Start thinking like an Oscar winning movie director

 

Okay, so my new project, Storyboard, is packed full of metaphor relating to the film industry. Let me explain why. Storyboard is about mindset. It’s about how, as a marketer, you approach your task of attracting and retaining the interest of your online audience. That’s the crux of Storyboard. The champions of captivating audience are the Oscar winning film directors. The guys that oversee the process of taking a vision, through production, to their audience. As marketers, there’s an awful lot we can learn from the masters of the cinema, here are just 10 hollywood takeaways:

1.) WHO ARE YOU PRODUCING FOR?

You can utilise the greatest effects, spend your budget on the highest profile actors, employ the best scriptwriters, but if there’s no connection with the audience… the project is doomed to failure. Before spending a single penny on production the director knows what will leave his audience smiling, heartbroken, tearful or empowered. Great directors know how to conjure emotion within their audience. They know how to hook their audience through context. They know their audience, do you?

2.) WE’RE TAKING OUR AUDIENCE ON A JOURNEY

This isn’t a five minute flick, this is an epic adventure. Great director’s know exactly how to introduce their lead characters, their plot and their backstory. They know how to develop intrigue and storyline that builds over 120 minutes. They outline the beginning, the middle and the end.

Just like your sales process, you don’t try to condense all the information about your service into one sentence. You craft your content ensuring that the necessary information is shared at each critical stage of the sales cycle. Have you ever watched the last 15 minutes of a movie and understood what was going on? Don’t leave your online audience with a head full of questions as you jab them with sales speak and conversion tactics. They’ll just switch channels.

3.) KNOW THE TOOLS THAT ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL

The film director builds a great team around them. A team they can trust to ensure quality is retained and the production comes in on budget, on time.

They know their strengths, they know their weaknesses. If a scene’s script needs re-writing, they look to their scriptwriter for assistance. If the set is too dark, they look to their set-hands to assist with the lighting. At the same time, they have a thorough understanding of the benefit that each team-member brings to the production.

In your own workplace, don’t jump into projects which are demanding on your time if you have little understanding of the benefit they may bring. Running an Adwords campaign with little understanding of the mechanics? Get help. Spreading your message across a dozen social media platforms without building conversation? Restrict your efforts to just 1 or 2.

Do you have technically-minded team members producing artwork? Are your juniors leading decisions regarding budget allocation? Direct your marketing process, whether it’s just you or a team of staff and focus on the unique strengths of each member of your team.

As Ridley Scott shares, “another part of directing is making sure that even the guy doing the smallest job is enthused, so that I get the best out of him“. It’s a team game.

4.) SHARE YOUR VISION

The first day on set. The actors are stood around reading their scripts for the very first time. The director heads over 1/2 hour later than expected. “Okay team, let’s get to it!”. It just doesn’t happen.

Instead, the director coaches each actor and member of his team so they share the clear vision of the production. You don’t get the best out of your team if you leave them to simply get on with their roles. The purpose is outlined. The direction is set. Morale is high and unwavering.

Back at your office, the new guy, does he really understand his role? Not just the day-to-day role, but his purpose within the organisation? Are you sharing your vision, your outline of what you’re setting out to achieve today as well as into the future? Don’t just leave your staff, your colleagues, viewing their roles in isolation from the bigger picture. You need team spirit and passion around you. It’s contagious.

5.) KNOWING WHEN TO TALK. KNOWING WHEN TO SHUT UP.

Content That Captivates EmotionallyWe remember our favourite movie scenes not by what is said, but how they make us feel. When you pass a wheat field do you recall Ridley Scott’s evocative scene as Maximus’ hand brushes the wheat as he returns to his family in Gladiator?

The emotion we felt. A sensory blend of scenery, soundtrack and our compassion with the lead character. The magic of the big screen.

The movie greats know the appropriate nature of the use of dialog vs the emotive connection developed through scenery. The blending of scenes, location transitions and timeshifts. All adding to the overall movie experience.

In your own work, it’s all too easy to focus on written content as the primary source of communication. It’s simple. And yet, so many of us struggle to write content, create landing pages, deliver blog articles without mixing up the experience through imagery, video and animation. Why has the infographic proven so successful? The same data outlay, presented in a fresh eye-catching format. It’s instantly shareable. Would you share a spreadsheet detailing data, or a blog that posted the same information? To capture your audience’s attention be prepared to spice up your offering across video, audio, images & the written word.

6.) HAVING THE CONFIDENCE TO CARRY ON

Movies can take 6 months, a year, even 2 years to produce. It displays incredible perseverance and determination to complete on budget and on time. Movies are made up of 100s of scenes, directors sit through 100s of hours of takes in order to complete the jigsaw that eventually turns into a masterpiece. Emotionally draining and taxing if you’re also under pressure to direct a film where millions have been invested.

A mixture of confidence and determination.

In the world of Digital Marketing we have it easy, don’t we? If we screw up an ad or produce content littered with error, we simply republish and forget it ever happened. As the movie director works with his editorial team to complete the movie, there’s no going back once it hits the big screen.

Maybe the ease with which we can switch from one message to another, test each landing page or judge our success through immediate access to Analytics, tempts us to release marketing communication that’s not what we’d deem ‘perfect’?

It’s a good feeling to witness immediate results when we’ve launched our latest campaign. To see our time and financial outlay being quickly rewarded. If we had one chance to ‘get it right’ would we do things differently? Would our results be more certain? Has the digital-era caused us to focus more on outcome (launch now, worry later) and less on creative planning?

7.) CREATE YOUR MASTERPIECE FOR THE BIG SCREEN AND THE SMALL SCREEN

Blockbuster movies hit the big screen before they’re unleashed on DVD and Netflix. As our home TV screens continue to get bigger, we’ll struggle to match the epic nature of the cinema screen. The surround sound effects, the explosions we literally feel, the wall-to-wall  scenery, the crunch of popcorn under our feet (separate matter).

Whatever’s produced for the big screen must translate to the small screen. I’m now talking about your website, you know? Just as we settle in to watch our favourite movies on iPads in our hotel rooms, our audience, both business and pleasure, are transient. Blockbuster websites, just like blockbuster movies have to work across all platforms. The director of the movie has the pleasure of knowing we simply have to click the play button. Your website browser? They’ll be tapping away in vein if something as simple as your site navigation isn’t easily accessible. Tapping away on the back button….

8.) DEALING WITH EGO

So, an up-and-coming director is introduced to his high-paid roster of actors for the very first time. Actors who see any award that isn’t golden as a prop to keep their doors open. Who’s in charge? This is the director’s gig. How does he ensure that the entire team is on-side? If he loses the confidence of his star actors, the outcome would be a tragedy… an unplanned tragedy.

In the marketing world we learn to control egos around us all day long. We all have our own views of how things should be done. From content to colours. We partner with agencies to assist us. Agencies who believe what has worked before will work again. This is your gig. You listen, you take advice, but at the end of the day – your confidence in your project needs to shine and lead with conviction and a certain touch of diplomacy… but again, this is your business’ gig. Your neck on the line.

9.) STORYBOARD YOUR PROJECT

There’s a book on my desk ‘The Art of Movie Storyboards’. The barebones of 50+ blockbuster movies from across the years. Simple sketches through to artistic productions. One thing in common, the initial vision, the initial ideas that led to the production of movie masterpiece. Sketches that outline character emotion and bring scenery and plot into context. From Gone With The Wind to Harry Potter, the masters of film have used storyboarding as a common practice to framework their epic stories.

I don’t expect to hear the sharpening of pencils across the desks of the nation. It’s the idea rather than the practice that I wish to convey. Planning. Understanding what elements of your website, your social media, your banners, your buttons, your landing pages, your video, whatever project is on your desk, planning is imperative. Sketch out your ideas in rough form. Use mindmapping software to outline your ideas and bring them into the context of your intended audience. Storyboard like the masters. Plan like a director should.

10.) GREAT WORK DEMANDS A SEQUEL

Just as the curtain drops and the standing ovation reaches a crescendo, there will be calls for a sequel. That’s the nature of a damn good piece of work. ‘Love it, I want to see more’. The viewing audience falls in love with characters we believe in.

For every marketing campaign that receives a warm response, or for whatever reason you can never seem to point your finger on, goes viral, there will be a call for more of the same.

Whether from your viewing audience, or the boardroom, great results can conspire against you and require even greater results the next time. The key is knowing when to say no and starting afresh and knowing when to say yes and continue on with your podcast, blog theme or product focus.

STORYBOARD TAKEAWAY: As marketers, we have the opportunity to produce epic pieces of work. Campaigns that can steer our businesses into new territory overnight.  The key to success is in your leadership, your planning and your attention to detail. Making the most of the team around you and working to launch your project on time and on budget. It’s a job that requires many hats and the support and focus of those around you. Now, let’s start planning your next epic business story.

The red carpet awaits….

Marketing Campaigns Awaiting The Red Carpet

 

 

 

 


Written By:
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Ian Rhodes

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First employee of an ecommerce startup back in 1998. I've been using building and growing ecommerce brands ever since (including my own). Get weekly growth lessons from my own work delivered to your inbox below.

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