10 Tips to a Better Profile Video - #2 Pre-Plan Your Videos Structure

Tip #2 – Pre-Plan Your Videos Structure

Part of a 10 part series based on the presentation given on June 1st 2009.

I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” If you’ve ever marched head long into shooting a profile video, only to be disappointed with the outcome, then you’ve probably made a few mistakes that a little planning could have prevented. Planning the structure for your profile video is a key step in having a pleasing and effective profile video.

The first thing you want to do when your planning your profile video is follow a basic three part structure. This structure was first documented in the writings of Aristotle, and is very simple. Have a beginning, middle, and end. When was taking classes in public and competitive speaking many moons ago the structure was explained in this way. “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you’ve told them.” In a creative writing class it was once described as, “Get your protagonist up a tree, throw rocks at him, and get him back down (dead or alive).” I like to look at a basic structure for a profile video like this:

Introduction – Who, What, Where (Who you are, What you do, Where you do it)
Middle – Why (Why you do it, Why I need it, Why you’re the best)
End – When, How (When will I see results, How can I get it)

The next thing you want to do when planning your video structure is making sure you have all the video elements you need before you start to put it together. What images, audio, props, notes will you need before you can put the video together. If you are planning a video that’s going to involve some other element, you don’t want to find out after you’ve shot that the element won’t be available, and you’ll have to shoot your video again to make up for that element that’s missing.

Finally, plan your profile video with a call to action at the end. This call to action will be different depending on where the video will be shown, and what your product or service is, but you definitely want the viewer to take some sort of action after watching your video. Whether it’s calling for more information, click on a link, or logging on to your website, it’s the call to action at the end of your video that will prompt the viewer to move closer to doing business with you.

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