Lessons from the front lines of corporate video scripting services 
 
We’ve been creating a ton of videos for our clients recently. And when we say “we,” we mean a team. As providers of corporate video script writing services, we’ll gather the client input and pen the script itself. Then we’ll work with/direct a number of other people, including internal resources at our clients who know how to edit video, external/freelance video editors, animators, and, as you might expect from the title of this article, voiceover artists. 
 
In fact, it’s hard to think of a video we’ve done in the last year that hasn’t utilized a professional voiceover. 
 
With all this practice, comes experience, and lessons learned we can pass along to you. 
 
Steps for creating a corporate video
 
Unfortunately since the pandemic, we haven’t been sending out camera crews to do shoots. (Although we look forward to the day in the not-too-distant future when we can hopefully resume that practice, a lot.) This means that on-camera talking heads are limited, pragmatically, to captured Zoom call footage or other webcam input. It’s not the highest-quality video. 
 
Stock footage, on the other hand, is. 
 
So we’re using lots of stock footage to elevate the production value of the videos we help produce. That will be combined, typically, with on-screen demos of our clients’ latest offerings. There will be titles and motion graphics and animation and music, but the real thing holding it together is that voiceover. 
 
So let’s dive into what makes a good one, how you can get one, and, best of all, how you can basically get more than your money’s worth from your next one. 
 
How to script a corporate video
 
The voiceover is really the “backbone” of your script. It’s what ties all the visuals together. The music helps to set the tone and pick up the pace. 
 
Quick note, quite literally: We’ve found, thanks to our clients’ diligent research into YouTube metrics, that most viewers will stop viewing a corporate video right around the two-minute mark. So that’s been our guideline for scripting limits. 
 
Here’s another convention we’ve discovered. Many of the two-minute corporate marketing videos we help to create follow a basic three-act structure: 

1. The problem. 
2. The solution. 
3. The call-to-action or CTA.

 
All of this affects the voiceover, including the way you script it, the announcer you hire, the way you direct it, and the way they read it. 
 
This is a gross oversimplification, but it goes something like this: 

• The problem. This is the “before snapshot” of the relatable situation you’re depicting for the target audience. “How many times has this happened to you?” or “Is your enterprise struggling daily with this insurmountable issue?” Here, the script—and the voiceover, and even the music—should convey the soul-sucking/stress-inducing/budget-busting  situation that your target audience is currently enduring. The worse you make it sound, the better. Not only will it be more dramatic, but it will make your soon-to-be-unveiled solution all the more impressive, by contrast. 

 

• The solution. This is the “Imagine you could...” moment. Typically, the music will kick into high gear; so will the announcer. This is the whiz-bang portion of the video, in which the seemingly insurmountable problems of Act I are miraculously solved, thanks to your client’s offering. If you (hopefully) have numerous sell-points to reveal, line them up from simplest to sexiest. You want to keep building and building, with the solution continually looking better and better, as you go. By this point, the audience is breathlessly asking, “How can I get my hands on this?!” To which you helpfully offer them... 

 

• The call to action. This is the simple “Book your complimentary consultation” or “View our screen demo” or “Sign up for your free download,” or whatever. It’s got to be quick, simple, easy, and compelling. And it should feel like the logical conclusion of the video. It is, quite literally, the last word. 

 
Casting, booking, directing
 
We’ve been using tons of talent from Fivver lately. We’ve been getting great talent at great prices. 
 
Not easily, mind you. You really need to listen to the demos and read the reviews and scour all the fine-print for what-they-charge-for-which. But once you assemble a stable of good talent, you’re off to the races. 
 
Some quick tips: 

• Include direction. You can put it directly in the script, and/or in your cover-note instructions to the voiceover artist. Be as specific as possible, e.g., “We’d like you to do this read in a similar voice to your Toyota sample, but with about 20 percent more energy. The product we’re going to reveal at the mid-point of the script is the first of its kind ever on earth! Corporate execs will be amazed when they see this, so be sure to convey that level of enthusiasm.” 

 

• Spell it out. Never assume the artist knows the pronunciation of acronyms you take for granted. Spell them out. For example, we recently mentioned FIS and scripted it like this: FIS [“F-I-S”]. That’s so they don’t say “Fiss.” 
  
  There are other words you’ll need to spell out. Is the word “read” pronounced “reed” or “red”? Let the announcer know. 

 

• Don’t be shy. If the announcer flubs a line, get a retake. Similarly, if you find out, the hard way, that you’ve got a flub in your script which the announcer followed (correctly and professionally) “out the window,” politely ask for a recut—acknowledging that you’ll need to pay for that one. Sometimes, being nice—especially with an artist you give a lot of work to—can end up getting you a favor. If you get one, show your gratitude! Life happens. We’re all human. 

 
How to save money on video voiceovers and production
 
We’re often getting two-minute Fivver reads for under $100, so we’re hardly complaining. That said, reworks require time and money. And here’s the important thing to bear in mind: 
 
It’s easier to cut than to add.
 
That should be your mantra. If that video needs to time out at two minutes, but the script feels like it might come in at 2:15, record it as-is. Because, with any good, professional voiceover, it’s pretty easy to edit out, in video, passages that you no longer need. This is fast and easy and gives you a safety net. We’ll often create a “red ink” version of a script, for our editor, after the V.O. is recorded, with cut-able passages called out in color, like this: 
 
Now we’ll enter the account number—the one we got from the spreadsheet we just created.
 
See (or rather, “hear”) the natural pause at the em-dash? That’s an easy and “invisble” break. So we’ll simply rely on the editor’s discretion to bring the project in on-time, letting them choose the “red-ink passages” they need to cut. 
 
And if you want a separate, longer version? It’s already in the can. And paid for. 
 
Get help with corporate video scripting and production
 
We know about this stuff because we help our clients with it all the time. And they’re making a lot of money off of these videos. Everyone wins. 
 
You can, too. Contact us today to learn more and get started!

If you’re a consultant who wants to grow your business, there are certainly lots of options at your disposal. Some are complicated; some are simple. Some are pricey; some are free. 
 
If you’ve read any of our previous articles, you’ll know that we’re big fans of “simple” and “free.”
 
That’s the topic of this article: How to boost your consulting business, in one of the simplest, and least expensive means possible. 
 
First, let’s lay down some assumptions. 
 
Techniques for boosting your consulting business
 
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume that: 

• You run a boutique consultancy or similar professional-services company.

 

• You’re incredibly good at what you do. 

 

• You have an existing stable of clients. 

 

• You want to pick up new business. 

 
Pretty safe, right? 
 
Now in terms of how-low-the-fruit-is-hanging, you need to factor in another, and more universal, set of assumptions: 

• The hardest prospects to win are brand-new clients. 

 

• The hardest thing to offer them is brand-new services. 

 
See where this is going...? 
 
At the other end of this spectrum, you’ll see—you’ll know—that: 

• The easiest prospects to win are existing clients, whom you can cross-sell, or (even easier) up-sell. 

 

• The easiest thing to offer them is existing services of yours. No new inventions. 

 
So far, so logical. Right? 
 
Let’s continue this exploration. It’s easy. It’s fun. 
 
On the media side of things, it doesn’t take much brainpower to realize that: 

• An all-new website or video requires a lot of work. 

 

• They also cost a lot of money. (And take a lot of time to create.) 

 
So what’s on the other end of this spectrum? What is, well, free?

• Phone calls. 

 

• Email. 

 
Hmmm. 
 
Putting all this together, we’ve arrived at a very simple, and cost-free solution: 

• You want to call or email your existing clients to cross-sell or up-sell them.

 
Okay. That’s a great start. It’s also not rocket science. Why this article? 
 
(And no, it’s not just to see “how many bullet points we could cram into a single blog.”) 
 
First off, we can narrow down the above solution. Let’s nix the phoning. That’s hard for you; worse, it’s intrusive for your existing clients. 
 
So we’re back to email. Free. Easy. Minimally invasive, as a surgeon would say. 
 
But how do you make this work?
 
The soft touch
 
We should lump in with “existing clients” another group: “recent clients.” Those are ones that are at risk of going cold. Indeed, they’re the prime target of what we’re about to suggest. 
 
And what we’re about to suggest couldn’t be simpler: 
 
Send them an email. But it’s not that simple, of course. (Otherwise, this would be a one-sentence article.) 
 
In any direct-response campaign (and that’s effectively what this is), there are three primary factors: 
 
1) The quality of the list. 
 
2) The quality of the offer. 
 
3) The quality of the outreach/vehicle itself. 
 
In this exercise, you’ve already got 1) completed. That’s your list of prospects who need to keep you top-of-mind.
 
That’s an important assumption here. They may have other options besides turning to you, including that most insidious of options: attempting to do it themselves. Makes you shudder, doesn’t it? 
 
So you want your name to be top-of-mind with them, so that when the time comes, they naturally think of you. 
 
This gets to what would be the fourth item on the list above: Timing. 
 
All of this is starting to coalesce now. 
 
Ask yourself: What’s a good interval for them to be reminded that you’re available? We like to use extremes to help find the middle ground. Example: Should you email them every single day? Of course not. Conversely, should you email them once a year? Of course not. 
 
Monthly. That’s good. It’s a nice frequency. 
 
So you now have the list. And you have the timing. All that remains—and this is not to diminish it, because it’s arguably the most important part—is the offer and the way you present it. 
 
Here’s what we suggest. Unlike typical advertising or direct response, this one is very soft. Very subtle. And as un-obtrusive as possible. 
 
That’s because you don’t know what that prospect needs (if anything) at that given moment. Nor do you know the timing for what they may need in the future. You simply need to stay on their radar. 
 
So that’s, basically, the content of your email. Send it out on the first business day of the month. And say something like “Happy August! Here’s hoping this finds you well. Should you need our services this month, simply write back. We’d be happy to help.” We like to add, as a postscript, a link to our latest blog article that would be helpful for them. 
 
And that’s it. 
 
Send it out. Each month. Don’t expect a flood of replies—or any—for any given month. This is what’s known as a “drip campaign.” 
 
Since these are people you’ve served recently, you’re allowed to email them. If they want to opt out, they can. And whenever you speak to new prospects, and they seem to be on the fence or giving you the “Not now,” simply ask them: “Hey. Mind if we add you to our monthly check-in list? It’s just a little email that says ‘Happy August,’ or whatever. You don’t even have to reply. It’s just so that we stay top-of-mind for you.” Ninety-five percent of the time, they’ll say, “Sure.” 
 
Building your business by email
 
And here’s the thing. These things work. We know. We use them. And you shouldn’t be shocked to learn that we’ll often get a reply to, say, a “Happy January” note... in May. Happens all the time. These prospects are jammed. But they remember those monthly check-in’s. So they grab whichever one they can find, click “Reply,” and bang. You’ve got new business. 
 
Mind you, this is only one tiny prong of a multi-pronged outreach approach. But it’s a good one. 
 
Need help promoting and growing your business? Contact us. We’d love to help you, just as we help so many others.