Five Tips for Writing Great Video Scripts

Videos are KEY pieces of marketing strategy today. Social media users prefer video over images and text, which is evident when you check your analytics and insights (and it has also been proven by multiple studies).

Developing your video doesn’t have to be hard work. We have tips on how to develop a whole selection of topics for your marketing videos.

In this part of our video marketing series, we are discussing video scripts for those of you who are desiring the most polished option for your video recording.

Penning the perfect script for your marketing video isn’t something that just happens overnight. Whether it’s a script for a corporate or non-profit presentation, a television news segment, or something else entirely, you need to plan and organize if you want a successful blueprint for your next video.

If you’ve been tasked with writing a video script, don’t panic — taking a methodical and thoughtful approach will steer you in the right direction. Whether you’re an old pro or a complete newbie, here are five excellent tips to keep in mind while you’re writing that all-important video script.

Create an Initial Video Outline

Videos tell stories. This means your script needs to as well. The best way to plan out a story is to create a framework or outline you can use as a reference for the story you want to tell. You’ll need, at the very least, a rough chronology of what’s going to happen in the video — beginning, middle, and end — and an overall theme.

The rest of the framework doesn’t have to be extensive, but it does need to tick some important boxes. You need to define the purpose of the video, the intended audience, what you want your audience to take away from the video, and what strategies you’re going to use to get your intended message across.

Use Conversational Language

While you need to ensure you use language appropriate for your audience, you also need to ensure that your video uses conversational language. Remember: this content isn’t going to be presented on the printed page but spoken aloud. This means that you need to conceptualize your dialogue with a relatable, conversational tone.

You’re telling a story, and that story has to be engaging. You need to forge a connection with your viewers, and using stiff or overly technical content is just going to bore or alienate your audience. A warm and personable approach is the best bet for ensuring your content is relatable.

Embrace Visual Storytelling

There’s an old writer’s adage: show, don’t tell. When you’re working in a visual storytelling format like video, this adage is doubly important. As a result, it’s more than a good idea to keep the visual elements you’re using in mind while writing your script.

If you’re working on a screencast, for example, make sure your script matches the action on the screen. If you’re highlighting or circling content of some kind, tell the audience you’re doing so. Does it sound like a no-brainer? Maybe, but you’ll be surprised how many people miss the mark.

Read It Out Loud

Writing a script involves countless time spent reading and re-reading your content to ensure that it’s hitting the right notes you’re looking for. However, you have to go further than just reading it in your head — you’ve got to read out loud.

Listen to how the words sound when spoken aloud. When something you’ve read in your head looks great but sounds awkward when said out loud, it’s a clue that you’ve got to change it. This goes back to our earlier point about using a conversational tone.

Follow the KISS Rule

You’re only going to have a few minutes at most to keep your audience engaged, so follow the KISS Rule — Keep It Short and Simple. Pare down on unnecessary words, get to the point in a timely manner, and don’t get bogged down in overly complex issues if you want to retain the attention of your viewers.

This is going to involve leaving quite a bit of your script on the cutting room floor. Remember, you’re telling a story — and stories need to be paced correctly and end well. Only then will you succeed in your goal of creating a video with impact!

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