Every YouTube video has three fundamental elements within its script that contribute to its overall success rate. In this post, I’ll look at these elements in-depth and provide insights into how best to optimise your video through your script. I’ll also explain the things to avoid.
I have worked in UK TV broadcasting for almost 20-years and am a huge digital technology enthusiast, with marketing videos being my forte. I love to pass on the things I have learnt to those in the situation I was once in myself; entrepreneurs and small business owners.
This post will focus on writing a script for your YouTube video that’ll really showcase your business, products, and services and hopefully increase your exposure and success online.
YouTube is one of the greatest places to begin. To start, the platform is free to use, and the potential exposure is phenomenal. There are more than 2 billion active users on YouTube, and the site received over 30 million daily visits. Online marketing is moving toward video over any other form of content, and YouTube is a major player, but ensuring your video makes it here is a challenging prospect.
One of the most effective ways to produce a high-quality, engaging video is to have the right script.
Writing a Powerful Script for YouTube
A powerful YouTube script is broken down into three fundamental parts:
- Into
- Call to Action
- Outro
Each section requires much planning and thought to get it spot on. And, each section has the power to make a viewer either switch off or stick with the video. Below I’ve explained the best way to write these stages and the things to avoid.
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Video Intro
The intro of your video should focus on viewers learning why they should invest their time watching, so lead with valuable content. It is best to provide insight, very early on, into what your viewers will gain from the video and how it will enrich their lives – either by answering a question or providing something useful that will make a difference to them.
You have around 30-seconds for a viewer to determine if it is worth their time watching – although the first 7-seconds is where you will grab their attention, so try to answer the ‘What’s In It For Me‘ within the first few moments.
You really don’t have very long to engage viewers, so don’t waste any of the intro on long graphics or graphical sequences; these aren’t important. Anything that can be seen as filling time, such as music and visual effects, is simply wasting time and a sure way to get viewers to click that x.
In the intro, it is fine to flag up your target audience, and this is something I do. When viewers are told that the video is specifically for them, they’re more inclined to hang around to see what you have to say.
Call to Action
The call to action, or CTA, is basically what you’re asking your viewers to do. Now, this could be to share your video, subscribe to your channel, or to download a PDF. It could also be to make a direct purchase from your website or simply to contact you.
Where you write in your CTA has a considerable impact on your conversation rate. Too early, and it looks like a sales pitch, too late, and this is where the retention rate is at its lowest, so it could easily be missed.
Your CTA has to fit with your marketing strategy, but not be the entirety of the video. For example, if you sell a product on your website where all of its features are explained, then rather than using the duration of your video to re-tell these details, your CTA would be to let viewers know where they can find out more and how it’ll benefit them to head to your site – may be a small enticement with money-off, or flash sales, etc.,
Writing a compelling CTA is so important yet so often missed by video producers. So many marketing videos give everything away in the first few minutes of shooting, leaving the viewer with all the info they need and no push to take further action – they’ve been told it all!
The video should basically explain the main idea, address the viewer’s pain points, and suggest solutions. Following this, your CTA should be used to urge viewers to the next stage of the marketing strategy: to take action.
Video Outro
The outro of your video should be the shortest segment. There is no need to use it as a stage to thank all and sundry and their Aunts; consider what value this is to a target audience.
It is best to keep your outro to under 10-seconds; very few viewers will stay to the absolute death of a video, so don’t wait until now to add valuable content. Maybe a short summary of what’s been covered, an interesting fact, your name, a reminder of your CTA, and you’re done.
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Summary
The most effective marketing videos are around 7.5-minutes long on YouTube, there are exceptions, but this is a good marker to use. Keep both the intro and outro short, with the meat of the video in the middle, including your call to action.
It is best to focus on one subject per video, it is highly likely a viewer will want 3 or 4 answers in one video, but they are likely to watch for the duration to learn the answer to one question. Keeping the topic limited also helps provide SEO benefits and have your video returned to users who have searched for that one question.
I hope you’ve got a little value out of this post and are now more assured with how to write a video script.
To dive into more detail about how to create video for your business, do check out the other videos on our YouTube channel.
