Guilty until proven innocent. That’s what it feels like as a business owner in today’s customer-centric ethos – you have to prove yourself to people before they trust you, much less buy your product or become an advocate. In fact, in a recent Salesforce study, 89% of customers said they are more loyal to companies they trust.
That trust is gained, in large part, by sharing your company’s core values through honest, unique, and impactful experiences – by way of brand storytelling.
In today’s landscape, however, brand storytelling isn’t just about you. It’s about understanding who your customer wants to become – what their hopes, fears, dreams and challenges are, and how they want to be perceived – then creating content to support that.
If they feel you have shared beliefs, aspirations or challenges, it starts to build a level of trust, and a feeling of “me too” emotional connection. That trust comes because we are hardwired to recognize ideas that reinforce what we already believe, and reject what we don’t.
What is a brand video?
Today’s consumer landscape has changed dramatically due to several key factors (COVID, the shift to online shopping, and the precipitous decline of brick and mortar), all of which need to be considered in how to approach brand story-based videos.
A report found that 68% of consumers say the pandemic has impacted the amount of video content they’ve watched online, with almost everyone (96%) saying this has increased. Meanwhile, brick and mortar retailers of varying sizes closed a record 12,200 stores in the U.S. in 2020, according to the commercial real estate firm CoStar Group, increasing online spending by 30%, compared to just 13% in 2019, according to Bazaarvoice.
72% of Millennials feel that it is important to buy from companies that reflect their values.
Second, there are 71 million Millennials in the U.S. today, and by 2025, they will represent 75% of the global workforce. This is important because their behaviors are vastly different than their baby boomer and Gen X counterparts — the majority of their purchases are made online, and these purchases are heavily driven by a connection to a brand’s core values.
So, how do you create a message that penetrates deeply, and shares your core values in such a way that moves people from cynic to, “I’ll give it a go!” and ultimately to become a loyal customer?
The short answer: storytelling through persuasive, honest and compelling brand videos.
5 ways to make a brand video that feels true to you (and to your audience!)
1. Harness Customer’s Enthusiasm
We often jump to what we want a customer to do without understanding what they are excited to do. And to persuade someone to believe what you as a brand believe, you have to understand your customer’s worldview, their hopes, dreams and fears.
So, ask yourself: what is your customer enthusiastic about? What are the things that drive their interests? Answering those questions allows you, as a brand, to close the gap between what you want and what they want; the vision of your brand and the ultimate vision your customer sees for themselves.
Blair Warren, author of The One Sentence Persuasion Course, says: “People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.” The key, then, is to tell stories that encourage people to believe you helped them accomplish one of those five things—making you invaluable.
2. Stand For Something
Social responsibility on behalf of brands has become far more important for consumers who now heavily scrutinize who they support, why, and where their paychecks go. In fact, according to a recent poll by Sprout Social, 70% of consumers believe that it is paramount for brands to take a stand on social and political issues. Once they trust you care, they care about you.
Here are a few brands standing up for what they believe:
Gillette
In We Believe: The Best Men Can Be, Gillette imagines a world without toxic masculinity (and went viral doing it).
Dove
Their multi-part story, The Crown Act, rallies against Black discrimination through legislation to celebrate natural hair.
Patagonia
Patagonia uses video to showcase their mission as environmentalists, staying true to their brand with every product and project they create. This Brand Spotlight video shows off their devotion to sustainability.
3. Use Authentic People As Influencers
Influencers can dramatically increase a brand’s visibility and exposure in new markets and new demographics. And, during the pandemic, influencers saw an increase in engagement on social media channels between 51-67%, further increasing their potential impact on a brand. Also, according to research done by Kantar, Facebook and Instagram saw an over 40% increase in usage from under-35-year-olds since the start of the pandemic.
But now brands need to consider a level of authenticity as a have-to-have, not a nice-to-have, especially by an audience trending younger. Combined with an uptick in consumer’s obsession with honesty, the most powerful influencers have become those who clearly and concretely represent a brand’s core values through their actions.
Here how brands are using influencers who represent their deeply held values, authentically:
Arc'Teryx
Outdoor clothing company Arc'Teryx weaves together a beautiful short film starring professional skiers and mothers Tessa Treadway and Izzy Lynch on a journey through their lives.
4. Take Risks To Stand Out
As a brand, it’s hard to stand out. On Instagram, for example, you’re one of 200 million brands, many of whom are likely your competitors. And with over one billion users on the platform, and countless more across places like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Clubhouse and other du jour apps diverting people’s attention, you need a strong lever to pull in order to stand out.
One of the most powerful levers is creating content that takes risks. By highlighting an edgier side of your brand personality, and by pushing the boundaries of what people are expecting to see from you, you have a higher likelihood of being noticed, and being remembered.
In fact, research suggests that stories are 22x more memorable than facts. So, think about your content being anything north of neutrality, and don’t be afraid to go to the edge of what your brand is comfortable with, experiment, and leverage the surprise factor to make your point.
Here are two examples of brands stepping out of the box to stand out:
Men's Health
Men’s Health takes a humorous approach in this Staff-Pick approved brand video. The bright yellow backdrop, playful animations, and helpful voice-over make this video instantly pop on screen.
Planters
Planters took a risk in one of the most controversial decisions their brand has ever made — killing Mr. Peanut. Love it or hate it, the brand put narrative storytelling first, even if it wasn't the most obvious move for a peanut company to make.
5. Lead Through Aspiration With Everyday Moments
Aspirations are what will motivate people, and challenges are what will help people learn and create personal breakthroughs. As a brand, motivating people also means showing people the path to create their own change. If you provide the path, the tools, the resources for breakthroughs, people will come back to you for more, over and over again. But a common mistake brands make in creating a brand video is that they showcase an experience that is so far out of reach for the everyday person that they end up alienating their audience rather than motivating, and inspiring them.
Today, with the focus on inclusion and DEI, inspiration comes in the form of aspiration—of highlighting everyday experiences that are achievable by the masses. It is less about pushing the limits of what’s possible, but rather building movements around universal truths that bond people through a shared human experience.
Here are three brands building a community of advocates by connecting people's aspirations, their motivations, and their mindsets.
Nike
At this point, the word "Nike" is synonymous with far more than sneakers — they're also known for just plain amazing video.
Oatly
"Difficult Age" flips a familiar script and turns this brand video for Oatly into something chuckle-worthy and delightful.
As you start to create your own brand video, remember, your primary job is to architect a story for people to believe in—one they can relate to and aspire to in the future. So, ask yourself: Can your products play a role in an experience your customer is having, or wants to have? How can you improve people’s lives in a real and measurable way? And what do you stand for that people can truly get behind?
By answering these questions, you will start to speak to your customers in a way that builds rapport, trust and a feeling of belonging with your brand—the key ingredients for becoming an essential ingredient in their lives.
Want more brand videos?
Why you need a brand video script
One of the most foundational elements of a powerful brand video is a script. By creating a solid script, it allows the production team to attach well-timed visuals to the appropriate places in the video. Those visuals, combined with the words, music and overall message are what allow for the viewer to become emotionally connected to the brand. Here are 4 tips for creating a compelling brand video script
- Know who you’re speaking to, and create a script using their hopes, dreams, fears and challenges. Interviewing several people within your target audience, and utilizing the actual words they use is the key.
- Know the overall goal of the brand video so that you can continually refer back to it to make sure the script is supportive of that initiative.
- Keep the language simple, and don’t use overly flowery or confusing terms. Eliminate any jargon or trendy language to make your brand video timeless.
- Leave room for no words where people are free to see, listen to music, and use their imagination.
(Bonus tip: Read your script aloud and make sure it sounds like “you,” not someone you’re trying to be.)
Try these brand video templates
Creating a brand video from scratch can be intimidating, so we created a series of templates to help take the guesswork out of the process, and help you create a video to support your business—in a matter of minutes. Here are a few of our favorite Vimeo Create templates:
Share your About Us story
Show off your company values
Try a testimonial
Make onboarding easy
Use an aerial view
Make your video mission-driven
Encourage people to write a review
How to make your brand video stand out from the competition
In today’s video-centric media landscape, standing out is a constant challenge. Aside from the techniques we’ve mentioned above, here are 4 tips to help your brand video stand out, and stand the test of time.
- Incorporate user generated content (UGC) into your brand video. GoPro is notorious for capturing content created by their community and highlighting it in their own branded videos.
- Create great video customer testimonials. 2 out of 3 people say they’d be more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how a business, product or service had helped another person like them.
- Create an emotional connection to create an action in your audience. As you write your script, think about the emotions you want to elicit, and what actions you want the audience to take. The deeper the emotional connection, the more trust and rapport you will build.
- Start with the bleeding. In other words, you have 5-7 seconds to capture people’s attention, so kick off the video with an evocative idea to become memorable.
In today’s video-centric media landscape, standing out is a constant challenge. Use these tips to help your brand video stand out and stand the test of time.
