In California, Anita’s mother helped her with her children. After her mother passed away, Anita was homeless, sleeping in a car. She then packed up her family and moved to Arizona.
Anita’s children’s names appeared on the calling list of Karen, an employee at a company in the healthcare industry. The two women connected. Karen ensured Anita’s children received their well checks and helped the family get back on their feet with housing.
The company asked us to share the story through video. We took the following seven steps:
Start with storytelling. First, be sure the video includes the “Anita” of your story. Too frequently, companies share stories through the eyes of their employees without us hearing from customers themselves. Businesses worry they would be bothering customers by asking them for on-camera interviews. Companies are concerned customers won’t properly reflect the brand. Some organizations simply didn’t save contact information of customers. None of these excuses outweighs the value of viewers and your target audiences hearing from customers themselves. Generally speaking, if a customer isn’t available to appear on camera, move on to the next story.
Share the story succinctly. For this video, we interviewed only two people: Anita and Karen. Karen shared her side of the story while also relaying key messages about her company. Don’t dilute a video and its story by crowding it with too many voices. Office politics may tempt you to invite additional executives to speak on camera, but we are less likely to emotionally connect with your story if too many people are talking, especially if an authentic story is tainted with scripted, industry-laden language. (Read more: Do you speak Jargonese?)
Choose interview locations wisely. For this video, we briefly discussed interviewing Anita and Karen at the company’s headquarters. This approach would have been easier but not as interesting for this particular story. The story is about a mother moving from homelessness to an apartment. Shooting the video at Anita’s apartment required coordination. Transporting our camera and lighting equipment to her small, second-floor apartment challenged our endurance. But interviewing Anita and Karen in the apartment provided us attention-grabbing images, such as the Christmas tree and furniture Karen donated to the family. We met Anita’s son and the family’s dog, Hank. The goal is to bring a story to life not to search for the simplest way to tell it.
Ask for additional visuals. From her personal storage facility, Karen donated items to Anita’s family. Unfortunately, the company which owns the storage facility told us it’s against its policy to allow us to shoot video at the storage facility itself. So Karen shared with us still images she previously shot of her and Anita at the storage facility. In addition, Anita’s mom is an important part to understanding the family’s story. Anita provided us a photo of her mom. You can’t always capture all aspects of a story on camera. Ask for pictures and other visuals.
Keep your questions flexible. Good video often depends on good interviews, which depend on asking the correct questions just the right way. Interviewing is an art not reading a list of questions. During the interview, we learned Karen herself was once homeless, allowing her to better relate to others such as Anita. After watching the video, our main point of contact at the healthcare company told us she didn’t even know Karen had once been homeless herself. The story included a twist. The story turns even more engaging when the interviewer listens carefully and asks important follow-up questions that no one might consider beforehand. (Read more: What to wear for video interviews)
Share a lesson. Anita and Karen’s story isn’t the kind that necessitates a call-to-action. But most stories can provide a lesson for the rest of us to consider. Anita explained one of the lessons is to appreciate what genuinely creates wealth, which is family not the stuff money can buy. Not all videos will directly impact all viewers, but stories and their life lessons can resonate even with people living in different worlds.
Share and properly distribute. Too often, companies post videos once and tuck them into the hard-to-find folds of their websites. Include descriptions with videos along with links for additional information. Ensure the video’s thumbnail is compelling and not something the computer or YouTube automatically generated. Find ways to repurpose videos for different platforms, from Facebook to your e-newsletter.
Bringing a story to life requires much more than pressing a record button. Consider your goals and then advise on all aspects of the video shoot. The first proposed approach is not always the best.
