Don’t Forget This In Your Video Storytelling

Don't Forget This In Your Video StorytellingWriting this week about a couple of things we should all know but sometimes lose focus on. Yesterday, I blogged about knowing who you are as a business. Today, it is knowing your audience and how critically important it is for your video storytelling.

Both of these were themes talked about during last week’s “Evening with an Expert” put on by ChicagoAMA. One of those experts was Chris Young, Senior Director, Global Menu Strategy for a little company you might have heard of… McDonald’s.

Chris found it a little funny speaking at a marketing event because he isn’t a marketer. He’s a food scientist, but deciding what’s going to be placed on McDonald’s menus means understanding how to market those items… pointing out it’s important to ask a simple question.

“What do customers want?”

That’s a question we should all ask ourselves when it comes to our businesses, so why is it that many companies forget it when it comes to their marketing videos?

The problem I find with some business leaders is that in an effort to prop-up their company, they produce a video that’s designed to make themselves feel good… not their viewers. They have all sorts of things they love about their business, so they do their best to cram them all into their videos. That’s a mistake.

Let your audience guide your video storytelling

The first question you need to ask yourself when you start a new video project is… how do we serve our audience? Take a look at the elements you’re considering for your video. Think about them from the audience’s perspective. Do they impact viewers’ lives? Why should they care? Is this something that’s going to grab the audience’s attention?

If the audience isn’t interested, they’re not going to watch, and getting an audience to watch is the whole point of producing the video.

Remember, your video projects aren’t about padding the egos in the C-Suite. Your videos need to be about what the viewers want.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.