Where to Start: Your Brand’s Visual Story

Video is well known as the “King Of Content,” and with good reason — especially in the day of social media. Most of us spend time daily on at least one social platform. Whether it be scrolling through an Instagram feed, looking for networking opportunities on Linkedin, or trying to find an upcoming event on Facebook, you’ve likely experienced a targeted catchy advertisement or heartwarming video that seemingly showed up on your feed out of nowhere.

With social media algorithms churning away in the background, targeted video advertisements have become a way of the future, and there is a reason you are seeing them. And with the magic of smart digital marketing, there’s a reason you want to engage with it. Video draws our emotion, people are emotional purchases – BOOM. In the Biz, we call this Visual Storytelling

Utilizing video, music, and compelling subject matter, Visual Storytelling can be a highly effective way to help the consumer understand your brand’s story as well as provide a Call To Action (CTA). Visual storytelling is used to capture and KEEP an audience’s attention while conveying a specific message. Of course, there are many rules and ways to boost engagement with your consumer, but the most important thing to keep in mind is IMPACT. Do you want that viewer to click into your site and order from your shop? Yes? Then you must make an impact within seconds of the viewer coming across your content. Depending on what your CTA (call to action) might be, we can help you create your Visual Story and grasp that audience.

So now that we know all of that, it’s tough to know where to start. Not to worry though, our expert team at BKN Creative has you covered.

  • The most important place to start is to discover your “Why?” Why are you doing what you are doing? It’s important to know exactly what you want your audience to do with your message. What is your CTA?
  • Next, it’s vital to partner with an agency that you can trust to tell your story. It is vital that the company you collaborate with really dials into your brand to convey your story in the most compelling and impactful way
  • What will your Visual Story look like? Will it be a video or will it be well-taken photos pieced together in an impactful way? These are decisions that should be made before you even get started.
  • It’s important to keep in mind that humans are visual beings and have a remarkably short attention span. The average human can only stay engaged and concentrate on one thing for about 8 seconds, which is in fact, less than a goldfish. Your story must be short, sweet, and succinct. 
  • Graphics and music are two things that can immediately catch that short attention span and, if done correctly, keep your consumer’s attention.
  • With all of the different platforms to choose from, a well-thought-out social strategy is very important to ensure you are getting your message in front of the right people.

Once all of this has been considered, you and your agency should have an action plan and start the process of actually making your story come to life. 

What’s Next? Now it’s time to schedule your video or photoshoot and begin to flesh out your story with three major steps – 

  1. Pre-Production – Planning is key to pre-production. This planning includes – location scouting, location licensing, equipment checklist, craft services, set design, wardrobe, call sheets, shot lists, and more.
  2. Production – Shoot Day! This is where the “rubber meets the road” so-to-speak. Once on-set, all of the planning turns to the execution of the ideas. If all of the pre-production is successful, your production day should run smoothly and incredibly fun!
  3. Post-Production – After the big day, it’s time to get to work making the content polished and ready to put out to the world. This work includes retouching/editing photos or footage, choosing music and graphics, and then adding them into the production for the greatest impact.

The final step is to put your Visual Story into your social strategy and watch it take flight! If you don’t already have an agency that can help you create your Visual Story and social strategy, BKN Creative is here for you! Check out our latest visual stories HERE and if you are looking for more information, drop us a line and let’s get to work building your brand’s visual story.