What Is Video Script Copywriting

Write video scripts for advertising campaigns or promotional videos

Advertising with video has never been more popular. But creating digital ads that attract customers and motivate them to buy is not easy.

To write effective video advertisements, you need to understand your audience’s psychology and unique marketing challenges. You also must be skilled at filming scenes and editing content so that your ad makes sense as a story.

That way, when you watch the video, it will feel less like advertising and more like a narrative. There are some great practices for writing great video ad copy.

Understand how to write effective video scripts

Like most other forms of advertising, people decide whether or not to watch a commercial based on its content. If the content is interesting or entertaining, they will spend time watching it.

If you want your video script to be read, must-see television, then you need to make it as engaging as possible. This means having great acting, an exciting storyline, and captivating characters.

However, that kind of production value comes at a cost – money. Not only do companies have to pay for creating a show, they also have to fund publicizing it.

That’s why making a video script copywritten is such a valuable asset. By writing a script yourself, you get to exercise control over what goes into it. You can include or exclude certain elements (i.e. filming locations, special effects), and you can adjust the wording so it fits with your company’s message and expectations.

When someone takes the time to read your script, they are doing so because they believe in what you offer them. Your product or service is something worth investing in, and you want to encourage readers to invest their time too.

Create original video scripts

Even if you’re not experienced with film or television writing, there are still ways to boost your creativity in creating script texts.

If you want to try scripted copywriting, here are some tips that can help you create more original text every time:

Focus on specificity.

Specific wording is easier to write than general language. Specific words convey their meaning directly to the mind.

General phrases may include subconscious connotations that make them harder to define. For example, “be motivated” instead of “motivate others”.

We can think of specific words as ‘true words’, and general ones as ‘feelings’ or ‘concepts’. Words are true sentences.

Therefore, it is better to use specific sentences rather than general ones. They motivate us to read another person’s sentence while reducing our cognitive load.

Ask your customers what they want to see in a marketing campaign

The best way to find out how to market your product or service is to simply ask yourself.

What do you want to sell? More importantly, what do you want to give your customers?

You can also think about who you hope will buy your product. Are you aiming to attract new clients, use your products, or motivate current users to pay more money for additional features?

And lastly, talk to your customers. How do they purchase your product? Do they have any suggestions for you? Get outside of the box and don’t rely solely on previous experiences to decide how to market your product.

Consider surveys that ask questions such as “why did I choose your product over another one?”, or things like “what has worked well for you recently?” These inquiries may just help you come up with a winning video script!

Do not rely too much on pre-made scripts

There are many things you can do with video script copywriting, but don’t depend solely upon templates to create your content. You will need to know how to write good scripts in any case, as they serve only as a guide for the viewer.

Most of the time, people prefer reading written material over audio recordings, so make sure that your website is geared towards readers who want to listen to the videos instead of watch them.

Also consider hiring someone who knows sound design and editing to produce amazing soundtrack files; this could be the difference between an average soundtrack and an excellent one.

Lastly, research topics well and use quality materials when possible to keep yourself professional.

Don’t worry about grammar mistakes

Although you may be used to writing sentences with no errors, every now and then you will make a mistake. When it comes to videos, your audience is very forgiving. They recognize that words can sometimes fail us, so they give people like me (myself) a chance to correct my errors.

However, one of the first things new writers learn is that there are certain standards of grammatical accuracy everyone must adhere to. Otherwise, your video script will come off as artificial or even pretentious.

That’s why I created this guide — so you could get a sense of what I call “editorial quality” when it comes to scripts. This way you could focus on how you want your story told instead of whether terms such as “there”, “their” and “its” should be capitalized.

You also shouldn’t concern yourself too much with sentence structure. Of course, you should still include some form of punctuation, but if you write a screenplay where all of the characters talk straight into the camera, your scene will seem unnatural.

What I recommend for script readers is having an actual text in their view at all times. It can either be a script page from a book, or a written draft. If the reader does not have a copy of the script nearby, they should actually type out a rough draft of it.

By doing this,

Proofread read and revise your article several times

The first step in writing a good article is to proofread it once, carefully. Index cards with written copies of the article can help you do this, as they contain more information than a typical copyediting job.

Some articles are updated by others after being published

If an editor makes any changes from the original draft, then those changes should be made at that time.

It’s very difficult to motivate someone to edit work that has already been posted. Also, breaking down a piece into smaller tasks gives you a way to divide up the workload so it isn’t all on you.

You will not only feel accomplished, but also like you have done your part to keep the blog dynamic and fresh!

Images with text add power and visibility

When people read, it’s easy for them to skip over text without really reading it. But if you have an image associated with your text, they will not be able to stop until they understand what that picture means.

Furthermore, images are easier to interpret accurately which helps your copy get more attention. This is why incorporating visual content into your writing can help you attract readers and hold their attention.

You may be thinking “pictures were never meant to explain words”, but this assumption was made long before technology launched us into the digital age. Before cameras, artists relied upon other methods to show pictures. Paintings usually showed one aspect of an experience, while photographs could demonstrate several aspects.

Now we have images in books, magazines, and newspapers. Prior to the printing press, all print media contained imagery. We also see images played with text, either as illustrations or alongside the text as close buttons.

Therefore, unless you are willing to put extra work into explaining your idea, chances are you want to incorporate visual content into your writing. It’s just going to take time to find something that works for you.

Keep it short and sweet

If you’re going to have dialogue in your video, then you need to know when to use dialogue versus narration.

People with visual disabilities can suffer if they watch videos that are entirely narrated through speech. Because you are the author of the words on the screen, not seeing them visually affects their ability to process the message.

You want people who cannot see the script to still be able to understand the movie or tv show. Thus, using some form of dialogue is necessary for accurate viewing.

However, because you don’t have any voice over characters explaining what is happening, there isn’t much value here from a viewer perspective.

If you rely solely on dialogue, you run the risk of losing viewers before they ever start watching. They will think that the film (tv show) is too boring to watch and remove its title (episode) from their list.

For these reasons, we do not recommend relying exclusively on dialogue.

Narrative storytelling is used instead. This way, people feel something is happening, and it adds another layer of complexity to the story.

It requires more effort on your part to create narrative coverage this way, but once you get into the habit, it’s easy to keep pulling out good content.

We also suggest putting together a top quality cover shot or opening credit sequence to attract viewers. From there, you can introduce yourself and your brand via