14 May 2018

How Do You Tell Your Brand Story Using Video?

Contrary to the popular belief that, Singaporean B2B marketing stories are mostly full of fluff, non-important information and are illegitimate marketing, the real picture couldn’t be farther from the truth. Some may think that the stories created by production companies in Singapore are filled with fluff but, in fact, they are far from it. B2B marketing stories are what you can call the ultimate fluff-busters. They are the first thing that attracts us about the company’s marketing. The stories that get narrated add a sense of meaning to our lives. They help us build strong bonds and empathize with others. This is precisely why it is important to know, how to tell your brand story the right way.

What makes an effective Story?

Let’s look at what an impactful brand story looks like. Here’s what your story should include:

Problems

Is your story problem-based? You will want to connect with your target audience in a compelling way. To do this, you need to relate back to certain things that they care about the most. The key factor in coming up with a great brand story is that it needs to be driven by the desire to come up with solutions for a particular problem that your audience is struggling with.

Uniqueness

Brand marketing stories are a dime a dozen, and so are the production companies in Singapore. Unless your story has a unique message, it’s not going to withstand the competition. You cannot hold anyone else responsible if the results are unsatisfactory. Your story needs to be representative of who you are as a company. It should use different storytelling techniques, a unique theme, and a different angle.

Emotions

Hitting the chord with your target audience is what you should be aiming for. Little do we realize, most of our purchasing decisions are driven by emotions, which is exactly what we should target. The brand story needs to have a strong emotional attachment toward the audience in order for them to have a relatable association with you.

Honesty

The world around you is hyper-aware. Nowadays, you certainly can’t fool the audience by showing them a larger than life picture. They are bound to find out the truth sooner or later. Instead, embrace honesty; in fact, you should be flaunting it. Have the courage to represent your brand just the way it is rather than playing to the imagined strengths. State what your brand is actually capable of delivering, what it promises, and leave the rest to your audience to decide.

6 Steps that can help your brand story

Dig in deeper to reach the core of your purpose

The best thing to do is, to begin with, the “why.” Why is it that, you do what you do? Next, move on to “what?” What is it, that drives your brand? Which are the most important values to you?

This is what the production house needs to do. Gather as many employees as possible into the conference room, and ask them to write down what our brand means to them. You can help spark conversation by asking them one or more of the questions mentioned below.

  • If our brand were personified, how would you describe it?
  • Which values are the most important to you?
  • What makes our business stand apart from the rest of the crowd?

 

Once completed, ask everyone to explain what they have written and why. Keep a note of the recurring answers or the common themes that can be helpful for the production house. Allow everyone a chance to talk while responding to each of their answers so the session is more interactive and everyone feels heard.

Look for Sounds and Visuals that represent your brand

When working on the brand video, produced by your production house, it’s vital that you use every tool you have to tell your story. This may include editing, colors, voiceover, music, etc. Using sounds and visuals that reflect your brand’s personality is the perfect way to connect with your audience.

This is what you need to do. Gather an entire collection of audio and visuals, which remind you of your brand. These could include:

  • Locations
  • Colors
  • Voices
  • Music

 

And just about anything you want. You should be looking at values you have identified in step one and how the production house can present them using a medium, other than words. The colors and music you pick reflect the emotions you are trying to convey. These are fundamental in storytelling and can go a long way in building your foundations.

Show the brand story instead of simply narrating it

What does this exactly mean? We don’t want you to get stuck in a verbal narrative like you’re preparing for some blog post. No! These are stories that Singapore advertising photographers need to show through their pictures and videos. This means, rather than telling people how they should be feeling, trigger the feelings in them through your story. Let them resonate with who you are as a brand, instead of simply telling them about your brand.

The rule of thumb, especially when dealing with commercial production in Singapore is not to focus on you. The story needs to be audience-centric, something they can relate to. Here’s something you can do.

Pick a person from your target audience and ask them about a specific problem they are struggling with. Now think how you can offer a solution and how your values can provide a solution. Next, you need to take a moment to try and experience how the person might feel and then come up with a perfect solution that can fix their problem. This is how you hone your empathizing skills and, as a result, come up with a great brand story.

Be Creative and check if you pass the logo test

When it comes to commercial production in Singapore, how you get the story across to your audience is what determines how successful your brand turns out to be. This is where the Singapore advertising photographers should break free of all preconceptions and get as creative as possible. Come up with something worthwhile to talk about.

This is what you should do: Brainstorm about how you would like to convey the right emotion. If you are struggling for ideas, consider these:

  • Interactive video
  • A video documentary
  • A spoof or a homage
  • A narrative story with fictional characters

 

Also, don’t forget to run the logo test. If necessary, don’t hesitate to go back to the drawing board and come up with more ideas.

Put it all in a script

The only thing left to do now is to come up with a script encapsulating the brand story as well as the creative ideas you have picked. Remember to show your story through sound and visuals, not just words.