‘Storytelling’ is a much-bandied word in marketing circles. Regardless of what sector we operate in or whether our business is B2B or B2C, we’re all told that storytelling is the key to conveying our brand message and communicating with our customers.
Comms and Video Storytelling
It’s true. Telling a story is a much more effective way of engaging people and getting your message across than broadcasting statements or facts and figures to your target audience. Furthermore, that message is more likely to be remembered if it’s been conveyed in a narrative form that is easy for people to recall when thinking about your business, product or service.
You may think that storytelling is limited to brands and advertisers – just think of how successful John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Nationwide have been with stories of penguins, WW1 trenches and lost scarves. But what about your corporate video; why is storytelling important in your video communication?
Benefits of Storytelling for Corporate Videos
Differentiates your organisation:
Many businesses have competitors that offer a very similar service or product without any notable USPs. Often to differentiate ourselves we rely on adding value in other areas such as great customer service, a personable approach, etc. This can be difficult to convey in the standard corporate video format, but one way you can really stand out from your competitors is to create video content with a narrative. You can still convey your core message – but in a much more memorable way: creating content that stands out and highlights those value-adding qualities that are hard to communicate in other formats.
Engages your audience:
Videos that use storytelling are infinitely more engaging than those that don’t. Stories resonate with your audience; conveying emotions, providing content your audience might identify with or aspire to, capturing their attention and imagination, and relating to them on a human level. Engaging video content also results in more actions – as viewers are more likely to watch the video all the way through, and then respond to whatever call-to-action is used at the end.
Increases reach:
Traditionally stories have been passed from generation to generation, one person to another, and this is another key advantage of using a narrative in your video. People are more likely to share your content with others if it tells a story. A promotional video that just broadcasts statements at viewers doesn’t lend itself to sharing. But a video that uses a simple narrative to tell the viewer who you are and how you can help is much more compelling, and something that others will want to share.
Makes it memorable:
Video already gives you an advantage over the written word as people retain information from visual images for much longer than text. But if you want to give your video communication longevity in your audience’s minds, storytelling is the ideal tool to employ. It’s no coincidence that many tools for improving memory revolve around telling a story, for example memorising a shopping list by creating a silly story about each item. So, a video that uses a simple storyline enables your target audience to recall the component parts more easily.
Using storytelling in your video does not mean you need to create the next John Lewis Christmas ad or find the budget to match. It just means identifying a simple narrative that conveys your message in a way that your target audience will remember, engage with and act on.
So, how do you come up with a storyline? Well, that’s where we can help!