They Feature Video Interviews
Some stories work best when they’re narrated to you. Here’s how someone might explain the history of Walmart, for example:
“Walmart was founded in Bentonville, Arkansas on July 2, 1962 by local businessman Sam Walton. Over the company’s 56-year history, Walmart has grown to become one of the world’s largest retail corporations.”
Sure, that story gets the point across. It tells the biographical facts about the history of Walmart.
In many cases, however, it’s more effective to interview the people who were actually there. Let them tell their story.
Anyone can find the biographical facts about a company from Wikipedia. Not everybody, however, can tell the story because they were there. It adds a personal connection behind an otherwise faceless corporation.
“I founded Precision Corp. in 1986 after many sleepless nights spent in my basement dreaming up crazy business plans. My wife liked the name Precision, so we stuck with it.”
Video interviews of company founders or employees can highlight a side of the company that has never been seen before. Instead of seeing your corporation as just another faceless business, someone will remember the personal story behind the founding of the company.
They Use Visual Aids, Infographics, and More
You can read as many articles as you want. Sometimes, however, the best way to convey a point is through visuals, infographics, and more.
Today’s leading corporations might hire teams of animators or graphic designers to aid their visual storytelling. You can carry your point in a visually-stimulating way while presenting complex data.
It’s easy to tell someone that sales of your hot tubs have increased 62% in the last three years. The growth of your hot tub manufacturing business, however, is going to look much more impressive when you present that same information in a chart showing sales growing every year.
They Create an Arc
Just like a good movie, a good video story has an arc. Video stories can have beginnings, middles, and ends. Whether your story is 1 minute long or 1 hour long, a good arc can help position information in a clear way.
Without an arc, a video is just a series of images, videos, and graphics highlighting random aspects of your company. With an arc, a video story can tell an effective story and present valuable points to customers.
They Grab Attention in 5 Seconds or Less
Video stories can debut on all different media. Some companies simply post a video story to their YouTube account. Other companies feature a video story in a television or online advertising campaign. Some organizations debut video stories at film festivals.
If you’re catering to audiences with short attention spans – say, online or on TV – then you need to grab attention within the first five seconds. It’s too easy for people to skip past a video on the internet or to click the back button. If you can’t pique someone’s interest in five seconds, then you’ve already lost half your audience.
They Craft Stories that Relate to People
Above all, a good video story from a corporation must relate to people. To most people, your corporation is just a bland, faceless entity. You might shop at a grocery store several times per week, for example, without ever attaching an identity to the corporation behind that store.
That’s where a good video story can change everything.
A good video story relates to people. A talented video storyteller can do something that seems impossible: make an average person develop a personal connection to a multi-million dollar corporation.
There are many ways a corporation can relate to people. A video storyteller might interview customers or clients, for example, and have them personally explain how a company has impacted their lives or their business. Or, a video storyteller might visit the community to determine the impact that the company’s products and services have had.
Conclusion
Ultimately, good video storytelling is a combination of art and science. Video storytellers need to be creative enough to tell a corporation’s story in a compelling way, but they also need to use the science of psychology to connect with people. Just like good marketing, finding the right balance is difficult – and that’s why good video storytellers are in such high demand.