Article #8

Get This Wrong and Your Marketing Videos will Crash and Burn

Let's get one thing clear, if your video has a bad script, you have lost the game.

That's right. It doesn't matter how crisp or clear your video images are, it doesn't matter how awesome your video editor is. It doesn't even matter if you spent a lot of money producing your video. None of that matters.

In fact, that money just went up in smoke. Why? You did not invest in the one element that plays an outsized role in the success of your video. I am, of course, talking about your script.

Get this wrong and your marketing video will be toast. I'm not exaggerating, I'm not getting all melodramatic, I'm just telling you the cold, hard truth.

It's about time you heard the truth. Because a lot of people, some of them self proclaimed video marketing gurus or consultants, try to get you all pumped up about slickly produced videos.

They might even get you all excited about signing up for some sort of video marketing creation tool. Like you just plug in some sort of text document and this software just produces an instant video.

Don't be fooled. Don't get taken for a ride. It's not that easy. Because if it were, then everybody would be a millionaire. Everybody would be riding around in Lamborghinis, Ferraris or top of the line Mercedes Benz.

Obviously, that's not happening. Why? Most people screw up the script. Either they think that they can write it themselves or they outsource it to people who have no clue about what they're doing. Whatever the case may be, they drop the ball.

Get your script wrong, and your marketing videos will be worthless. I hope that much is clear. I'm just trying to drive home this point.

What are the hallmarks of a solid video marketing script? It should have the following.

The more of these hallmarks are present, the higher the likelihood that the video that you produce from that script will work. However, if you miss too many of these elements, chances are, your video will simply not connect.

Now, this doesn't mean that your video will obviously suck. It might be cute, it might be interesting, it might even go viral on YouTube or Facebook. But don't for a moment think that popularity means conversions. At the end of the day, there are millions of video views on certain videos on Facebook, but those videos are not making any money.

Instead, your video marketing is all about conversions. It's all about taking the bacon home. It's all about adding dollars to your bank account.

Don't get your wires crossed. Don't screw this up. Because if you think that your script has to be funny, cute, clever, but it drops the ball on the following factors, forget it. You're just wasting your time.

It Must Speak Plainly

Great scripts don't screw around with $10-words or $5-words. Instead, they just focus on plain, basic English that everyday people speak.

It's not like you're talking down to people. Instead, you are making sure that almost everybody can get what you're talking about.

You come off as sincere. You're not hiding behind a series of hard to understand words. People don't have to whip out their dictionaries just to figure out what you're saying.

Because when you do that, you're coming off as somebody who has something to hide. This is not good when you are trying to sell something to your prospect.

Get to the Point Quickly

Highly effective video marketing scripts get to the point quickly. Sure, they tell stories, they discuss case studies, but in the beginning, they tell you, "this is the problem, and this is the solution you should be looking for."

And then they go through the case study. They educate you. And then they repeat it again, "This is the problem, this is the solution." And then they compare the solution to other solutions out there, only to reveal that most of those other solutions really fail.

They are either too expensive, too slow, or they're not all that durable. Whatever the case may be, your solution comes out on top. It comes out smelling like a million roses.

Get to the point quickly because if you allow yourself the luxury of producing a very long and drawn-out video, it's very easy for you to ramble. It's very easy to for you to talk about stuff that doesn't really matter or doesn't really get people to convert.

In other words, your video just basically feels like a long, drawn-out lecture. Who wants that?

They Pack a Lot of Emotional Points

Now, a script that has emotional points doesn't necessarily have to be an emotional script.

What I mean by emotional points is that the speaker, whether it's you or somebody you hired, can look at certain parts of the script and know exactly what kind of emotional slant to put on that item.

Maybe they should act surprised, maybe they should sound disappointed, maybe they should sound tentatively excited. Whatever the case may be, there has to be enough cues as to the emotional state the speaker has to be in.

Because highly effective scripts connect at the heart level and it's very hard to do that when the speaker sounds like he's reading some sort of grocery list. Do you see where I'm coming from?

Your Case Studies Must Be Believable

You have to understand that the human mind has a certain range of believability. Otherwise, people are going to be skeptical. They might conclude that whatever you are saying is just too good to be true.

If that's the case, then they really have no business trusting you. Do you see how this works? You must select your case studies very strategically.

My favorite are case studies that apply to the vast majority of people. This makes my product all the more approachable. Because the case study can happen to anybody. Do you see how this works?

Great Scripts have an Emotional Call to Action

Great promotional videos or online marketing videos do not leave the viewer hanging.

By this point, you got them excited about the case study, you got them excited about the solution, you knocked out all the competing products, you got the horse to the water. Now, you need to say the right thing in the right sequence to get that horse to drink.

This is where the emotional call to action is. You can't just rattle off a series of product features. Buyers couldn't care less that a product has two canisters or uses two bags or has a new motor.

Instead, you have to speak their language. Do they save money? Is this product going to last longer? Is this product easier to store away?

You have to think along those lines. You have to think in terms of benefits in the real world instead of just some hyped up acronym that supposedly sums up the range of features a product has. Know the difference.

And once you're clear on the benefits, then you call the viewer to action: "Gain your life back by burning all these pounds with this video course" or something to that effect. It all must come back to the raw emotional power that the benefits bring to the table. Otherwise, your script is dropping the ball.

Make no mistake, if you get your script wrong, your marketing videos will crash and burn. Please pay close attention to the 5 factors I've outlined above.
