St. Louis, MO – November 11, 2022 – It may sound so basic to say it this way but knowing your target audience is the most important aspect of any communication, including any video storytelling.

Before you undertake any communication, you should answer the following questions.

1. Who is my target audience?

2. What is the purpose of my communication?

The purpose of a communication can go beyond conveying a message, but it most certainly must contain a message. What I mean is that purpose of a communication may be to prompt to action not just deliver a message.

The purpose of this communication (i.e. the blog post) is to drive home the point that you must know your audience before you do any video storytelling.

Who is the intended audience you want to watch your story?

And, by the way, it is a total cop out to say everyone is your audience. I want everyone to watch my story. I’m trying to reach everyone. Really?

You should be more rigorous with yourself when answering that question.

I’m not trying to reach everyone with this blog. I’m only trying to reach an audience of people interested in video storytelling. I am absolutely banking on SEO and my social sharing strategy to make that connection. If I had the budget, I could also pay to reach my target audience.

Knowing your target when you are paying to reach them is very important otherwise you may over pay or reach people you don’t want to reach.

The reason we want to reach people interested in video storytelling is we want to be a trusted source on the topic of video storytelling. We are working to build a brand identity for the ultimate purpose of selling professional video storytelling as a service. That starts with building a relationship based on trust. And we are operating from a philosophy espoused by the great social media philosopher & all around guru Gary Vaynerchuk that we live in “ The Thank You Economy ”.

While you can buy his book, the gist of the message is give-away good advice for free and your audience will become your customers. I believe that. Gary Vee says it better – albiet with a lot of F-bombs added for spice.

I’d like to tell you I have my audience target down to drone strike accuracy, but I don’t. That is mostly a measure of the fact that we are still honing our target customer down. It might be a PR agency head. A creative director at content marketing company or even a small business owner. Honestly, it is anyone interested in telling a story with video.

If it is a grandmother who is interested in telling her story, it is helpful to get a sense of who she is trying to reach. T he grandkids? Her kids. Future generations?

That video may look different than if her target audience are the girls down at the beauty shop.

Knowing your audience first is the key to good video storytelling. The reason it is so important is that it informs everything you do, including how you frame the story. If you are framing a story for kids versus adults, it looks and sounds different. Same is true with business stories. Sometimes your storytelling may be targeting potential investors, or other industry colleagues.

It is very difficult to create one size fits all targets storytelling. When that is the case, I’m a firm believer it has to be see spot simple with universal themes and 4th grade language. Too often businesses will fall into corporate jargon and lose their audience.

We have all seen those law enforcement interviews on the evening news. It is filled with “ cop speak ”. You know what I mean. “ The alleged perpetrator gained entry into the dwelling .” Translated, “ the bad guy broke into the house .”

Which one of the statements would the 4th grader understand and which one was designed to keep the lawyers happy?

As a general rule-of-thumb we try to coach clients to avoid jargon and talking above the audience. That said, if the story is designed by scientist to reach other scientists then keep talking science.

The point is to be clear about your target audience in video storytelling.

About STORYSMART

You have a story to tell, but don't have the time or resources to do it yourself. Telling your story well with video can be hard. And let’s be brutally honest. No app will turn you into a great filmmaker. Few people are capable of producing a do-it-yourself (DIY) video or film we actually want to watch, much less remember.

To do justice to your story on screen, you need the right skills and equipment, not to mention time, money and talent.

That is why STORYSMART developed our premium video storytelling as a service. We are here to help clients tell their story in the amazing way they deserve with a proprietary done-for-you video storytelling service unlike any other.

STORYSMART provides a nationwide premium video storytelling service that empowers individuals, families, celebrities, small businesses and other organizations to have their stories told professionally while still retaining their intellectual property rights.

STORYSMART provides clients an experienced television reporter or journalist filmmaker to help them tell their story following our proprietary high-integrity brand journalism system. Our transparently priced premium services for businesses and families ensures that each client gets an authentic, high-quality story they own the intellectual property rights on forever.

About Ron Watermon

Ron Watermon is the founder and CEO of STORYSMART, a premium video storytelling technology startup that empowers anyone to have their stories told professionally while ensuring they retain the intellectual property rights on their productions.

A creative and innovative communications leader with nearly three decades of experience, prior to founding STORYSMART to provide Storytelling for all, Ron Watermon was responsible for modernizing the St. Louis Cardinals communications by leading the team’s investment in video storytelling, brand journalism, fan engagement and social media.