business video production
How to write a corporate video script
Jon Draper - CREATIVE DIRECTOR
AI Script Writer
Expert Tips On How To Write A Corporate Video Script
The use of video marketing continues to rise, with more companies seeing the benefits and investing in corporate video production than ever before. The high rate of return on investment has helped cement this continued growth and the expected quality of content and effectiveness is more elevated than ever. So how do you write a corporate video script that will stand out from the crowd, be seen, heard and help boost lead generation, sales and brand awareness?
While great visuals and audio are effective in grabbing audiences attention, it is the scriptwriting and overall narrative that is key to delivering business goals effectively. Critical to every excellent corporate business video is an engaging, informative, succinct and often entertaining script.
So, how do you write a corporate video script that delivers?
With over 18 years of experience working on corporate video productions, scriptwriting, storyboarding and creative directing. Our UK animation studio, Creative Director, shares his own 10 top tips.
Stormy Studio, have produced a wide range of quality animated (and filmed) corporate video productions for local SME's, nationwide companies and Global corporate organisations. With great success ensuring every client sees fantastic results on their investment.
If on further reflection you decide that more assistance with your corporate video scriptwriting is needed, please do get in touch with our studio. Hopefully, you find the below tips on how to write a corporate video script useful.
Let's start with what is, hopefully, a simple question.
"Let's start with what is, hopefully, a simple question. What are your goals for your corporate video production?"
1. Decide on your goals for the corporate video production?
On your own or with your team, quickly confirm what the leading goals are for your video, plus any secondary targets.
- Is it to drive traffic to your website?
- Explain a product or service?
- Raise your companies brand image?
- Generate leads/enquiries?
- Directly create sales?
- Spark conversation?
- Lower customer service calls?
- Change the viewers understanding or action?
- Improve safety?
- Educate?
- Entertain?
- Is it for internal or external use?
- Or another goal entirely?
2. Corporate Video Script Length?
A critical decision for every corporate video script is the target length. The wealth of information you plan to convey on a subject needs to balance with the attention span of your audience.
Typically online explainer videos, looking to sell a product or service are most effective when lasting between 45 seconds and 150 seconds.
If your content is a walkthrough of a piece of software or product, you can go longer as the audience is there to learn.
The first 10 to 20 seconds is arguably the most crucial section of any corporate video script. As that is when a viewer decides whether to keep watching or go elsewhere. So aim to make an impact with your audience in this time and make sure your script delivers a brief overview of your product or service. So if they choose to leave, they are informed on what your core business message is. Plus it ensures those that stay for the full length of the video are interested in the subject and more likely to convert to potential leads and sales.
3. Write A Corporate Video Brief
When about to start writing a corporate video script, it is best practice to write out a video outline / a video brief. Scribbling out keywords on a page of A4 to think through the basic structure and key points can be a huge time saver. If working on the corporate video script as a team, this is the perfect stage to decide on the main goals of the project.
To give you a head start on this you can download our free corporate video script template here.
Not only does the video brief help you understand your objectives, but it also enables you to understand your audience and the value you want to bring them.
For the brief, answer the following questions, to form the basis of your corporate video script:
• What is the purpose of your corporate business video? (Point 1 above).
• How long would you like your video to be (Point 2 above)
• Who is your target audience? (Age bracket, interests, industry, education level, financial situation, are they new to the subject?)
• What is your product/service/solution/message?
• What fundamental problem is your product/service tackling?
• What value will the corporate video bring to your audience?
• What makes yours different from others?
• And lastly, what action do you want your audience to take at the end?
Get in touch with Stormy Studio to discuss bringing your corporate video script to life through expert, bespoke business animation
4. Use A Gripping Hook
Aim to capture the consideration of your viewer from the outset with an enticing opening line. If a renewable energy corporate video needed to engage a viewer and great hook might be
"The worlds energy demands are increasing at a rapid rate... but..."
For a Software as a service (SaaS) corporate video focused on customer services, something intriguing could work i.e.
"Today's customers want to answer their own questions."
For a corporate financial video aiming to deliver stability and trust, posing a question could be an effective opener i.e.
"What if investment portfolios carried less uncertainty? "
Remember who your target audience is and what benefit you hope to be providing. Build intrigue and succinctly follow this with your service or product in the opening 10 - 20 seconds.
That captivating first hook will reel people in and get them to stay with you to the end.
5. Cut The Fluff
Every word needs to count in your script. A 2-3 minute video needs to have words that add to your narrative and help it move along. If a sentence makes sense without a particular word, take it out. Words like ‘then’, ‘that’ and ‘be able to’ are common culprits that are overly used but can, most of the time, be taken out.
Stick to the point and use words that have real meaning. Overuse of words or repeating yourself can cause your audience to zone out, or worse, leave entirely.
If you're not entirely confident in your use grammar or in finding the right tone for your video. I'd highly recommend checking out Grammarly and paste your script there. Adjust the goals to your target audience and work through the tips provided to help. It is advantageous and can quickly make your writing more succinct, grammatically correct and professional. We used for this very article. Hence the word 'advantageous' above rather than merely 'very good'.
6. Corporate Video Script Structure
The structure of corporate video scripts typically follows the same layout. A structure that you can quickly use as the building blocks when looking at how to write a corporate video script of your own.
• Introduction - Gripping hook and a succinct core message.
• Explain the problem/risk/opportunity.
• Introduce with professional fanfare, your product/service/solution.
• Dive into bitesize details on how your offering works.
• Highlight the key benefits.
• Consider showcasing company names already using the product to verify the effectiveness and build trust and perceived value.
• For longer video scripts consider including 1 to 3 short case studies.
• Conclusion: Recap quickly the problem and solution
• Call to action. i.e. find out more, call this number / visit this URL.
7. Read Your Script Allowed
Reading your script aloud is both an effective way to check that the language flows naturally but also realistically check the overall script length.
When timing the script, allow a few seconds after each section for any video transition to let your script breath and your audience take on board the key points.
Also read the script to someone in person to see how they react to it, what messages they take away, and what emotions it conjures up. It would be best if you aimed to do this with at least one or two people.
8. Tell A Story
Of course, it is crucial to deliver your sales pitch or key business message during the video. To help the corporate video script have an impact when possible, tell a story. A grand, engaging narrative will resonate with an audience and pushing critical points to memory, adding value long after the viewer has finished watching your video.
Keep your words simple and to the point but most, importantly, tell a story! Like most stories, start with a problem - ideally, a problem your target audience has and take them through, introducing the fantastic resolution. Do this in an entertaining, intriguing or shocking way and reap the benefits of a long-lasting marketing effort.
9. Make It Flow
Make your words flow by sticking to the point, using apostrophes to abbreviate words and speak conversationally, as if chatting with a friend. Your audience will be more at ease, and it will steer you clear of an overly corporate, robotic feel, often found in corporate video scripts.
You may think this is not important, as you can dress up your video with stunning animated visuals, high-quality cinematography and slick designs. But a corporate video script that speaks to the viewer in a natural, comfortable way will help to hold their attention further.
10. Try it out, edit and edit again
Like any piece of writing, getting it right straight away is not a requirement nor expected. When answering the question, How to write a corporate video script? allow 1 to 3 hours each day of a week to complete the challenge. Script-writing is an iterative process, and you need to let ideas ferment and evolve.
To avoid writer's block, start by mapping it out and putting pen to paper (fingers to keyboard). Fill out the needed sections, adding keywords and half finished sentences to build up the structure. In this first draft, include as much detail as you like.
Then it's time to edit it down.
Rearrange sections, take out the superfluous content. Read it through, again and again, refining as you go.
Read your corporate script aloud, removing words that add very little and replace others to make it more succinct or better reflect your brand.
Want some inspiration for your next corporate video script? Plenty of ideas here! With many tools and effects at your door, it can be overwhelming to know what to use! Expert help for your next corporate video script and production is found here.
Conclusion
We hope the above 10 expert tips help you write the perfect corporate video script.
The main take aways should be to initially make a rough plan with your goals clearly defined. Then write in a natural way to prevent the script sounding too robotic or typically corporate. Start with a clear and conise message end with an effective call to action.
If you'd like some inspiration for your next corporate video script?
You can find plenty of ideas here where we showcase just a handful of the corporate video productions our studio has work on.
With many tools available to bring your projects to life, it can be overwhelming to know what to use and who to speak to!
Our expert help for your next corporate video script and production is found here. Our friendly team would love to chat with you about your corporate video projects.
Commissioning Animation
Looking into how to commission an animation for the first time can feel overwhelming with so many options from wide-ranging styles, prices and quality of production.
Animation studios around the world specialise in different niche areas of business, for example, our own studio is focused on bespoke high-quality 2D and 3D animated explainers for businesses.
Others may specialise in visual FX, architectural visualisation, children's cartoons, computer game animation, idents and more.
The cost of animation can vary hugely depending on the needed quality, length, and complexity.
Some studios offer very low-cost explainers which are typically lower quality and use templates but can suit a small local business with limited marketing budgets.
Reviewing an animation studios work:
To do some basic studio research and decide if they're a good fit for your project. It's as simple as visiting a company's website and checking out examples of their work.
Most will have a showreel showing various clips, a montage of their latest and best work. Plus they'll have a portfolio showing the sort of work they specialise in.
Here we've shared our own business animation studio's recent animation showreel.
Write an animation project brief
A key component of being able to commission an animation for your business is the project brief.
The level of detail needed in a brief can vary depending on the complexity of the project and how far along the line of project planning you are.
Initially, you can keep the brief really short and simple. Animation studios may decide a project isn't for them if they're too busy with other commitments or perhaps the project enquiry simply doesn't align with the sort of work they like to produce. For this reason, it's worth initially sharing a short project brief to find out whether a studio is interested and the brief can be expanded on, (potentially with their help) after a discussion or two with the studio.
A succinct brief to commission an animation should at least include these key elements to allow a studio to loosely understand the project scope.
- Subject of animation
- Animation length
- Animation style (links are helpful)
- Scriptwriting/Voiceover
- Key dates & deadlines
- Audience
- Project goals
Alternatives to getting animation quotes
Whilst a typical approach for commissioning an animation has been to write and share a brief and receive quotes from studios.
At Stormy Studio we recognise that sometimes that process can be a bit slow, especially when trying to get a rough idea of the cost when first considering having an animation created for business. Or when you just want to get on with your day.
For this reason, we offer 3 ways to get going as soon as possible.
We have our unique instant online animation pricing tool that gives a quick ballpark quote.
We have 3 fixed price options for high-quality 60-second business explainers.
Finally, we have a subscription option for ongoing productions, ideal for expanding brands and enterprise-scale businesses.
