Businesses in any industry can benefit from explainer videos, which are a tool to help tell the story of your brand or product. When it comes to scriptwriting, you need to focus on offering a clear narrative that will captivate your audience from start to finish. Keep reading to discover how to write an explainer video script to drive success for your brand this year.
What is Your Story?
Before you can begin writing your script, you need to take the time to figure out what the story you are aiming to tell is. So many explainer videos have an unclear narrative and don’t get to the point of the video quickly enough. When your story rambles on aimlessly, you’ll find that viewers are far more likely to close your video or move to another company. Explainer videos generally fall into two categories: process overview or problem-solving. Problem-solving positions your company as the solution to any type of issue, making the customer know that they must buy your product or service in order to resolve this problem in their life. Process overview videos are a good option if you are trying to share what your product or service does.
When it comes to writing your script, make sure you are very straightforward in your writing. Think about what questions your viewer may have, and ensure you answer these with your scriptwriting. You need to add value to your viewers’ lives with your story, so make sure there is something for them to take away after viewing your content. Keep your story in mind throughout the creation process so you never find yourself getting off track.
Simplify Your Story
Once you have the basis of your story in mind, try to simplify this storyline further. No matter what industry you are operating in or how educated your consumers are, you need to be able to share your concept quickly and efficiently. Try to write your script out with just five sentences and use short sentences as if you were chatting to a friend. Even adults are looking for short and simple explainer videos, so don’t overcomplicate your content to impress your target audience.
Focus on the Viewer
Your viewer is the most important person to keep in mind throughout the scriptwriting process. Focus on speaking to them directly throughout the explainer video, which means you should write in the second person. Use language that reflects your audience, which could be academic or casual. Even in more academic explainer videos, we still encourage you to avoid overcomplicated terms, as not everyone may be familiar with these.
Bring Emotion into Your Video
Your explainer video should aim to make your viewers feel a certain way. You might want to leave them laughing, or you could strive to make them feel excited about your offerings. No matter what type of story you are hoping to tell, choose language and the tone of voice based on these emotions. You should already have a brand voice in mind for your company, so make sure this is consistent throughout any content you put out into the world.
The Length of Your Explainer Video
There’s nothing worse than an explainer video that goes on far too long. You should aim for your script to be between 30 seconds and three minutes, or you risk losing the attention of your viewer. Aim for 130 to 150 words per minute, and practice your script aloud to ensure you aren’t being too ambitious. Aim for a slow and steady pace, as you want your audience to catch every word you are saying.
Optimize Your Script for Voice Over Artists
Once your scriptwriting work is completed, it’s time to optimize your script for recording. Try to avoid complex words, which may slow down the flow of the voiceover. Make sure you test your script out loud to see how easy it is to follow. You don’t want any awkward phrases that will sound unnatural when spoken for your video.
Don’t Explain What You Can Show
When reviewing your script, make sure you focus on only saying things that can’t be shown by animation or graphics. Visuals will stay in the minds of your audience for longer than your script will so cut back the number of words you say where possible. This is one of the key benefits of this type of video. People today don’t have the time or energy to watch a long video. Keep things short and snappy with the help of your visual tools to make your video as effective as possible.
Final Testing
The final stage of the process of writing an explainer video script is to test it before you record your script and put everything together. You can do this with a trusted colleague, or you might even want to recruit current customers for this job. Listen to their feedback and make adjustments as needed to get the perfect script. It’s going to take a lot of trial and error to get where you want to be with your explainer video, so don’t expect this to happen overnight. You’ll then be ready to go ahead and create your explainer video so that you can attract more customers to your business this year.
As you can see, there are a lot of elements that go into writing the perfect explainer video script. We encourage you to take your time perfecting your script before handing it over to a voice over artist for recording. Try to lean on visual elements as much as possible, as these usually stick in the minds of your audience long after they’ve watched the video. It is so important to incorporate a great video design and this begins with the script so make sure that you can translate this script into killer visuals. While you might think that you need to offer your viewer lots of information in your explainer video, try to focus on only the key details. By avoiding overwhelming your audience, they’ll be more likely to watch until the end of the video and then be converted into paying customers for your brand.
Need help with writing your script or don’t have the time to write it yourself? Our expert copywriters at Real Good Videos have been known to come up with scripts that are destined to make brands stand out, convert faster and make things super clear, super fast. Get in touch with us today to learn more!
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