In this video, should you write a script for your videos or not? I’ll examine some pros and cons for writing a video script vs just turning on the camera and making your video off-the-cuff, free balling it, so to speak.
https://youtu.be/Oh1Ec-b62Ng

The main advantage of writing a video script

The biggest advantage that writing a script for your video can offer is organization. Writing lets you get your thoughts straight before you ever turn on the camera, and you’re able to edit and refine your video script ahead of time.

The main disadvantage of writing a video script

But that organization and clarity in your writing can come off as sounding scripted when you read it on camera. So you’ll need to be careful and write in a conversational tone to avoid sounding… odd, I guess is the best way to describe it.

What’s the main advantage for doing your video off-the-cuff?

The number one advantage of not scripting your video is time, as in you’ll save time by not having to sit and write your script. If you’re busy like most people, content marketing can become a burden because of all the time required to prepare content.

So doing your video on-the-fly can help you save some time.

And it can be spontaneous

This is huge because it counteracts the scripted feeling when you can just be spontaneous and have that energy in your voice and in your face. Hopefully. But that’s the other advantage of doing your video unscripted… you may sound more interesting.

But then what’s the big disadvantage of free balling your video?

In a word…rambling. Most people who are inexperienced, and some that are experienced, at making videos will tend to ramble on and on. This is bad because you’ll lose your audience’s attention, which means you may not get the sale or you may simply create a poor impression. Either way, an unscripted video can cause problems if you ramble.

And rambling leads to the next disadvantage

When you ramble, you sound unprofessional. And sounding unprofessional doesn’t work when you’re trying to use video as a helpful marketing tool. The main problem, aside from rambling, is “umming” and “uhhing” throughout your video, or thinking that screwing up and telling everyone about it is ok. It’s not ok. It’s not ok because your viewer, your potential client or customer, may wonder if your product or service is equally as unprofessional. Not good.

But the video I made for this post was totally unscripted and it works because of three important things that I’m going to teach you.

Here are 3 things you can do to make an unscripted video sound professional

  1. Think about what problem you are trying to solve. For example, I talked about whether or not you should write a script for your videos or do them off-the-cuff.
  2. Consider what the problem means to your audience. For example, I described the pros and cons of writing a script vs free balling your video.
  3. Give some action steps people can take to resolve the problem or issue. And that’s what these three things are for you, my way of giving you the steps you should take so you can make an off-the-cuff video sound more professional.

BONUS TIP

So let’s say you implement the three things I just talked about… everything’s good right? Just turn on the camera and shoot your video, right? No, not quite.

You still need to remember that your video needs to look and sound professional, too. That means good lighting, stable footage and good audio. If any of those are lacking, then it won’t matter what you did to prepare because your video will be so hard to watch. And you’ll still look unprofessional.

But I still don’t want to do all this to make videos

Well, now that you’ve learned all about the advantages and disadvantages of writing vs not writing a script for your content marketing videos; and you’ve learned how to make your freestyle videos more professional… maybe you still don’t want to take the time and effort to make videos. Cool. That’s what I’m here for! Please get in touch and I’ll help you make them.