I was filling in my wife last night about this whole Manti Te’o hoax. Notre Dame star football player… a girlfriend’s tragic death… and now the revelation it’s all a sham.

I said, “This is an incredible story.” Her response, “Maybe you should write a blog post about how this isn’t the type of storytelling we do.”

Truthful storytelling

She was being funny, but it actually touches on a delicate issue. How truthful are you when producing your videos?

Everyone has an ethical line in the sand. I mean, I hope they do. My background is in journalism, so mine is pretty strict.

Stop snickering… it’s true! We’ve never had a client who tried to get us to put something into a video that’s false, but some blurry areas have popped-up from time-to-time. And in those situations, I’ll standup. I’m not shy about telling clients when something ethical arises.

I feel like all of us, you and I, are obligated to do that for our clients.

–Tony Gnau

It’s apparently day two of wife-inspired blog posts. She pointed out the video I blogged about yesterday, and here she is doing it again.

This one came via her employer. She teaches at a local college and school leaders sent an email encouraging everyone to support a recent grad competing for capital funding for her business.

The campaign features a video that caught my attention. Now, don’t get your expectations up. The video is pretty basic. What I loved though is the young entrepreneur and her storytelling.

Already storytelling

She doesn’t rely on facts and figures. She doesn’t talk about P/L or ROI. She tells her story.

Quality video will come later.  For now, she’s laying the foundation for storytelling success by simply telling her story.

–Tony Gnau

I met with a new client last week who’s suffering from the same problem many businesses and non-profits suffer from. They do a lot.

This particular client sat in my office and told me all about their organization and what they do. It was a nearly two-hour explanation. What they wanted to know is how they can break all of that down into a 60-second video.

The answer can be uncomfortable for some people… you can’t. In most cases, you can’t fit everything about your business into a short video. Here’s the silver lining… you shouldn’t want to.

Video is about emotion, not facts

Video is a great information delivery tool, but so is print and digital. What sets video apart is that it can elicit a powerful emotional response. Video isn’t about listing off everything you do, it’s about convincing people you’re good at what you do, that you’re a quality organization, that you’re going to deliver.

Too much information clouds your audience members’ minds. It disconnects them from their emotions.

BREAK IT DOWN

So while many people try to cram as much as they can into a short video, I tend to narrow the focus as much as possible.

After listing to what this particular client does, I broke down their services into three core areas. Once you do that, the story becomes more manageable.

That’s one of the hidden benefits to hiring a professional storyteller. It’s the whole seeing the forest through the trees analogy. Sometimes people who work at a company are too close to it. It can take someone from outside to provide a fresh perspective.

Narrow your focus. It works almost every time.

–Tony Gnau

Politics of Storytelling.

That was a CNN headline yesterday scrawled at the bottom of a TV screen that caught my attention. I didn’t get the full story, but the subhead said something about how important it is for politicians to tell their story and not let someone else define who they are.

Business Needs storytelling too

Anyone think that’s exclusive to politics? Of course not. Corporations… brands… small businesses… they all need to be doing this, and video happens to be one of the best ways.

Why? Because seeing is believing.

Video lets people see for themselves and form their own opinion. Whether you’re simply setting the everyday tone for your business, or you’re a company doing damage control, video gives you the ability to deliver your story in a way that will capture an audience’s attention.

Let them see and believe you.

–Tony Gnau

I went to a networking event yesterday, and an accountant opened his elevator-pitch with the statement, “Someone told me once the best way to sell yourself is to tell a story.”

You can imagine… I perked up.

This is an accountant. Someone who’s comfortable with numbers, not stories. He told a nice story about a client he had helped. It was quite compelling.

Good lesson for corporate video

Now think about all the corporate videos you’ve seen. All the videos that tout the company’s numbers, but don’t really tell the story of how they help clients. It happens more often than most businesses would probably like to admit.

They can all learn from a humble accountant who appears to know about more than numbers.

–Tony Gnau

Courtesy: Entrepreneur Magazine

You know I’m all about storytelling, so when Entrepreneur Magazine posts something like this (see photo) in its Facebook feed… you have my attention.

Actually, I prefer another quote from the same piece with Gary Vaynerchuk…

“Storytelling is the most underrated skill in business.”

Love… it! And couldn’t agree more. The better you tell your story, the more likely you are to make a sale.

Why? Storytelling tugs at our hearts. It has the ability to help build an emotional connection between the viewer and storyteller.

How valuable can that be when you go to make a sale?

–Tony Gnau

I just watched a video produced for a prominent Chicago hospital group, and it’s a shining example of why I rarely recommend scripting videos in advance.

Normally, when I critique a video I share it with you, but in this case I’m not going to. It featured a doctor talking about his specialties. I’m sure he had nothing to do how the video was produced. The hospital’s marketing team probably asked him to write a script, then show up to go on-camera to deliver it. No reason for me to single him out by showing it to you.

And in this case, there’s no need. You’ve seen it before. Someone who’s not accustomed to performing on-camera, looking stiff and reading with no emotion. That’s what scripting videos gets you.

I’ll bet he would have come off differently if a quality interviewer sat down with him to discuss his specialties. He would have seemed far more confident and personable.

The truth is there are few people who can take a written script and perform it without having it sound as though it’s scripted. Even trained actors and politicians have a tough time with it. That’s why interviewing people and letting them speak off-the-cuff is far more effective. It’s authentic.

Authenticity will trump managed, scripted stories everyday.

–Tony Gnau

I blogged last week about American Airlines’ pre-flight video. In short, I loved it and couldn’t believe American had created a video about something we practically know by heart and got me to watch.

That post prompted a Facebook comment I thought was worth some further exploration. Katie wrote…

This is a good reminder that even when your audience is “captive” you need to produce something good if you want them to actually pay attention! Makers of training videos… listen up!!

Really good point. Certainly for training videos, but really any type of video. I think back to some of the boring videos I’ve seen at conferences. Quality matters… whether your audience is clicking through on the web, or they’re a captive audience that “has” to watch.

The truth is you could have people watching but not paying attention. We all have the ability to tune things out, so your captive audience still might not be getting your message.

The solution? Produce quality videos. Make sure they’re shot and edited well. Help people connect with the content by incorporating the information into a compelling story.

And if you don’t know how to do it… hire a pro who’s a dedicated storyteller.

–Tony Gnau

Here’s a crazy fact. Many corporate executives don’t know what their company’s story is.

I understand that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. They know elements of their story. When it was founded, who founded it, how many widgets they’ve shipped over the years, et cetera. Unfortunately, they frequently miss the component of their story that’s going to make it appealing to the masses. That’s what a storyteller can do for them.

Business leaders are just that. Ask them about P&L, cost-benefit analysis, ROI… they’ll blow your socks off. They know their stuff when it comes to pie charts and tables, but storytelling isn’t about facts and figures. It’s about emotion.

Business leaders need storytellers who can look at their company, identify the types of stories that will connect with audiences, then let them loose.

–Tony Gnau

I’m changing my title. You can do that sort of thing when you own your own business. The tough thing is choosing one.

I’m the founder, president and CEO, but I’m also a videographer, writer and editor. I don’t like any of those.

What I really am is the Chief Storytelling Officer. It’s a good title for a couple of reasons. First, it accurately describes what I do for our clients. I help tell their stories.

Second, I’m T60’s storyteller. I’m in charge of telling T60’s story. It’s not so much about when we started, the type of equipment we use, or listing our clients. Our story is all about our passion for video and storytelling. I’m in charge of getting that message out.

I hope your company has a Chief Storytelling Office… even if they don’t have the title.

–Tony Gnau