It seems like everything I read about creating content for a website delves into the statistics of the marketing funnel, or what percentage their Click Through Rate (CTR) went up when the blogs that were posted were 800 words in length instead of 500 words in length. WHATEVER! Don’t care. That is so boring! I”m not saying you have to ignore research, metrics and trends, but there are some days when I’ve had enough. I don’t want to read about it, and I really don’t want to write well-crafted, five paragraph essays on the benefits of purchasing seasoned firewood versus unseasoned firewood, or whatever the topic may be.
Is it possible…just maybe… that if something is fun to read, maybe puts a smile on your face and perhaps gives you a little chuckle, it might just be fun to write, or even better, enjoyable to read?
OF COURSE! I always love reading an article that is insightful, yet makes the salient points in a lighthearted, relatable, fun way. So, if you want to increase reader engagement, write in a way that is fun. Let’s talk about what NOT to do, and then some very specific things to do.
DON’T do this
But wait. Full stop. While writing lighthearted, fun content is an excellent idea, go back and reread the first couple of paragraphs of this article again. At no time did I ever say “write funny” or “be funny” or anything in a sentence or phrase that contained the word funny. That’s because funny is HARD. Funny is fleeting, difficult to do, and even more difficult to write in a way that the reader will find your thoughts funny as well.
DO this…
So, what do you do? I would suggest:
- Starting small
- Use a formula
Don’t work your way up to being funny. Work very hard at being light. Be lighthearted, be fun, be personable and relatable. Write like you are having a conversation with a really good friend. Whatever you need to do, just don’t try to be funny.
Starting small
By starting small, how about starting with a script for a video that is one minute long. That doesn’t sound too bad! But what if the assignment was to write a script for a 1 minute video that would bring a smile to the viewers face, and make the product or service more relatable? That doesn’t sound too difficult. OK, what if you had to write a lighthearted, fun script for a video about…firewood. Oh my log, I can think of few things more flat or uninteresting, than firewood. As the French would say “Tree boring”. Whoops, I meant to say “Tres boring”.
Use a formula
You want the magic formula needed for accomplishing this task, and countless others? I’ll give you two. Here’s the first magic formula. Start at the end and work backwards. Realize what the most important point of your message is, then work backwards from that point.
The Five Why’s
The second magic formula can get you to that end. There is a theory in neuroscience called “The Primacy/Recency Effect”. This theory states that we always remember best what happened first (Primacy) and what happened last (Recency). So the video should end with the main selling point, what you really want the viewer to remember. But how do you figure out your main selling point? Try the technique of The Five Why’s, also called Root Cause Analysis.
Invented by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Industries, the technique involves simply asking the question “Why” five times as a way to get to the root cause of the problem, or the answer to your question.
So, I applied the Five Why’s to selling firewood:
Why do people buy firewood (the first why)? To be warm.
Why do people want to get warm (the second why)? To feel calm and secure.
Why do people want to feel calm and secure (the third why) So they can enjoy life more.
Why do people want to enjoy life more (the fourth why)? To make life worth living.
Why do people want to make life worth living (the fifth why)? So they have good memories as they get older.
The script
Ok, I had my ending. Ultimately, people buy firewood so they can sit around a campfire and make memories. Now I needed to work backwards. I wanted to have a serious ending, so how could I make firewood fun for the rest of the video?
I broke down what has to happen to make firewood. Chopping down the tree, cutting the logs, splitting the logs, delivering the firewood, then burning. Then I tried to do two contrasting statements with each step, like a set up and a punch line. I accompanied these statements with a video clip that exaggerated each step of the firewood process in a fun way.
What I ended up with was a video that contained:
Ten statements
8 Video clips
Total length of 56 seconds
Check out the video and see how it all came together. It’s not knee slapping, fall down funny. It is lighthearted and, dare I say, fun?!
Good luck with your next video project. We have an award-winning video production team that are standing by to help you in any way they can. Call us, let’s begin. Why? Because we have a great reputation for creating videos. Why? Because we know the science and the art behind creativity. Why…not just call us, it’s easier to explain over the phone.
