From Idea to Jaw-Dropping Visual Brand Experience: The Key Ingredients of a Game-Changing Storyboard
Learn how to create a storyboard that:
1) cohesively tells your brand’s best story and
2) creates the opportunity for innovation, creativity, and impact.
How do we create storyboards that work?
When it comes to the creative process, each team has its superpowers.
Maybe you create stellar visuals, but struggle to write compelling copy. Maybe you’ve nailed the language of your message, but your visuals don’t land the kind of impact you’re after.
A solid storyboard relays every element of your project - visuals, words, sound, message, brand voice, colors, style - clearly and cohesively.
With the level of detail, you’ll find in a good storyboard, you can plan how you will elicit emotion and turn your visuals into a visual brand experience.
From there, you can directly translate your ideas, message, and creativity into a finished video that compels your audience to take action.
Let’s do this.
Create a strong foundation and develop a creative brief.
A strong foundation is the place to start in today’s digital marketing landscape.
Your creative brief is your foundation and scaffolding, giving you the space to set the tone and purpose of your project. (For more on writing a solid creative brief, check out our guides .)
Considering your audience, message, and goals, brainstorm 1) what types of emotions you want to elicit, 2) identify your tone (fun and funky? Sacred and sage?) and 3) plan how you will turn your visuals into a visual brand experience (we’re talking videography, photography, and video post-production that share a single cohesive story).
Develop an emotional story arc.
Think of the last book you read or movie you watched that transported you fully into the moment, elicited strong emotion, and created a lasting impression.
That’s the goal of your story arc.
Whether using on-screen copy or scripting through voiceover, measure your story for impact from beginning to end.
Do you take your audience on a journey with a precise setting, rising action, climax, and resolution?
An emotional and inspiring vision for the future of PlanOmatic
Does every single word pack a punch?
Do the visuals work to elevate and expand the story arc rather than provide a direct, literal interpretation? (Show and tell!)
Without a strong story arc, the best creative brief in the world won’t hold up to the rising tide of competition for your audience’s attention.
Identify the visuals you’ll use to support your story.
You’ve got some decisions to make here that have the chance to elevate the way you share your message from pretty good to off-the-chain.
Will you…
Use videography and photography captured in a produced shoot?
Map and capture visuals at your live experience?
Use stock footage?
Hire an animator or graphic designer?
Think of your visual choices as a menu: You can order as few or as many as you want, but you have to be sure they’re worth it. Make your decision with intentionality as each type of visual resonates with your audience in a different way. In other words, each visual you drop into your storyboard must ladder back to your story arc and uphold your original creative brief.
Stock Footage
Dynamic Graphics
Captured B-Roll
Captivating Text
Determine the best-fit storyboarding program to use for you and your team.
Once again, you’ve got options. At O Hello Media, we leverage Google Slides for collaboration-forward editing and feedback and an uber-visual representation of what the project will look like, frame-by-frame.
Other storyboarding options:
Look for the ease factor in creating visuals, copy, layout, and frame-by-frame structuring to ensure each element aligns with your creative vision.
No matter the storyboarding format or tool you choose, ensure that it’s the right fit for your team and gives you the space to get clear and creative with your message.
Screenshot sample of storyboard for PlanOmatic Vision Video
Bring it to life.
Time to put everything together. Alleviate confusion and create space for more innovation and creativity by spending time on the details.
Describe in as much detail as possible how every visual will appear on-screen.
Using captured or stock footage? Take a screenshot and include the hyperlink to the recommended clip or frame.
Incorporating text and graphics? Create and include them in the storyboard precisely as they should appear in the final product. Consider and communicate font, color, kerning, and positioning. (This is where a graphic designer can take your project to the next level.)
Communicate the audio elements of your project, including music, sound effects, or footage audio.
Finally, compare your storyboard to the creative brief. Ensure your message is as clear, cohesive, and impactful as possible.
Example Description:
Text appears on screen one word after the other and populates into “ticker” slats
Example Transition
Title card fades and stock footage appears, copy populates screen as stock video footage blurs and darkens slightly so copy is legible
Takeaways/Conclusions/The Nutshell
Does every element - visual, auditory, language - fuel the same message and story as the original vision outlined in your creative brief? If it does, you’ll end up with a storyboard powerfully close to the final project, eliminating hours of back-and-forth clarification and ensuring efficiency from the word go.
We also recommend you present your storyboard live, creating the opportunity for you to put the pieces together for your client. This reduces confusion and creates a creative and collaborative space for all stakeholders to share their voices and brainstorm ideas for elevating and expanding the visual brand experience.
Ready to approach your visual brand experience from your perspective, without all the legwork? We got you.
O Hello Media combines our expertise in project management with premier experiential photographers and videographers worldwide, and we’re standing by to take your project from idea to jaw-dropping storytelling.
“O Hello Media’s Creative team developed a storyboard, which brough our vision to life by creatively positioning our producs with the target audience in mind. This allowed us to increase brand awareness and lead generation for our sales team.” — Natalie Passerini, SVP of Growth - PlanOmatic
