here are the five must-have components to flesh out in your video content strategy:
Authenticity - It needs to be real.
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Emotion - If people don't feel it, they won't care about it.
storytelling through videoVisual Appeal - Everything on screen needs to be on purpose.
video story tellingNarrative Structure - Hook, build, climax, and then...
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Call to Action - What should they do once the story is told?
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Crafting Compelling Brand Stories
"The shortest distance between two people is a story," said Patti Digh in her book, Four-Word Self Help: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives. And it's true—time and time again, individual content creators and giant corporations alike continue to see the benefits of story in their efforts to connect with other humans en masse, whether it's to simply tell their human story, or to build a brand people will recognize and trust.
And the most powerful tool in your storytelling toolbox? Video.
Professional video production offers a plethora of opportunities to craft compelling brand stories that resonate with your audience. Whether it's a heartfelt testimonial, a captivating product demonstration, or an immersive brand narrative, video allows you to convey your message in a visually engaging and emotionally impactful way.
If you're going to use video to get your message across (and you totally should), here are some essentials you need to flesh out if you want to maximize the odds that it will connect with the right people in the right way:
Authenticity
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 81% of customers said they need to trust a brand before making a purchase decision. And the number one way to build trust and loyalty among your audience is to authentically tell true stories they can actually relate to. Who do your target audience members vent to? What do they vent about? What do they celebrate with their friends and loved ones? By understanding their real human experiences, you can craft real human story videos that resonate with them in a meaningful way. Think soul-to-soul instead of role-to-role.
If you want to change someone's mind, speak with your mind. If you want to change someone's heart, speak from your heart. If you want to change someone's life, speak through your life. If you're not living it, it doesn't matter what story you tell. If you're not being honest about it, it doesn't matter how you tell it. Bottom line, these are whole people you're trying to reach; so reach them by displaying your whole humanness.
Emotion
Zig Ziglar said people buy on emotion and justify on logic. Corroborating this, Harvard researchers published findings in their 2014 paper, "Emotion and Decision Making" that it's actually impossible for the human mind to make even the smallest of decisions without recruiting emotions. If you want to spur people to any kind of action at all, you need to appeal to their emotions first and foremost.
Emotions are at the heart of every memorable story. By tapping into the power of emotional intelligence, you can create videos that evoke strong connections and leave a lasting impression. Whether it's joy, inspiration, or empathy, finding video production companies who can harness this power is an essential component of connecting with your audience in a meaningful and lasting way.
Visual Appeal
Aesthetics matter. They just do. However, this doesn't mean that more production value is always better. Not everything needs to look like a Hollywood production. If your target audience mainly consumes TikTok-esque short form video content featuring a handheld, continuous, selfie-style shot of a person talking while going on a nature hike, then that's the kind of video you need to make if you want to reach them.
You have to consider who you're telling your brand story to, and what kind of content they want to see. It's not about high-quality video production. It's not about universal visual appeal. It's about learning and using a specific visual language that is fluently understood bu the people you want to connect with. If you remove the audio and subtitles from your content, is it still something they'd watch?
Narrative Structure
Character development? Check. Conflict built and resolution? Check-check. Narrative arc? Triple check. Creating engaging narratives that keep viewers hooked from start to finish can be as much a science as it is an art form. Of course you want something unique and fresh and specific, and also there's a reason people can't talk about story structure without referencing Joseph Campbell (that doesn't count because I'm not referencing Joseph Campbell—I'm referencing the fact that people reference him. Totally different).
How do you fit all that into short form content, or a single social media post? You do it like this:
The Hook
Get their attention. Immediately. You don't have a lot of time. Give them something that sets the stage and raises a question so good they'll want to stick around for the answer.
The Build
Step back to show them the container they fell into with the Hook. Give them some of the answer, but not all of it. Expand the world and give some context. Let them know you're taking them somewhere. Build tension by giving enough information for a small payoff, but not enough for a big one. This should feel like a drum roll.
The Payoff
There should be a punchline. Even if it's not a joke, there needs to be a punchline. You've set up an expectation, and now you need to do something with that. If you satisfy it, they get a dopamine hit. If you frustrate it, they get a laugh (if you do it right).
An arc needs completion one way or another. Tennis ball, construction zone, man's best friend. Boom, story told. No dialogue needed.
When it comes to video storytelling, you have more than just a handful of images to work with. But if you figure out how to tell stories so effectively that you only need three almost-identical images to do it, imagine what possibilities will open up to you once you start makin' those pictures move. In addition to the Hook, the Build, and the Payoff, if you're going to do professional video storytelling right, there's a fourth step, but it deserves its own header:
Call to Action
Or as Joseph Campbell (see I TOLD you people can't write about storytelling without referencing him!) calls it, a Call to Adventure. By now, you've figured out what story you're telling (authenticity), you've figured out how to tell it (emotional content), you've figured out what your story will look like (visual appeal) and how it will unfold (narrative structure), and now it's time to stick the landing. What do you want your audience to DO once they've watched it?
It doesn't have to be a button to click or a profile to visit. It doesn't have to be jumping down your funnel and filling out a contact form for a free strategy session (which you should totally schedule with us, BTW). It could be that you want them to show it to a friend they think could benefit from hearing the story. It could be that you want them to feel seen and join a community of like-minded people they didn't know existed before they watched your amazingly emotional and compelling story video on Instagram.
Whatever it is you want them to do, you need to know that you want them to do it. And then you need to invite them to actually do it. Make it easy for them. Make it irresistible. Structure your story so that the action you call them to already feels like the next logical step in the process.
The Takeaway
At the end of the day, professional video production is a powerful tool for elevating your brand's narrative and connecting with your audience on a deeper level. By leveraging the art of storytelling, video can help you craft compelling stories that resonate with viewers, drive engagement, and ultimately, inspire action. If you're not already leveraging the power of story in your strategy, start today. And if you're not already using video to tell those stories...well, we just may be able to help.
