Get Coached - Should you script the answers to the questions? (Episode 57)

Welcome to Get Coached the video marketing legend podcast segment where you submit your video marketing questions at ridgefilms.com.au/question, and I'll help coach you through them. By listening in each week you'll learn how each video marketing problem is solved, giving you the knowledge that will make your videos more valuable. And so you come across as a true business professional on the open market.

I'm your host, Chris Schwager. Alright, today's Get Coached question was submitted at ridgefilms.com.au/question, and it's from Claudine. And what Claudinewants to know is, should I script answers to questions? And this is a fantastic question because we all want the best responses out of our interviews. Okay, so this is what you need to do first, Claudine.

Here's the situation if you've ever watched a video, and it's been a testimonial, and you just really don't know why it's not kind of clicking together. But everybody talking seems to be robotic and looking for the ideal response. And an almost looks like they're reading Well, here's the thing they probably are. And this is because the person in charge has most likely given the interviewee the script in advance and said, Hey, just read this or just, we want you to save this.

And that's not a really great situation to be in because you're going to put more stress on the interviewee because they're going to take that script away and mull over it on the weekend or even on the day. If they're just reading it from a teleprompter, they've been taught to do it authentically, they're just going to read it. And that's not going to be interesting, and it's not their thoughts. And that's the point. And a lot of corporate organisations, larger organisations get stuck with this. And I don't think it's ever the right way to go. If you're going to script, the response to questions, what you want to make sure is your hold on to that.

Don't give it to the interviewee ever, like do not give it to them ever. Right? And I understand in larger organisations, it's got to go up and people are gonna prove it. And it's got to go up the chain. But I gotta say, Man, in my experience, do not do that. Right. So here's the thing you want to if you want to script questions, that's fine. Go ahead, and that there become prompts for you to ask those questions throughout the interview, that leave the responses, the answers to a minute bullet point, what is the value that you want your audience to take away as a result of watching the video, right?

So script outcomes script, the bullet points and why I say scriptable points is because you want those as guides for yourself when you're interviewing the person, right? Use those, you know, then what you need to get from the interview. Because you have these dot points of outcomes that are logged there. So you can literally go through the entire interview asking, let's call him Tom for, for this example, you asked Tom, whatever questions you want, because you know what response you're looking for, because you've dot pointed the outcomes, okay, and I'm with outcomes. I'm not talking about like real outcomes. Do you know what I mean?

Like, I'm not talking about are they are great, they turned up on time are a great product or service, I'm talking about really good, strong key points of value that align to stuff that you probably see on your website on the homepage of your website, like what is the value that you bring in, it could be a value of a business, or it could be value of your service, or it could be value or that particular product, right? And that's another thing that you should probably just start to minimise your options. Okay, get it down to one topic. Okay. How did Tom go with experiencing your product, your service or your company, right? And then, mind you, Tom, is the person you want more of Tom's been with you for years, he's gonna say nothing but great things about your organisation, Tom is the hero.

So you got to treat him, right, put him on a pedestal. He is your guy. And he's the one that's going to hold this whole interview together. Right? So lots of our clients go through this process. And I think that often testimonials are just about holding an iPhone up to a client on the way out the door and say, hi, how are we doing work with and that is the lacklustre the cheapest version you'll ever get. And you'll probably get the response. That's cheap as well. It's just it's not thought through. And it's not a really great strong place to start script it.

Yes, script the outcomes, and script, the questions if you need to, if you need to use them as prompts, then get them in there so that people being interviewed feel like you're in control in the interview process, and that they're going to be well guided through okay. When clients come to us, you know, they're having a pivotal moment, we're really taking a lot of the heavy lifting away from them. Okay. So for instance, once we've gone through the scripting process of scripting the outcomes and scripting the questions, we want to make sure that the interview is well briefed, okay, so we call them a day in advance, or we don't do it a week or two weeks in advance, we want to call them in the last minute so that they understand what's required at them. What do they need to do filming wise? Do they what do they need to wear, and then we go through the talking points, we go through the things in the script, the outcomes, and I don't spend a lot of time on this, I just make sure that they are aligned to Tom's experience, right.

So I just wanted make sure that the things that mean the client have documented are accurate, right. And so Tom will say yes, or no, or add or remove things within that process. But that should take no longer than about five minutes to go through. Making feel very at home, it's going to be a 20 minute interview is going to be nice and easy. You know, and as the client goes on to location, they're gonna, you know, back it up with a bottle of wine or a free dinner or something to make sure that Tom has, you know, they've validated Tom's time, and they've appreciated Tom's time. And that Tom doesn't get left thinking, our love just That was all for nothing. And this is such a crucial moment to consider.

Because when you get that value from that interview, and it's cut together with those really strong sound bytes of information, you get a video that is a absolute pivotal moment, in the decision making within your buyers journey they want things done, they're gonna get the answers that they're looking for, that they may not have got anywhere else in your sales and marketing. This is to validate their final decision about choosing you. So they want to make sure that they've got plenty of time to convince and convert them at that final stage of their decision making process. So that is really where the value comes in testimonials in interviews and case study videos is convincing, converting getting them excited and delighted and getting them really across the line. If this example of this video reminds you of an experience that you've had, it's probably because the company that you're looking at has talked directly to you through the power of video.

And that's the crucial thing you know, is that video when it's right, it's targeted, if you got the right person in there, Tom's talking to the more of the times of your potential market. That's where the power of this video comes from and making sure that you get this process of interviewing them right is not done half assed.

So Can I just add one more thing if you want to learn how to convince decision makers in your business through this particular method, look, go to ridgefilms.com.au/convinceyourboss and download our guide. We're always helping the business community become better video marketers said go to Rridgefilms.com.au/convinceyourboss download. And we'd love to help you convince your boss and Claudine thank you so much for asking your question.

We know that video marketing can seem overwhelming, whether you should script answers to questions. But if you use this method, I've coached you through scripting the outcomes. I'm sure it's going to give you peace of mind and really help with what you're looking for in the first place something to help with whether you should script the answers to questions and for everybody else out there trying to solve the mystery of video marketing your business what has you feeling overwhelmed? on Get Coached we are here to help coach you through it. submit your video marketing questions to ridgefilms.com.au/question for your chance to get coached by may just go to ridgefilms.com.au/question and thanks for listening.