Here it is. Here’s how to make a video for your business that’s actually good.

If you’re a human being, but particularly if you’re an entrepreneur, you probably believe in things. If you’re the sort of entrepreneur who used to work for someone else and started your own business because you realized there was a better way of doing things, you definitely believe in something. You have passion, opinions, and edge. If you leverage these assets in your brand video, it will almost certainly not be boring.

Did you know that you are super interesting?

You and your beliefs are incredibly interesting. They’re more interesting than your business model. More interesting than your product. More interesting than your process. I’m not saying this to flatter you. It’s just the truth. 

Humans, whom I’ll assume are your target customers, are extremely self-regarding. So self-regarding, in fact, that nothing interests them more than themselves and other humans. Have you seen any movies lately? Watched any TV? Read a book? Listened to a song? What (who) was it about? What species was the main character?

Whatever it was, maybe it had a “commercial interruption”; a period where it stopped being about humans and started being about things. These are called “interruptions” for a reason. Nobody likes them. They’re just a necessary evil – something nobody wants to experience, but that everybody accepts because it pays for the human story they really came for.

People are massive narcissists

Almost everything that humans read, listen to, and watch is about other humans. We’re obsessed with ourselves. I’m not just talking about the obvious stuff. Watch any documentary about oceans, giraffes, or outer space. I’ll stop right now if the gist of that documentary isn’t how the oceans, giraffes, or outer space affect, or will affect, or have been affected by humans and our human interests. If not, it’s probably so obscure and commercially unsuccessful that hardly anyone’s ever heard of it. Watch any kids’ movie about monsters, talking fish, or aliens. Every character will have a humanlike appearance and represent some human behavioral archetype.

We share this planet with many other animals, plants, and objects, but we’re living in our own bubble, man. If you want to know how to make a video for your business that isn’t boring, you have to be a little self indulgent.

How to Make a Video for Your Business? Make it about you.

Your brand video is an opportunity to draw the attention of humans by broadcasting your own humanity. It may seem like a good idea to talk about your product in your brand video, but in this human-centric world we’ve created, your audience would much rather hear about you.

This is especially true if you’re competing in an existing category, where customers already understand what the product is and how it works. The reason they hit “play” on your video is because they want to know what makes your company different. Chances are, your company isn’t that different. Maybe you offer a nice money-back guarantee, free shipping, or a 30-minute consultation, but your competitors have little perks like those too, and they’re easy to imitate.

What can’t be imitated is your passion and personality. That’s why the more open and honest your brand video is about how you feel and what you believe, the more your audience will feel the emotional connection that’s the holy grail for every brand ever. That’s how to make a video for your business.

If you’re candid about how you feel and what you believe, you are going to strike a chord with customers who share those feelings and beliefs with you. They can’t help it; it’s just how humans are wired.

The easiest way to be interesting

I’ve seen so many brand videos that I can barely finish (and only finish them at all because this is what I do) because they go on and on about products and features, even when the entrepreneur themselves is acting as the mouthpiece. I’m not always aware that this is why I’m bored. On the surface, I might think the product isn’t good enough, or that I don’t trust the comany. But at the visceral level, these videos bore me because they’re not appealing to me on a human level. They’re like that friend-of-a-friend at a party whom everyone is avoiding because they endlessly tell stories made up of rote facts from their life with no emotional response and no insight into their real personality.

Making a brand video? Make it about you. Tell us why you started your business, what drives you, what gets you up in the morning, how making, selling, or delivering your product makes you feel. It absolutely will be a better video.

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Learn how to make the same video we’d charge you thousands for, or contact us to do it for you.

This post originally appeared in our other blog, AuthenticBrandVideo.com.