Celebrity cameo? A catchy tune? Special effects?
Even if you could spend the money to make it memorable, would it be persuasive?
How can you stick to your message, keep it simple, and still make a memorable and effective video?
Heart, Mind, and Everything else
The human mind has 4 decision centers: the Brain, Heart, Imagination and Gut. Every time you engage two decision centers simultaneously, your message becomes 10x more powerful.
All four, and it is orders-of-magnitude more powerful!
Most enterprise marketing videos however address only the Brain. The others are left to chance. What a missed opportunity!
Go beyond their Brain. We show you how to systematically address their Heart, Imagination and Gut.
Offer their Heart a Banquet of Emotions
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
- Maya Angelou
Whether you are targeting enterprises or consumers, your audience is human. Humans with dreams, fears, and emotions. So, appeal to their emotions and win their hearts to build long-term relationships.
A common mistake is to make the message very positive all thru, from start to finish. I know, of course, you have to leave them excited, but it’s like this…
A dessert has to be sweet, but a uniformly sweet dessert would be quite boring. A good dessert tempers the sweet with the tart of lemon, or the bitterness of chocolate. Similarly, a good video ends on an emotional high, but tempers the excitement and positivity with contrasting emotions.
Using emotions to touch hearts makes your video messaging 10X more powerful.
The way to their Heart is…thru the Gut!
The Gut (or intuition) rules human decisions.
What makes the gut so powerful? It is a pattern matching processor, very fast, but very low bandwidth. It makes snap decisions, overrides all arguments, but is easily overwhelmed by information overload.
Wouldn’t you want the gut to rule in your favor?
How?
Do not overload them with facts. Instead, emphasize examples, success stories or analogies. One example can be far more educational than a whole list of benefits.
Just tell them how you will solve their problem with your offering, and just enough of the product to get them excited. They will want to know more.
Advanced skill: Changing Minds
Of course, if you have an innovative concept, or are challenging existing beliefs, or breaking existing paradigms, their intuition or gut gets in your way.
Why? Intuition is a pattern matcher. A new paradigm does not fit. Unfortunately, more data and arguments do not help; remember, the gut is easily overwhelmed by information overload.
That is why it is so hard to change beliefs. And more data only digs them in harder!
So what is the way out? When we work with clients on new innovative concepts, we help simplify the message, leverage tools and techniques such as analogies (relate to what they already know), drama (which opens their mind to new information), and surprise (helps deploy additional cognitive resources).
Excite their Imagination
A good story does more than telling about a product or incident. It invites the audience to imagine greatness, transforms their mindset, inspires them to be more.
Acknowledge their goals, vision, and struggles. Not just at an abstract level, but make them vivid and real, and show the human impact of their work. Not just at an intellectual level, but bring out the emotions, the joys, frustrations, and satisfaction of accomplishing their goals (leveraging your offering, of course)!
Finally, build Credibility
Do you buy from brands you do not trust? Neither do your customers. That is why credibility is the most important attribute you need to exhibit through your videos.
Build credibility with evidence: customer outcomes, market leadership, or company history & growth. Again, less is more. Focus on the best evidence. A single rock is much stronger than a pile of bricks.
So tell a Story
Stories work because they address the heart (emotions), intuition (patterns), and imagination (the new happily-ever-after world). Complexity kills the sale, so keep it simple. Provide just enough data to support the story and build credibility. Weave a symphony of logic, emotions and imagination.
Connect to their goals and priorities, show how you can help them win, and they will want to know more.
No wonder Facts tell, Stories Sell!
Looking to build a great story video? Something that makes people not just learn about, but feel your product benefits? Leverage StoryProcess to tell great stories, engage & inspire your audience, and transform your business.
Your Product has a story to tell. Tell it well.