New Approaches to Revolutionize Your Storytelling
Storytelling lies at the heart of any good video marketing campaign; however, storytelling isn’t just about the content of the video itself. Effective storytelling is also driven by how the story unfolds over time before your audience.
Consider how novelists like Charles Dickens once published great works as serialized columns in magazines – or for a more modern example – how HBO launches limited series of high-quality shows too long to be a film but too short to be a full series. Your plans for how you sequence your story impacts how the audience receives the message.
Below are three different strategies you can apply to how you present your brand’s story.
Tease, amplify, echo
Google advises a three-step strategy for your video campaign that allows you to reach different audiences in different ways. This sequence allows you to increase awareness of your brand and increase purchase intent among viewers.
1. Tease: Pique your audience’s interest with short clips (i.e. bumper ads, see below) that introduce the idea behind your campaign, but don’t reveal the full story just yet.
2. Amplify: Once you’ve captured your audience’s attention, run both short- and long-form videos simultaneously during your campaign. The short-form ads drive reach, while the long-form ads offer an opportunity to extend your campaign message.
3. Echo: As your campaign is ending, re-emphasize your message to continue encouraging action. As at the beginning of your campaign, six-second bumper ads will remind viewers of your message and extend your campaign longer.
Turn your story into a mini-series
Instead of sharing one long-form video across platforms, break your story into several chapters that you can share over time. Follow your subject across several different parts of the story as they encounter new characters, locations and challenges. Rather than hoping viewers watch one long video, you’ll keep them wondering about the next chapter and create more opportunities for engagement with your shorter content.
If you’ll be using the video for paid advertising, your platform may allow youto control which video a viewer sees depending on whether he or she has seen the previous video in the series.
Bite-sized but varied content
Bumper ads are six-second ads that play before YouTube videos. Rather than showing a 30-second ad giving viewers the option to skip after five seconds, viewers must watch the entire bumper ad. Bumper ads allow for creative variety and greater frequency because there are more videos to share.
For a bumper ad campaign, stick to one key message, e.g. a new product line launch, and create a few brief but varied clips conveying that message. The videos can each feature a different product from that line, or different ways customers are using the product. The videos are unified by the overall message and their shared aesthetic so viewers can recognize that each of these separate videos are part of your brand.
If you’re ready to explore new ways to sequence your video campaigns and revolutionize your storytelling, Spin Creative is here to help. Say hello!
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Spin Creative is a video production company and creative agency helping marketers create winning video and creative strategies that engage, inspire and activate targeted audiences. Spin is headquartered in Seattle with offices in San Francisco and London, serving brands around the globe.
