Whether you're a seasoned pro or brand new with video, it's tricky. I have no clue what your feelings are on utilizing video for your business, but I hope to shed some light on our viewpoints and how we make it work for our clients and ourselves.
Video is the medium, but storytelling is the name of the game, and that game has evolved. The eruption of social media and content creation is making it more challenging than ever to remind ourselves story is what matters, but the medium alone.
ARE YOU TELLING A MEANINGFUL STORY?
I don't know about you, but I'm not trying to simply add to the noise. I built my business for a reason and lean into that wherever possible. This is the viewpoint I hold when ideating on story points and things we want to share. You probably have several stories of impact, robust processes, great team members, and many things you can educate your customers about to ease the process.
Your brand's story is broader, deeper, more heartfelt, and connective than one piece of content will ever showcase. We must stop cramming every talking point into one video to reduce cost.
If you're going to play the game, then commit. This will more than likely take reworking your strategy. Maybe you only hire professional vendors, and it isn't in the budget. It's time to self-produce. Not every piece of content has to be produced by a pro. User-generated or self-made content is all the rage; if you know your story well enough, we're here for it. It's the difference between being a part of the noise or shining bright amongst the average. People want to be connected to their brands or, more importantly, the PEOPLE who run the brands.
SO WHAT WORKS?
Sorry, I got ahead of myself there. I'm going to slow it down and make it more digestible. We've just put together a free workshop, "The Video Mastery Workshop," and we aimed to help with this very subject of assisting brands to tell their story in a more connective and impactful way. The deep dive video workshop is where we walk through the expected hurdles, frameworks, and questions. We provide a 45-minute training, a free workbook, and an offline slide deck overview.
Imagine that becoming a video master! Mastery is so elusive because you never reach mastery; just pursue it. The name is intentional. It aligns with our values and identity at Myelin, and much like anything, video and storytelling are endless practices where you never arrive but just continue to improve, making micro improvements and slowly evolving. The idea is to give you a leg up and a headstart to get the 10,000 hours of practice.
Here's a quick hit on what works for video, or at least what we notice and practice.
Brand Clarity
This isn't some brand guide with fonts; this is deep in the root of an organization and its culture, The way it behaves. Before hitting record, you need to know what you can and can't say. It's great to look to others for inspiration, but I can't tell you how often brands find a formula and copy and paste it. This isn't brand clarity. It's being the average, and you've lost before you started.
Who are you?
What do you stand for?
What breaks your heart?
What Pisses you off?
Why do you choose this job?
Value-driven Messages
The CTA is dead, sort of... Actually, it's way more subtle. No one likes the cheesy stereotype of car salesmen. Your content should add value in the form of entertainment, inspiration, or education (or a mixture of the three). These are the guides, but make sure it's on-brand to you, and you're really trying to model an online relationship that translates to real life. People are bombarded with ads left and right, so adding value stands out over a transaction-focused CTA video. We like to infuse video content with a balance of 9 out of 10 pieces of content value to CTA.
What problems do you solve?
What do you know that someone else doesn't?
How do you build relationships with customers in real life?
Are there common questions customers have?
Oddities
Be an oddball; the weirder, the better. Seriously, this works. Lean into who you are and the things that make you different. In a world where everyone is so focused on competition and winning, start realizing your differences and lean away. These differences will lose all the average clients and attract the ones meant for you. Having fewer wrong customers and more right ones is like rocket fuel to your systems, product offerings, and employee experience.
Multi-Video Series
I'm not saying to produce a TV show, although that might be a good idea depending on your business model, but we need to start thinking about connecting content. One piece to the next is making your very own MCU (Marvel does a few things right). Content will miss for one reason or another, but having several videos that interconnect, telling a more holistic story will become more meaningful to your brand's full story.
We like seeing brands infuse a mixture of high, medium, and low production content, meaning a pro does some, some in collaboration, and others are entirely DIY.
You have several goals for your business, and being able to separate those initiatives out and produce multiple videos around multiple subjects lets you hit these goals more clearly. Video is about clear messaging; as a bonus, you give your personality, too. That's the real secret.
Consistency & Patience
Consistency is the most critical piece of anything, and while I could have easily started with this, I wanted to end with it. You can only have consistency with clarity and all of the above. Keeping up with the content craving the internet is hard, but it's easier when we feel confident in our story and can see a map of what we're trying to tell. Showing up, sharing, adding value, and navigating this digital world takes a lot of energy, but it builds momentum one piece of content at a time. Patience and understanding will help you play the longer game and zoom out. We all like quick wins, but I ask myself if it's worth it for every new trend. I'm here for impact and legacy, not instant gratification.
WE'RE ROOTING FOR YOU.
In working with our clients, we've found standing out is hard. We know how difficult it is to do the above, but our gift has always been giving confidence to others. With some practice and effort, you can tell your story your way and make meaningful connections. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
Since 2018, we've dedicated as much time to doing this work for our clients as we have for ourselves. It's made a massive impact on us. We're finding more of the right clients, saving time in redundant areas, and making more meaningful work, and each of our brands is growing quicker than we expected. That's storytelling.
If you found this article valuable, you'll enjoy joining The Video Mastery Workshop. Let's get after it!
If you want to work with our team directly, please shoot us a message or book a discovery call. We can help make these films alongside your team and give you a full production experience while still supporting internal efforts.
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