Storytelling is a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation.  And although how the stories are told has changed, the intrinsic quality of sharing a story has remained the same.  Storytelling can be used to communicate history, impart wisdom, and provide entertainment.  From a business perspective storytelling is a way to convey a message with your audience that makes your listeners feel included.  How you choose to tell your story impacts the audience you attract and the overall perception of your brand.

As interactive storytellers, naturally we are excited Facebook Timeline has officially launched for all brands!  According to Jamie Tedford of Forbes “the entire Facebook platform is organized around the generation and amplification of stories.”  The Timeline presents the opportunity to document the history of your brand and really share your story from the very beginning.  Don’t think of it as simply an update on Facebook but rather as a short story within the larger framework of your brand’s novel.

You can approach storytelling multiple ways. For example, we designed and developed a 3D city for Faro as an interactive map with products placed in situations throughout the environment, inviting audience exploration.  As user moves through the city, they gain an understanding of overall story of how Faro products are used in large variety of situations, and they also discover how specific products benefit targeted applications.  Through this layered approach, Faro is telling the story of their product within an interactive 3D city.

Another method to tell a story is through interactive presenting, ideally you as the presenter will take the foreground of the presentation.  The goal is to create opportunities for dialogue through interacting with the presentation, rather than just a monologue. The iPad is one of the best tools to achieve this style of presenting.  Our clients have found the level of interactivity astounding.  There’s just something about physically sliding an object along the screen that gives you a sense of involvement and participation.  One of our designers compared the interactivity of the iPad to the first time he had electric car windows. “Even though the motion is simple, the fact that you can interact with it is thrilling.”

Now back to the Facebook Timeline, its interactivity comes from apps that create “custom actions.”  These custom actions are crucial because they enable customers to interact with your brand by telling good stories. This in turn helps build brand loyalty because the brand becomes more than just a product.  And creating interactive stories “is the key to both acquiring new customers while engaging and retaining your existing ones,” says Tedford.  Facebook Timeline is by no means the end all be all of storytelling but it is a great place to start collecting the chapters that complete your brand’s story.

Like many enterprise level solutions, your product is not easily accessible to the public, but your boss says you need to find a way to demo it more effectively to increase sales. So how can you show it to a prospect without spending lots of money flying them into your facility, scheduling technicians, equipment and conference space?

A product demonstration does more than just prove a product exists, it proves it works. When done correctly, a product demo allows the prospect to not only see how the product interacts with other technologies, it brings to light how the business will benefit when the solution is implemented. Therefore, a “one size fits all” demonstration usually isn’t the best approach. Various businesses will share just as many needs as they don’t, and depending on the role of the viewer, what they’re interested in learning will be different as well. That means research. Time to do some homework!

Determine the different roles that comprise your target audience. Are they managers with some technical background, or C-level and only interested in the business benefits. How will these people socialize the demo? Does this mean there is more than one type of person watching it? How much time would they realistically have to watch this demo? Once you’ve defined your audience segment, the next step is to find out what motivates them, what keeps them up at night, what would they hope to accomplish, what problems do they need to solve?

Once you’ve got a clear picture of your target audience and how you can help them solve their needs, you’re ready to start drafting your script. It’s best to start with an outline to ensure your script touches on ALL the major hot buttons for your audience. Then craft the story, using the product or solution as the visual hook that makes the story real.

Once your script is outlined, it’s usually a good idea to share it internally with other stakeholders to see if your messaging strategy is on target.  The next step is to draft your script by weaving in the capabilities with the benefits while keeping run time in mind. If the demo is going to show screenshot walk-throughs, having a subject matter expert (SME) capture a Camtasia recording with narrative can go a long way in adding real-world details where needed. Once the script is drafted, it’s time to socialize with your SMEs to make sure the relevant points accurately reflect the solution.

Once it’s back in your hands for editing, we like to recommend you read the script aloud to get a sense for pacing and flow. Is there a lot of “marketing speak”? Are there run-on sentences, tongue-twisters? These are very common when writing for print and should be edited to allow for a smooth voice-over narrative. Will the demo be translated for localization? If yes, you should avoid English specific terms and slang. After your final editing pass, you’re ready to hand it off to CGI Interactive to bring your demo to life with some killer graphics.

First, we’ll review your script to ensure it meets all the goals and objectives, then we’ll storyboard the script coordinating visuals for each message point in your story, we’ll recommend a voice talent, record the audio, and finally sync the visuals to the audio and add animation and interactivity as needed. All the while collaborating with your team to ensure expectations are met.

Once completed you can post it on your website behind a form to capture leads, or maybe you want to post it on YouTube, or you just want to deliver it to your sales team for desktop or tablet playback.

Are you ready to create a killer product demo? Let us help you get started.

Lately, CGI has encountered more and more requests for videos using illustrations rather than the traditional use of photography and vector graphics. Illustrations are a great way to bring personality to your video, and also useful as training tools.

A more recent example is a corporate overview that we did for WorldAPP (currently featured in our portfolio). They were looking for a way to explain their offering at a high level so that those who may not have an intimate understanding of their technology could quickly and easily see the benefits of working with WorldAPP. CGI illustrated personas for each of the various roles that members of their target audience might fall into. These personas wove together into a story that addressed the needs of a business from the top down. They also helped to make the piece more relatable and injected some humor while remaining very informative.

Another popular use for illustrated demos is sketching as if using a whiteboard. This is common for internal training videos so businesses can send out to their sales force. The objective is that the sales team or channel partners can then recreate these whiteboard diagrams and graphics when speaking with prospects as a way to better explain their products and solutions.

Since all of the illustrations are hand-drawn, this is a very flexible style of design and the possibilities are endless. What are some interesting illustrated demo samples that you have seen?