The Power of Brand Videos and Emotional Storytelling

1 - > Eric Eden : We are talking about the power of video and branding 2 - > , and we have the perfect guest to help us talk about that today 3 - > Mariana, welcome to the show. 4 - > Thanks, eric, great to be here. 5 - > So why don't we start off by you sharing just a little bit 6 - > about who you are and what you do? 7 - > Mariana Henninger : Yeah for sure.

8 - > So I am a documentary filmmaker , emmy award-winning documentary 9 - > filmmaker turned entrepreneur. 10 - > I'm the founder of brandmagneticcom, and a bit 11 - > about my business is that I was able to bring a lot of my 12 - > passion from documentary filmmaking. 13 - > So to me, documentaries are films that you watch and you are 14 - > moved to take action or you are highly empathetic to somebody 15 - > whose lives or whose experience you never thought you could feel 16 - > empathy for or have never been in their shoes.

17 - > And so my background you know. 18 - > For 15 years I worked at the New York Times, the Wall Street 19 - > Journal, time Magazine. 20 - > I was at NBC for about five years. 21 - > That was my latest sort of corporate gig and I traveled the 22 - > world.

23 - > I went to Haiti and Afghanistan and the Middle East and Ukraine 24 - > and Finland and all over the world, really building trust 25 - > with people very, very quickly so that in a matter of one, two, 26 - > three days I could tell their story, I could have them trust 27 - > me that I could do their story justice in a very short format. 28 - > So it was a lot about building trust fast, but also knowing 29 - > which parts of their story are going to create the most impact 30 - > for people watching.

31 - > And so and I did work on some longer films, but my sweet spot 32 - > was anywhere from like two to 10 minutes, and so I also knew 33 - > that I was a closeted entrepreneur. 34 - > I knew I never wanted to ask for a raise again. 35 - > After spending about a year negotiating my last raise at NBC 36 - > and for many reasons, I realized like I really need to 37 - > spend time building my own business and just owning what 38 - > I'm doing and owning how I'm doing it and not having to ask 39 - > anyone for permission and just like following my own heart with 40 - > what I'm doing and owning how I'm doing it and not having to 41 - > ask anyone for permission and just like following my own heart 42 - > with what I wanted to do.

43 - > And so that's why I left my corporate job to start Brand 44 - > Magnetic and essentially Brand Magnetic. 45 - > I focus on creating brand videos which are two to three 46 - > minute videosideos. 47 - > That tells people's stories, like business owner stories, in 48 - > a way that creates a deep personal and emotional 49 - > connection very, very quickly, and it does it at scale. 50 - > Right.

51 - > If you're able to pack that punch inside of one single video 52 - > and place it top of funnel in all sorts of different places so 53 - > that everyone coming into your universe watches that one video, 54 - > you're able to essentially create a personal connection at 55 - > scale, because we know that, like having a coffee chat with 56 - > every single person that signs up for your lead magnet, is just 57 - > not doable. 58 - > So that's where the concept of the brand video came to play.

59 - > Eric Eden : That's awesome. 60 - > I know you've done a lot of these brand videos for your 61 - > clients and I think you've also done a really great one for 62 - > yourself. 63 - > Why don't you tell us a little bit? 64 - > About some of the remarkable video you've done there.

65 - > Mariana Henninger : Yeah, for sure. 66 - > So we have different types of services. 67 - > Our main core service is either a done for you brand video, so 68 - > those are the more higher end. 69 - > We work with cinematographers really like folks editing these 70 - > brand videos.

71 - > On my team We'll edit, you know , hbo trailers or Netflix 72 - > trailers, so they're really really a high end talent that we 73 - > bring on for each of the videos . 74 - > But we also I also have a program where I help people do 75 - > this on their own, literally on their phone, and so that's 76 - > called the Brand Video Accelerator. 77 - > And, as you mentioned, I've had clients you know, both students 78 - > in my program and clients that I've done for them. 79 - > But I've also really, you know, could have nudged by a lot of 80 - > people around me and for myself, you know, because I believe in 81 - > brand video so much, I knew that I had to create my own.

82 - > I wanted this to work for me and it you know, I won't lie to 83 - > you it was hard doing for myself . 84 - > I the way that I sort of describe it is, you can be the 85 - > best surgeon in the world, but performing surgery on yourself 86 - > is going to be really challenging, and so I went 87 - > through the challenge of really understanding, like, okay, what 88 - > parts of my story going through my own framework, if you will 89 - > understanding what parts of my story resonate.

90 - > How can I tell it in a way that really packs that punch in a 91 - > short amount of time? 92 - > And eventually I created my own brand video. 93 - > Eric Eden : And what was the hardest thing about doing that 94 - > for yourself? 95 - > And what is the hardest thing that you see working with 96 - > clients on creating the brand video?

97 - > Like what's the hardest part about doing it? 98 - > Mariana Henninger : I think people probably struggle in a 99 - > couple of different aspects of it. 100 - > Sometimes Some people, I think, okay. 101 - > So I think the biggest struggle that some of the folks coming 102 - > through my program have had is when they don't know their 103 - > audience well enough, and this is a point that I push really, 104 - > really strongly, because we're not just creating a video that 105 - > looks good or that feels good.

106 - > It's not just your origin story . 107 - > Your brand video is really a very curated, intentional brand 108 - > story that creates that emotional connection. 109 - > So you're coming into my program with the promise that 110 - > this video is actually gonna make a difference in your 111 - > business. 112 - > It's a marketing tool, but that doesn't feel like a marketing 113 - > video, like most marketing videos, where you have, you know 114 - > , really articulated copy, if you will, and then you have a 115 - > call to action.

116 - > You're essentially feeling that the end result of the brand 117 - > video is trust. 118 - > You're accelerating trust by watching that video, and so in 119 - > order to do that, you have to know your audience deeply. 120 - > It is your story that we're telling, but at the end of the 121 - > day, it's all about them and their feelings and what's in it 122 - > for them. 123 - > So that's the end goal, that's the North Star, and we're just 124 - > using your story as the vehicle to get us to those feelings, and 125 - > so the struggle that some of my students have had is because 126 - > they don't know their audience well enough.

127 - > It's hard for us to then reverse engineer from that into 128 - > their story. 129 - > For me, my struggle was because , again, I was doing it for 130 - > myself, and so I had to be really intentional about 131 - > listening to feedback, even more so than my own gut feeling 132 - > about things. 133 - > And so, for example, my brand video, which folks listening to 134 - > this can watch it at brandmagneticcom slash Mariana 135 - > M-A-R-I-A-N-A. 136 - > If you go listen to that, come right back, listen to the rest 137 - > of this conversation.

138 - > But in my brand video I essentially talk about the story 139 - > of when I was a little girl, and the end goal that I wanted 140 - > to get to was that I'd been an entrepreneur my whole life, and 141 - > so the story that I chose was when I was a little girl, about 142 - > seven years old, I asked my dad to bother my neighbors to empty 143 - > out their garden shed so that I could build a little school in 144 - > there, because I realized that I had something that, as a first 145 - > grader, that kindergartners didn't have I knew how to read, 146 - > and I knew that I could teach these kindergartners how to read 147 - > and in exchange you get paid 25 cents a lesson.

148 - > So I called it the ultimate low ticket course. 149 - > I had recurring revenue, all of these things. 150 - > And there's a little hiccup in the story because kids started 151 - > showing up without the quarter for the day, and so I write this 152 - > letter to the parents, which luckily, my parents kept. 153 - > So I read the letter in the video and anyway.

154 - > So I told that story of, like, this young entrepreneur, mariana 155 - > , before she became a filmmaker, won an Emmy, was nominated 156 - > again and then eventually became an entrepreneur after this 157 - > career in filmmaking. 158 - > But originally I was going to tell a completely different 159 - > story which I won't get into, but that was, you know, it was 160 - > kind of like which story to choose. 161 - > I had to very much listen to my audience and not only hear what 162 - > they were resonating with but hear what parts of my 163 - > personality they were most attracted to.

164 - > So it is part of my framework, that first portion I just talked 165 - > about, which is knowing your audience really deeply. 166 - > The second step of my process is what I call the neon fox. 167 - > It's knowing yourself really deeply through the eyes of your 168 - > audience, which is very it's kind of different than just 169 - > knowing yourself right. 170 - > It's knowing what people love about you?

171 - > Why did they buy from you specifically? 172 - > So that was definitely a challenge, just like you know, 173 - > being able to teach this so well , but then doing it for myself, 174 - > without a guide, if you will was hard. 175 - > Eric Eden : Yeah, I can imagine. 176 - > So what makes the videos that you've worked on with your 177 - > clients, what makes them remarkable or exceptional, like 178 - > the best ones that you've done?

179 - > What are the things that you look at and you're like, wow, 180 - > that was really great because of X, Y, Z. 181 - > Mariana Henninger : I think the thing that most stands out, in 182 - > addition to knowing how well curated the actual story is. 183 - > So that's the big one, actually . 184 - > So I'll mention two things.

185 - > One is that we're not just telling the story of this person 186 - > , we're not just telling Eric's story. 187 - > You know the way that you would , maybe on your about me page, 188 - > if you know if you haven't done some with this brand story work, 189 - > or you know if people ask you like, hey, eric, why did you 190 - > become an entrepreneur? 191 - > Why did you start podcasting? 192 - > Right?

193 - > So the way that the story is crafted is incredibly 194 - > intentional, in that every word is chosen for a reason, and 195 - > every part of the story, and obviously the story itself, is 196 - > chosen for the reason of creating trust, and so that is, 197 - > like, very much, the foundation of this whole thing. 198 - > The second, though, is that we are using the video format to 199 - > the max. 200 - > Like, the visuals that we use in brand videos are not just 201 - > B-roll, right.

202 - > They're not just illustrations of what's being said. 203 - > I don't even call it B-roll, I call it emotional visuals, and 204 - > the reason I do that is because your visuals should really be a 205 - > character in your story. 206 - > They should be pushing certain feelings and certain emotions, 207 - > creating what's called narrative transportation, which is 208 - > basically when people shut off the parts of the brain when 209 - > they're thinking oh, I'm going to be, eric's going to sell me 210 - > something, eric's going to talk to me about his program.

211 - > Now, how much is it going to cost? 212 - > Can I afford it? 213 - > What will my spouse say, am I spending too much money on my 214 - > business? 215 - > They don't think about any of that.

216 - > All they're thinking about is like oh my gosh, eric's an 217 - > awesome guy, like he gets me and he cares for me and he's an 218 - > expert. 219 - > Those are the three sort of takeaways that a brand video 220 - > should imprint very deeply, you know, in the emotional state of 221 - > the person watching your brand video. 222 - > So, obviously, with my done for you clients, we're, we're 223 - > really using high end, beautiful cinematography to express and 224 - > show these emotional visuals.

225 - > They're typically, you know, visuals that really express a 226 - > feeling way more than illustrate the information. 227 - > You know they're. 228 - > They're things that make you feel, illustrate the information 229 - > you know they're things that make you feel. 230 - > So, for example, I rely a lot on nature.

231 - > You know I recently worked with some clients who were in the 232 - > fitness space and so a lot of their expression, or that maybe 233 - > they were outside doing a workout and they gaze out on the 234 - > water and it sounds cheesy, as I'm describing, but it's 235 - > actually really beautiful. 236 - > They were able to do it like very authentically. 237 - > It's a lot about, you know, making them feel comfortable in 238 - > front of the camera too. 239 - > So there's there's part of that work there as well.

240 - > I'll give you another example of a student of mine from the 241 - > Brandvid Accelerator program. 242 - > Her name is Julia. 243 - > She's the pot known as the podcast teacher, and so one of 244 - > the things that we relied on. 245 - > We knew that her students loved her love of systems and order, 246 - > and so we show her, you know, putting markers in rainbow order 247 - > , because that's what she used to do when she was a little girl 248 - > , and she talks about that.

249 - > You know it's a jigsaw puzzle. 250 - > A puzzle is basically something that's really complicated and 251 - > then when you put it together, it all makes sense Right. 252 - > It all makes sense right, and so it's looking for visuals that 253 - > are going to really express a deeper feeling or a deeper part 254 - > of your personality, versus, just like I said, covering your 255 - > film. 256 - > Eric Eden : That's great, I think, a unique way to tell the 257 - > story that you don't usually tell in your about me 258 - > description.

259 - > And the power of the video is likely very important, because 260 - > people are much more likely to watch something for a couple of 261 - > minutes rather than to read a long thing. 262 - > In today's market. 263 - > That's, that's my assumption is people are just more used to 264 - > that today, right? 265 - > Mariana Henninger : That's my assumption is people are just 266 - > more used to that today, right?

267 - > Actually, I think it's both. 268 - > I've seen evidence that some people prefer to read. 269 - > I think this is a little bit depending on where you're at. 270 - > I think if you're on social media platforms, tendency to 271 - > read is less You're used to.

272 - > You're expecting a video video, although carousels are doing 273 - > really well, but we're literally talking about very short 274 - > sentences at a time. 275 - > Um, the goal with the brand video is to keep them pumped 276 - > right. 277 - > We're not assuming anything. 278 - > We're not assuming that they're going to keep watching, and so 279 - > all of the principles of really good video apply in that.

280 - > We're still very intentional about that first sentence, about 281 - > those first visuals. 282 - > We tend to like draw them in with something fast-paced, with 283 - > something like really curiosity inducing. 284 - > We don't like really slow. 285 - > There's no slow entry here as you would in a documentary.

286 - > You know, feature-length film have a bit more of that 287 - > flexibility. 288 - > You know, if you've got people inside of a theater watching a 289 - > movie, you've got a captive audience. 290 - > There's nowhere else to look but the screen. 291 - > Obviously, that's not the case with how we consume a brand 292 - > video.

293 - > So I think what it does do is really bring your story to life. 294 - > You know, I think most of us, when we write our About Me page, 295 - > we write it kind of reluctantly . 296 - > It's kind of uncomfortable to write about ourselves and we 297 - > don't look at it for years. 298 - > Right, it's like, oh, we checked it off our list.

299 - > Okay, I have some text that hopefully somebody will read it. 300 - > But our About Me page is the second most visited page on any 301 - > website. 302 - > It is highly, highly visible real estate inside of our 303 - > ecosystem and, to your point, we're just typically just 304 - > writing something there and hoping people will read it when 305 - > instead, if you could put a brand video there I mean, I've 306 - > had people mention it over and over you know, having watched it 307 - > on my about me page or having seen it on my signature, that 308 - > this is the awesome thing about the brand video too.

309 - > It goes in so many different places. 310 - > It's the most used video in your ecosystem by far. 311 - > Because it can go, it should go pinned on your social media 312 - > profiles, your email signature, your about me page. 313 - > If you're the face of your company, put it on your home 314 - > page as well.

315 - > Goes on your sales page when you have, you know blurb about 316 - > you when you're again selling something right there. 317 - > I use it in our welcome sequences. 318 - > I encourage my students and clients to do that as well. 319 - > I have a little text that I shoot somebody every time I get 320 - > a new follower on Instagram.

321 - > If I'm not too busy that day, I'll copy that text, and it has 322 - > my braided video there as well. 323 - > It's like thanks for following me. 324 - > I'd love to get to know you. 325 - > Blah, blah, blah.

326 - > Here's my brand video, anyway. 327 - > So there's a lot of use for that brand video, and the hook 328 - > is certainly important too. 329 - > Eric Eden : Is doing a brand video something that everyone 330 - > should do? 331 - > Is it something everyone who's working on their personal brand 332 - > should do?

333 - > How do you think about that? 334 - > Mariana Henninger : I think, more and more, we're buying from 335 - > people whose values we align with. 336 - > We want to spend money intentionally. 337 - > More than ever, we don't want to spend money on people who we 338 - > know are doing things that we disagree with, and so the more 339 - > that brands align with values, the more that they should show 340 - > what their values are, and brands have been doing that for 341 - > a long time.

342 - > So the answer is absolutely yes If you want to connect with 343 - > your customers, if you believe that knowing who you are is 344 - > going to impact your offer and trust me, it does Like 345 - > statistics show us that people again buy based on the values of 346 - > the company that the company represents. 347 - > And so you know, I've worked with folks in e-commerce. 348 - > I've worked with folks, but I most primarily work with folks 349 - > who are the face sometimes not the name, but at least the face 350 - > of their brand.

351 - > But I've also worked with folks who were typically behind the 352 - > scenes and realized that they're missing out on something really 353 - > great. 354 - > You know, people want to connect with the person behind 355 - > the brand. 356 - > I think of Jessica Alba with the Honest Company, lots of 357 - > folks whose names are now the face of their brand or who are 358 - > well-known personality behind that brand. 359 - > People gravitate to the brand even more so because of that 360 - > behind that brand.

361 - > Eric Eden : People gravitate to the brand even more so because 362 - > of that. 363 - > I think if people use all the distribution methods that you 364 - > mentioned from highlighting their website to their social 365 - > profiles to including it in email sequences I think there's 366 - > a lot of places to use it and it could be the most used video in 367 - > your library, like you're saying. 368 - > So I think that's some great advice. 369 - > Anything else that you want to share about the secret to 370 - > creating great brand videos?

371 - > Mariana Henninger : I think it's all about understanding what's 372 - > going to build trust, first and foremost, in your audience. 373 - > You know, before we started recording, we were talking about 374 - > this awesome success story that my clients have had, but also 375 - > that I've had. 376 - > You know, I had a 600% increase in my launch revenue after 377 - > launching my brand video. 378 - > I had people literally telling me this works.

379 - > I have just bought your program because I watch your brand 380 - > video. 381 - > So, above everything that I had been doing, you know, objection 382 - > handling and future pacing and creating scarcity and urgency, 383 - > like all of the other marketing things that I've been doing, 384 - > helped. 385 - > But once they watched my brand video, they were like I'm sold 386 - > on you, and that is the biggest important concept that I want to 387 - > leave with your listeners is the idea that once people are 388 - > sold on you, they will buy anything you sell right, as long 389 - > as it's not something completely unnecessary.

390 - > And even so, there are use cases for people buying those 391 - > things out of being super fans. 392 - > But the idea is that there are three types of buyers. 393 - > There are people who buy from you without knowing you, and 394 - > that's typically. 395 - > You know, we get ads for things and we're like I don't know who 396 - > this person is, but the copy is really good and it's speaking 397 - > to my pain point.

398 - > That's a very big pain point that I have and it's kind of a 399 - > low ticket thing. 400 - > I'm not going to think about it , I'm going to just buy it. 401 - > I have like millions of swipe files and templates and things 402 - > that I've bought in that way and I forgot that I bought them. 403 - > I didn't have any connection with the person selling them.

404 - > The second type of buyer are people who buy from you because 405 - > they know you. 406 - > So if you're persuasive enough, if you really have good, all of 407 - > these good marketing strategies , chances are you might be able 408 - > to make that sale. 409 - > And the third kind of buyer is the buyer who buys from you 410 - > because they trust you. 411 - > That is the easiest buyer to sell to.

412 - > That is by far the easiest buy. 413 - > They're already sold on you. 414 - > They already trust you. 415 - > They trust that whatever you offer them is going to be good 416 - > and that you stand behind what you're offering them.

417 - > They also trust that you get them deeply, that you care about 418 - > them and that you're an expert. 419 - > Those are the three things that your brand video is going to 420 - > convey to them in one go. 421 - > So the idea that you can create one single video that lives top 422 - > of funnel that everyone sees and that can get them so much 423 - > closer to buying from you. 424 - > And that can get them so much closer to buying from you.

425 - > And, by the way, one of the things that led me to create the 426 - > brand video is the fact that I was signing up for all these 427 - > lead magnets and I was getting emails from random people. 428 - > I'm like, who the heck is this person? 429 - > I can't remember, I couldn't get track of who everyone is, 430 - > and that's where I realized like there has to be a way to create 431 - > that personal connection. 432 - > I won't ever forget Eric right Now I obviously won't because 433 - > we're chatting but had I signed up for a lead magnet from you?

434 - > It might've been, you know, or I'm amusing you as an example 435 - > but for most people, you sign up for something, you connect with 436 - > them, you start following them on social and you can't remember 437 - > who the heck they are. 438 - > So that's why it takes six to 12 months to build that trust, 439 - > because you have to have so many touch points seven hours of 440 - > touch points, you know, some study show. 441 - > So the idea that you can accelerate that process so much 442 - > by having just a single two to three minute video, that does 443 - > the heavy lifting for you when you're doing other stuff is just 444 - > incredible and super excited about it.

445 - > Eric Eden : I think that's great advice and you have a resource 446 - > that people can go to that I can link to in the show notes. 447 - > But can you just talk about that for a minute. 448 - > Mariana Henninger : Yeah, absolutely. 449 - > You were asking about what's a good way to make a great brand 450 - > video, right?

451 - > So I have the ultimate cheat sheet for a brand story that 452 - > converts. 453 - > So your brand story is basically the foundation of your 454 - > brand video, and you can grab that awesome cheat sheet at 455 - > brandmagneticcom slash cheat sheet. 456 - > It lays it all out for you there. 457 - > And I'd also love to connect with folks on Instagram.

458 - > If that's a platform that you use, just find me on at brand 459 - > magnetic. 460 - > Feel free to shoot me a DM, a voice message. 461 - > I reply to everyone. 462 - > My DMs are open.

463 - > If you have any questions or if you just want to say hello, I 464 - > am happy to connect with you there. 465 - > Eric Eden : Awesome. 466 - > Thank you very much for for sharing that resource, for being 467 - > on the show today and sharing your insights. 468 - > We appreciate it, Thank you.

469 - > Mariana Henninger : Thanks, Eric .