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Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. They help us soak in new information more quickly than any other available resource.
With that in mind, producing a corporate video seems like a far better option than creating text-based content for just about any purpose.
It doesn’t matter if you’re promoting a new product or informing your employees of new safety measures. Videos win by a landslide in both cases.
This follow-along guide will help you write a compelling corporate video script in 7 easy steps. Stick around until the end of each section to get our pro tips, too.
Step 1. Create a Video Script Brief
A video brief is a short document with guidelines for your video. Although it may seem trivial, a brief will help ensure that everyone involved in video production is on the same page. That way, everyone will work towards the same goals — the ones you’ve pre-defined in the video brief. Answer these key questions in your video brief to make it effective:- What is the goal of this corporate video? Decide whether you’re making this corporate video to increase brand awareness, train your staff, or for another purpose.
- Who are we making this video for? Define your target audience.
- What is the core message we want to communicate? Define what your target audience should take away from your corporate video.
- What makes this corporate video valuable? Is it useful or entertaining to your audience, or does it offer an entirely different value?
- What action do we want our viewers to take? Establish your call to action.
- What is our budget for this video? When defining your budget, consider all expenses that go into video production, such as project management and location costs. Comparing your budget with predictable expenses will help you establish what to include (or exclude) from the script.
- Pro tip: Refer to your target audience personas and brand guide while writing the video brief. Basing your brief on these documents will ensure that the final product aligns with your TA, brand voice, values, etc.
Step 2. Decide on the Corporate Video Length
One of the main challenges in creating video content is finding the right balance between:- what you want to communicate
- your audience’s attention span
- Pro tip: You can use the average length of videos on the channel you’ll be using (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, etc.) as your target length if you’re creating a video for marketing purposes
Step 3. Design A Story Around Your Message
Admittedly, this is the most challenging step in creating a corporate video script — or any video script for that matter. However, communicating your core message via a story is vital for keeping your audience entertained and engaged. So, how can you create a compelling story? Start by going back to your brief. Three main things should be considered in this step: your core messages, your target audience, and your call to action. Your story needs to unite all three. In other words, it needs to effectively communicate your core message, resonate with your audience, and entice them to take your desired action. How can you achieve that? Try implementing a formula that most well-written stories follow:- The hero of the story wants or needs to achieve a goal
- The hero experiences challenges
- The hero overcomes challenges
- The hero achieves a goal
- Pro tip: Keep in mind that you’re creating a corporate video and not a novel. Your story shouldn’t only be told with words, but with sound effects and visuals as well. Make sure you define those elements in your script, too.
Step 4. Read Your Video Script Aloud
We recommend you read your script aloud several times before moving ahead. It will help you assess the length of your corporate video, the flow between your lines, and the overall tone of your story. While reading your video script, focus on three things:- Does your script have a flow?
- Are you using any awkward phrases or corporate lingo?
- Does the language sound natural?
- Pro tip: You can also use text-to-speech converters for this purpose, especially if you’re working alone. Many of such converters are free and can be easily found online.
Step 5. Cut the Fluff
Did you know that humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish? A goldfish retains its focus for up to 9 seconds, while we retain it for 8. What’s more, another study found that as many as 33% of viewers will stop watching a video after only 30 seconds. That’s why you need to make every second of your video content count. Don’t beat around the bush, nor dwell on insignificant details. Get to your point as soon as possible, or your audience might exit the video before hearing your message. Eliminate fluff from your video script by deleting the following:- Filler words: Filler words are words that can be cut from a sentence without impacting its meaning or clarity. Literally, really, and actually are just some common filler words that should be cut from a corporate video script.
- Unnecessary context: Context is sometimes necessary. However, other times it only slows down our narration. For example, imagine if we were describing our extensive experience in corporate video production in the intro of this article. Would you keep reading up to here? Probably not. So, eliminate unnecessary context from your script.
- Insignificant details: Some corporate videos focus too much on trivial details, like a product’s features or brand story. Most time should be spent on vital information instead, like a product’s benefits.
- Known facts: Don’t spend too much time telling your audience what they already know. For example, we’ve seen companies talking about their audience’s problems for the entire first halves of their videos. While describing the problems can be a nice segue to presenting a product that solves them, it doesn’t provide value. So, it’s better to introduce solutions (unknown facts) early on in your video.
- Pro tip: Avoid lengthy phrases and replace them with their shorter counterparts. For example, say to instead of in order to and called instead of referred to as.
Step 6. Cross-Reference Your Video Script Brief
It’s easy to get carried away while writing and editing your script. To prevent going off track, refer to your brief often and check whether your script aligns with what you’ve defined there. After you’ve conducted a series of edits, you might find that your video script no longer fits the key messages you wanted to communicate. Or, perhaps, you’ll catch yourself using corporate lingo instead of a language your audience understands. Be patient while checking such seemingly insignificant details, and don’t be afraid to make sizable changes if you have to. Maybe you’ll even have to write the script from scratch, which is fine as long as you’ve given yourself enough time to work on it.- Pro tip: Use your brief to assess each line in your script. Does every line contribute to at least one goal you’ve defined in the brief? If not, you might want to delete it.
Step 7. Tweak It to Perfection
Lastly, your corporate video script needs to be signed off by all invested parties. Make sure you get their feedback and tweak your video script accordingly before proceeding to the next step. The chances are that your first draft won’t make for a great script. That’s perfectly normal. Even experienced script writers rewrite their scripts numerous times. So, as a beginner, you shouldn’t expect your writing process to be any different. On a more positive note, taking time to do the edits before production saves you the money you’d spend on re-shoots and re-edits later. In scriptwriting, patience truly pays off.- Pro tip: Move away from your script and return to it after a few hours. Or change the font you’re using. Both of these hacks will help you read your writing with fresh eyes and catch the mistakes faster.