Content marketing embraces the visual culture of today, and is moving towards video.
HubSpot reports that 43% of people would like to see more video content by marketers. Four times as many customers would prefer to watch a video about a product to read about it.
This is not good news for blog posts.
You might be considering video content creation as part of your marketing strategy. Written content is becoming less effective with time. While you might be eager to get started creating videos right away, planning your content is crucial for maintaining your story and the success of your creative team. This is what I can help you with today.
Make sure to have a storyboard before you take out the camera.
What is a Storyboard?
A storyboard is a collection of sketches that depict the individual shots for a film, video, or commercial. These often include instructions for lighting, camera angles, transitions, and dialogue.
Good marketers start their videos with storyboards, just as good writers do with outline writing. They are often used in animated movies. John Lasseter is the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar. He calls them “a comic-book version of the story.”
You might be the creator of a marketing video. Is this a valid technique? Although storyboards for marketing videos don’t need to be as detailed as those used at major Hollywood studios they are still important.
Storyboards: Why are they important?
Storyboards allow you to plan your video from start to finish. How will it look? What will the flow be? Are you looking for dialogue or voiceovers? What emotions do you want the viewers to have? Storyboarding lets you collaborate with others to create your vision for the video.
Storyboards can be thought of as a rehearsal for the actual video. Storyboarding allows you to identify and fix any kinks in your video before you invest money in production.
These things can be done ahead of time to ensure that the final product is exactly what your vision. Storyboarding lets you give directions to the people who will create, film, edit, and set up your idea.
Your marketing video should be exactly what you want. Begin with a storyboard.
Here are some examples of great marketing videos
Let’s look at three highly effective marketing videos. These will be referred to as we discuss the components of a storyboard in the next section.
1. Dropbox Introduction
The Intro Video from Dropbox was released in 2009. Marketers are still talking about it. Dropbox was not well-known at the time. They placed the video on the front page. It was viewed approximately 30,000 times per year for many years. This helped to boost the company’s rapid growth.
These results show that this video was a success. Why? The unique animation style draws the eye to Dropbox. Dropbox makes digital file organization accessible to everyone. Dropbox is a great solution to organizational problems at work and at home. The video is short enough to not bore the viewer and ends with a call to action to get Dropbox.
2. Stickers are a Facebook tip
Facebook’s Tips Marketing Series highlights 12 distinctive features of the social media platform. These videos are short, but get the message across quickly. This encourages people not to stop watching and learning, but to continue using Facebook. Instead of being a boring tutorial videos they are fun and relate to the Stickers function to fun events and conversations in the Facebook user’s life. For example, celebrating your friend’s marathon win with them.
3. Salesforce Demo
Salesforce’s demo film shows salespeople a day in the life of using their software. It contains aspirational messages about the solution to your problem (+29% better win rates), social proof from well-known companies using it, and a strong CTA (in the form of a YouTube annotation) so that viewers can click directly to their website.
Salespeople are motivated by winning, glory, and competition. Salesforce cleverly ends the video with several shots showing the user receiving praise from their boss and colleagues for “crushing your quote”.
A Basic Framework for an Effective Marketing Video
This is the basic story structure that every marketing video succeeds in.
- Opener
- Problem statement
- Solution
- Get involved
Let’s take a look at each one.
Opener
Your opener must grab the attention of your viewers immediately. It should grab their attention immediately and inspire them to continue watching.
The Dropbox video, for example, begins with “You’ve been here.” The viewer now wonders, “Okay. That’s what happened to me.” Is the viewer about to be told a solution? I’ll continue to watch for …”.
Your opener should convey a sense of mystery or urgency.
Problem Statement
The problem statement describes the problem that the viewer faces.
When you are defining the scope of your problem statement be mindful of your target audience. Dropbox wanted to be relatable so it focused on an organization-wide problem. The Salesforce video, on the other hand, targets Account Executives so it is more specific: “What if your time could be spent more selling and connecting with customers?”
Next, the solution section of the video will show how your brand can solve the unique problem.
Solution
With an engaging opener, you have hooked your viewers. Next, you connect with them by understanding their problem. This is where you show viewers how your product solves their problems. This is where you will go into detail, show users how your product works, and provide explanation screenshots.
These three videos are excellent examples. The 2-D animation in Dropbox’s video shows how simple it is to organize your files with Dropbox. Salesforce guides the viewer through the entire sales process using a point-of-view presentation. This helps the viewer to imagine how the platform will help them in their career. This Facebook video shows how Stickers make Facebook more fun. Stickers make Facebook more fun and allow you to better connect with friends. It is a relationship product, after all.
Get involved
The money maker is finally here. Call to action is the place where you call the viewer to act. This could be by filling out a lead form, visiting your website, or buying your product.
Salesforce also makes it easy for viewers to believe the last frame as if their video weren’t compelling enough. Salesforce displays the expected results on the screen before the final CTA and shares logos from major brands that use the platform. It ends with a strong CTA that includes YouTube annotations so users can quickly click through to their site without having to enter it.
Your brand name, website address, and CTA should be visible in the last frame of your video. Also, allow the viewer to linger for as long as they need.
8 Steps to Create a Storyboard for Your Marketing Video
Let’s look at the steps for creating your storyboard now that you know what makes a compelling video. These steps will help you get to your ultimate goal of creating a marketing video that aligns with your vision.
1. Establish a Timeline
Storyboarding is all about structure. This step will help you determine the sequence of events that will be used in your video. What is your narrative?
Follow the order: opener – problem statement, solution – call for action.
2. Identify Key Scenes
The key points of your video should be identified, along with the call to action at the end. It could be a zoom-in of a product’s unique feature, a sequence of customers using it, or a grand opening.
What scenes engage the viewer and drive them to action?
3. Determine how much detail you want to add to each scene
You might prefer a more minimalist approach, such as Dropbox or Facebook which emphasizes screengrabs and cut-out animations. Do you prefer the more busy Salesforce approach where the salesperson uses the platform in different scenes? Perhaps you prefer a different concept.
The viewer shouldn’t be overwhelmed. Whatever route you choose, ensure your message and product stand out from the crowd.
4. Write your script
Your script should contain all spoken words, regardless of whether you are using dialogue or voiceovers.
You’ll overlay your audio over the thumbnails in a later step.
5. Select Your Storyboarding Tool
The good news is that you have an incredible selection of storyboarding tools.
You have the option to go retro and use colored markers, pencils, or pen with paper. You can also go high-tech using any of these.
- Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides are two examples of presentation software.
- Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign are graphic design software.
- Adobe Photoshop Sketch is an iPad software that requires a stylus.
- Storyboard software such as Amazon Storyteller and Storyboard That
- Storyboard templates such as this for Google Slides, or this Vidyard template
When creating your storyboard template, ensure that your thumbnails are roughly the same size and dimensions as your video (square, 4:3, 16, 9).
6. Draw Your Thumbnails
This is where you can get to work and begin sketching your scenes.
You can draw fully-formed characters or backgrounds depending on your artistic abilities and bandwidth. Or you could use stick figures to create people and objects.
7. Add Details to Each Scene
Storyboards are visual tools, but you must also include non-visual details to achieve the best results.
Each thumbnail should have the dialogue and/or voiceovers that you wrote. Include directional notes to help the people working on the video. For example, the desired lighting or camera angle. Make sure to number your thumbnails so that they don’t get mixed up.
8. Add Cuts
A cut is when the video zooms in on the action to emphasize it. The cuts in our examples videos highlight the actions you can take using their software or product.
In your storyboard, indicate where you would like to cut and any other instructions regarding the flow or transitions of your video.
Storyboarding for Success
Your head is not the best place to create the next marketing video. A storyboard is essential to help others see your vision. You will need a storyboard to help you create your story, draw it out and then add dialogue and production instructions to your scenes. Watch your video come alive.
