Hey Folks,
This is Taylor from Taylor Edwards content; we are a video production company based in Perth, Western Australia and have a lot of experience making video content across many different industries such as mining, agriculture, civil construction, education, tech and the arts.
Throughout our time working with all of these industries, we have often had to help write the content we produce, and from that, we have learnt that the basic structure for this content usually follows one of a few formulas.
So we are giving away all of our secrets! Well, maybe not all of them, but definitely a few of our more useful ones. So for those wondering how to write a corporate video script, below is a list of basic templates that will tell you what each video needs to cover and give you a giant head start.
Keep in mind that these templates will work for most companies, but everyone is different. Some things may not be relevant due to how you operate your business. feel free to chop, change and swap around when needed.
1) Company overview videos
A video that normally goes on the front page of your website or plays in your office’s reception. It’s designed to give new visitors a general idea of who you are, what you do, how, why and where you do it. Usually, it is either done with a voice-over to a script or interviews with staff.
- Company History, background, locations.
- What problems does the company solve? & how?
- Who does it solve it for?
- What makes you different from your competition?
- Tell us about the values & culture. (show some diversity, age, gender, race, position, locations).
- End with your slogan / Mission statement.
Keep in mind; it’s best to make these points flow together as best as possible; if you’re using a voice-over, add connection statements in-between. If you are doing interviews, make sure you bunch up connected areas as best you can and use connected sentences to have them flow together.. The order and particular focus isn’t overly important its should be determined by what you want your audience to get out of it, is it mainly about the people, the work, the history etc.
Here are a couple of great examples
2) Case studies / Testimonial videos
A video that presents a client your product or service and shows how it impacted their life, company efficiency etc. this is usually done in an interview format with overlayed footage, but that’s not always the case.
- Introduction to the interviewee (this can sometimes just be a super graphic).
- What problem did they have
- How they heard about the solution.
- What are the results of using the solution?
- Speak of the particular benefits of the solution.
- Have them recommend the solution to others.
This structure can often resemble a demonstration video but should be played out with a more personal/genuine voice; this is why they are most often done in an interview style. The idea of interviewing a customer and writing a script for them may seem like an oxymoron, but its more that we recommend that you structure your interview questions in a way that will give you the information you want so you don’t just ask a bunch of questions and hope for the best.
It might help to give the person you are interviewing a few dot points of the type of answers you are looking for. This is especially useful for internal interviews. It’s also important to remember that you are not limited to clients; you can also get case studies and testimonials from staff and also businesses that you partner with.
Here are a couple of great examples
3) Demonstration videos
A brief video that demonstrates products, ideas and or services in action.
- Introduce your product or service feature.
- Explain what the key thing it does / what problems it solves.
- Explain why / how it works.
- Point out any extra features.
- End with a call to action.
You start by presenting the problem but then focus more on what makes your solution different and how it works. Sometimes, these types of videos will try to show off many features; other times, they will focus on one.
with the above example from Cividrone, it technically does all of the things needed but my big criticism is it really needs a solid voice over to explain the advantages of the product.
4) Promotional videos
This is a basic template for promotional videos, for those looking to make an announcement that stands out on your viewer’s timeline.
- Start with a short introduction. (to your company, product, offer or service).
- Deliver your key message. (what are you offering, who is it for, etc.).
- Give any extra but necessary details.
- End with a call to action or slogan.
The elements of these often line up similar to a demonstration video on paper (so go back up and reread our notes on that one) but in terms of video style, most companies will go with more creative methods here. think of a phone commercial, they show off the product being used by cool, relatable and or attractive people in familiar environments to the key demographic. they will give details about new features and usually end on a call to action, slogan and or info of a local distributors who will sell the product to you.
These days most advertisements will do their best to avoid sounding / seeming too salesy. They want to appear casual and genuine. It’s not “We want you to buy this product/use this service”. It’s “you want to buy it / use it”, it will make your life easier, better, cooler.
Here are a couple of great examples
If you are trying to target a very specific market, there is often more power in focusing on a feature that solves one big problem for that demographic.
In this car promotional video, the key message is in the chaos; it is to raise a child and keep that child safe; you need a car that’s going to look after you the way you look after your child.
5) Come work for us videos
A video designed to help in the recruitment of employee’s
- A brief company introduction (History, background, locations).
- What problems does the company solve – (If that is a big question, focus on the area where you are trying to attract staff).
- Meet the Managers – (This is where the leadership tells us about the company values & and the type of staff they employ).
- Meet the staff – (Show some diversity in age, race, position, location). Tell us what kind of work they do, how long they have worked with you, a little bit about their history with the company, the investments the company has made in them, what work is like, what it is like working with their fellow staff and then also what it is like dealing with management and then more about the values and culture.
- End with a call to action.
Generally, when trying to convince people to work for you, it’s best to focus on a few things. The people that have worked there for a long time, and how they feel about the company, Why they have chosen to work for you for that long, the investments the company has made in the staff, the culture and community of the company and any extra benefits the staff gets. It’s also a good idea for management to talk about the type of staff they like to employ. But we suggest that this be less of the focus. You want your viewer to want to work for you, not feel like they might not be qualified to work for you.
It’s also important to interview more people than you think you need and often ask them the same questions; there are a few reasons why. Firstly, some people may not give great answers, and you want the option to cut them out if needed. But also, people might leave the company, and if it’s a significant person, you may want to swap their sections out at a later date with another interview.
Bonus questions for the staff, these can help add levity to the video but also push the culture.
- How did you first hear about (your company name)
- What was it like on your first day or first week?
- What was it like joining (the company)
- How did (the company) help you adapt to your new working environment?
- Who is (company name), what does it care about?
- What have you learned in your time at (the company)?
- What has been your favourite part of your job?
- What has been the most rewarding part of your job?
Here are a couple of great examples
6) Announcement / update videos
A video designed to update your customers about things you are about to start doing or things that are already in the process of happening.
The perspective of how you write this video depends on where you are in your project; either you are about to start the project, or you have already started it, we will give options for each.
- Talk about the current state of the thing you are talking about or the previous state if you have already started to make changes (this can also bring up a problem you intend to solve).
- Talk about the changes that have been made or will be made in an attempt to solve the problem. (also why and how they are beneficial).
- Talk about what things are like since implementing the changes or what you hope they will be like once they are implemented.
- Thank your viewers for following you along the journey, or ask people to continue to follow you as you move forward with it.
If you have many items to talk about in your announcement/update, you can repeat the structure again and again in an order that makes sense to you. in this case, we also recommend that you find interesting ways to break up / hide the structure. This could be soundbites from interviews, impressive stats from the project or perhaps a reminder of why the project is important. You may also feel the need to skip talking about how things were previously, especially if you are doing updates regularly, this is usually okay, but we don’t recommend it if this is your first official announcement as it lends credibility to the need for your project.
Here are a couple of great examples
Questions you should ask yourself when planning your video script.
1) What is your key message?
You aren’t making a Terrence Malick film. Your key message should be simple to understand and obvious to your viewer, not at all left open to interpretation; it should be the thing that all of your statements/interviews/arguments made should provide evidence towards. Our product will solve “this problem”, our company is one you want to work for, this service will make doing your job easier etc.
If you feel you have lots of key messages that you need to get across, you may want to consider splitting up your video into multiple smaller videos. This will help to avoid audience/customer confusion and will also help to keep their attention.
2a) Who is your ideal viewer?
Depending on the nature of the video, you might need to think about age, position, income level, gender, parental status, and then what are there big life and career concerns etc. it’s important to know who the target of your videos is because that should inform you on the type of language you use, what information you need to give them, and how you deliver that message.
2b) What do they need to know?
If you are making a video about a new shopping centre construction project, you likely wouldn’t bring up the same talking points or even use the same language if the video is targeted at the general public who live in the area vs targeting engineers who might want to work on it, The general public likely doesn’t need to know the type of training that is required to construct the centre, and in the same way, engineers probably don’t need to know what shops will be inside it once it’s finished. It’s about streamlining your content for who is viewing it.
2c) What do they already know?
Knowing what they know is important because it means you can skip/skim a lot of information that would normally slow down the pacing of your videos and often bore your audience. For example, if you are making a video for existing clients, you likely don’t need to explain who your company is and what you do, but you can focus more on the new product, offering, update, etc.
3) How can you add diversity to the voice of your video?
This isn’t about ticking any boxes; it’s about maximising the appeal of your videos to as many different types of audiences as possible; we find the biggest factors in this are age, gender and position. If you are doing a video about an ongoing construction project of a new shopping centre, yes, let’s talk to the project lead, but perhaps let’s also talk to the young builders working on the construction, let’s also talk to the business owners who are going to have a presence in the store, perhaps let’s talk to some local mums about how the new centre will effect there life and what they hope to see in it.
It’s not likely all of these interviews will lead to useful material , but there are certainly many approaches to telling your story and they all appeal to different types of viewers for different marketing purposes, and you should consider them all.
It’s not always an easy task, but having a template like this makes it a lot easier if you know your subject area. but I’m certain your particular project will come with its own set of challenges and nuances, so I hope this post has given you the foundation you needed to start writing your next video project. If you are still struggling, feel free to get in contact with us, we are always happy to answer questions, give advice, we are obviously also happy to help you film it as well, we take work mostly in WA but do some interstate work when required.