The no-fail script formula that forges a rock solid bond with your viewer in 60 seconds
Crash Course Links
Part 1 | |
Part 2 | |
Part 3 | |
Part 4 | |
Part 5 | The no-fail script formula |
Part 6 |
Welcome back!
It's one of the biggest challenges video marketers face . . . how do you quickly bond with a new viewer and encourage them to act on your goal?
Sales people call it “building rapport”. In internet marketing circles the mantra is “know, like and trust”.
“People buy from people they know, like and trust” you’ll hear them say.
Whatever the label, it’s the personal connection that must happen if you want your viewer to take the next step toward whatever the goal of your video happens to be.
And with attention spans getting ever shorter, you have just seconds to hook them in so you can begin the persuasion process.
So, what's the best way to do that?
Crash Course Links
Part 1 | |
Part 2 | |
Part 3 | |
Part 4 | |
Part 5 | The no-fail script formula |
Part 6 |
Story time
When the stakes are high and you need a strategy that won't let you down, think 'story'.
In this case, your story.
Why?
There's something magical about stories. At the first hint that a tale is about to be told our brains are hardwired to dismiss any distractions and pay attention.
It’s instinctive.
And it makes perfect sense when you think about it. In the days before formal education was a thing - all the way back to when we were cavemen sitting around the fire - listening to stories was how we learned.
What’s more, stories have the unique ability to transport you to a place that’s particularly receptive to tales of personal struggle and eventual success.
All of which makes stories the perfect vehicle to persuade someone that you are actually a lot like them in some respects (everyone struggles with new stuff at first, right?) and that they too might succeed after all.
This is particularly important if you are a marketer because people don't realize they are being sold to when a story is the medium. As a consequence, people believe marketing that uses stories more than any other form of marketing.
Execution plan
So, we want to use a story to get their attention and pull the audience into the video.
But here’s the thing. Recalling Suzi Lindner’s advice from her "7 tips" video back in episode 1 of this series, you know that you must keep your videos short. Which means you don’t have much time to tell your story and persuade the viewer to take the next step.
And that’s where our formula comes in. Use this formula to zero in on the essential parts of your story quickly. Here it is:
Identity
Struggle
Discovery
Result
Call to action
The beauty of this formula is it's simplicity and versatility. Let’s flesh it out . . .
Identity: | A sentence that identifies who you are |
Struggle: | Describe the problem you struggled with |
Discovery: | The thing that provided the solution to your problem |
Result: | How life is since discovering and implementing the solution |
Call to action: | What you want the viewer to do next |
If you’ve been paying attention, you might be thinking that this sounds familiar. And you would be right. We used this formula to write the introduction to Suzi’s 7 tips video.
Here's a shorter version of that video (1m 34s) that uses the same intro but transitions straight into the call-to-action specified in the formula:
See how that works?
Let’s break it down into a storyboard . . .
Identity | Hi, I'm Suzi Lindner. These days I’m a successful freelance presenter, but that wasn’t always the case. |
Struggle | My first love was acting so when I landed the lead role in an off-Broadway production it was like a dream come true. |
Discovery | Then I discovered the teleprompter and that made all the difference. It was like the missing piece in a puzzle that finally let me migrate from the stage to the studio. |
Result | Now I’m the face and voice for many successful businesses online, earning more than most Broadway actors. |
Call to action | But you don't have to be a Broadway star to be compelling on-camera. You just have to use the same simple techniques that took me years to figure out through trial and error. |
Note how minimalist this script is. We originally wrote the intro for use with the full 7 tips video, so we took a bare-bones approach when applying the formula to keep the overall length within target. But it still works even with this shorter lead generation pitch variation.
Another example
Let’s take a look at a second example. This time it’s Pintrest marketing superstar Melyssa Griffin using the formula in a pitch for one of her free webinars:
Here’s the tear-down . . .
Identity | Hey there, Melyssa Griffin here. |
Struggle | One and a half years ago, I was struggling with my blog and business. I was working long hours, trying every strategy I could think of and still not seeing the results I was hoping for. |
Discovery | But then, something clicked and within just three months I was able to grow my traffic by 100,000 page views, triple my email list and double my monthly income. And my secret weapon that made it all happen? Pintrest! |
Result | Now, just one and a half years since implementing my new found Pintrest system, my blog has 300,000 monthly page views, my email list has grown to over 75,000 people and my income has expanded into the multiple six figure range. Definitely not something I expected just a couple of years ago. |
Call to action | But now I want to teach you how to rapidly grow your own blog or business. Join me for a free webinar where I will teach you four ways to use Pintrest to dramatically grow your traffic and audience. |
In this case, Melyssa does a great job of getting specific with the results of her discovery, which is always a good idea.
But again, anyone can use this formula. Everyone has a story . . . you just have figure out how your story relates to the goal you want to achieve with your video.
A new hero
Want to put the focus on your client rather than yourself?
No problem. Just make someone else the hero by telling their story rather than yours.
Simply explain how you (or your company) have helped others overcome their struggle, make their discovery and achieve their result.
This formula is so versatile that you could easily employ it as the framework for customer testimonials as well. Just have them tell their story in their own words, with a wee bit of help from you.
Your turn
Storytelling is a strategy filmmakers and marketers alike have used forever with good reason - it flat out works. Hopefully this inspires you to give it a try.
In the final episode in this series we take a look at the formula broadcast journalists the world over use to tell bite-sized stories with video.
I'll show you how, using PromptDog, you can make a small modification to this formula to script "how-to" style content that is perfect for YouTube.
See you there!
Author: Gary Elley