How To Write The Perfect YouTube Product Demo

The YouTube product demonstration is a modern marketing essential. Here is how to nail your script & increase conversions.

Copywriting is a comprehensive service. Long gone are the days of your agency writer getting away with chalking up a few blogs and web copy alone. Today, an employable copywriter must be able to write articles, blogs, emails, eBooks, social media, white papers and anything else that can go from words to conversions. 

What’s more, their words have to be especially good, as the Internet’s content library is ever-expanding, and so if you’re going to write you might as well do it extremely well. And, what is content marketing if not writing in its various digital incarnations, so any talented writer should be able to apply their skills to different digital formats. 

One of such formats includes the perfect YouTube script. YouTube has become one of the best places to market your brand as consumers ever-so-surely move away from reading blogs to watching scripted content. You are far more likely to grab your audience’s attention with engaging video content than even the most compelling blog.

As a writer, this should make me sad, but I also love scriptwriting, so I’m going to talk you through how to write a YouTube script:

1. Know your audience & your objectives

All content begins with a brief and a strategy designed to optimise your audience reach and achieve your objectives. So, before you even think about writing, ask yourself, “who are we trying to reach and what do we want to achieve by reaching them?”.

For example, you might run a home hardware online store and are looking to build awareness (YouTube can do so by up to 195%) about a new hand saw range. Therefore, a great idea would be to make a product demonstration video on how the new power saw range is perfect for cutting dovetail joints. 

In your perfect YouTube script, you will use the new hand saw to show your audience how to cut dovetail joints before ending the video with a call-to-action (CTA) that encourages them to buy that particular hand saw (or at least check them out at your online store). Knowing your audience and what you want to achieve by reaching them is the first step towards a compelling YouTube video

2. Make your outline

Now that you know your audience and what you want to achieve by reaching them it is time to write your outline. Don’t worry, you’re not developing the script for Dune: Part Three, and so you don’t have to go overboard with minute details.

However, if you want to know how to write a YouTube script, it is important that you come up with a rough outline to give you an idea of how, exactly, your script is going to play out.

Let’s go back to our hand saw example and how a brand awareness product demonstration could play out:

• The hook: Because every good digital marketing video needs a strong hook to grab the audience. In this case, you could mention a common paint point that home DIYers and tradies alike experience with hand saws. Let’s say you’re making a video about achieving consistently clean dovetail cuts with a hand saw. You will start with a hook like “ever wondered why you don’t achieve consistently clean dovetail cuts with a hand saw?” as this directly addresses the pain point and what can be done to fix it.

• Introduce your product: You can now introduce your product as the solution to the problem. Here, you will say something like, “well I’m here today with the Pony Jorgensen 10in Dovetail Saw which is known for its ridiculously clean cuts”. You can then provide a brief product overview and why it’s perfect for clean cuts.

• Product features & benefits: You can then explain the hand saw’s features and benefits regarding creating the cleanest wood cut. You can show cutaways to how each feature works in action i.e. showing its fine cut teeth that are simply perfect for dovetailing.

• Product demonstration: You can now demonstrate the saw in action. This demonstration will address the original pain point and why the saw is perfect for creating a precision dovetail cut. Here, your resident DIY expert (typically the video’s host) will give a demonstration of how to create consistently clean dovetail cuts using the Pony Jorgensen saw. This could either be in the form of “how-to” in which you show exactly how to use the saw, or in the form of a quick demonstration, showing that the saw provides the cleanest cut in the game.

• Summarise & CTA: Finally, reiterate the saw’s key benefits for providing the audience with a CTA i.e. “visit our website to find out more about Pony Jorgensen and its other awesome tools”.

3. Start writing

Print off your outline and keep it with you as you write your script. Here, you will break your outline down into the shots and dialogue that accompany the shots. This is where you take those outline dot points and expand on them to create a video that creates the brand awareness you want to eventually sell plenty of Pony Jorgensen hand saws.

For example, your hook asks people if they have ever wondered why they don’t get the cleanest dovetail cuts. Here, you could put a shot of a lesser hand saw messing up the dovetailing process, as this will resonate with viewers who know all about shoddy saws failing to provide a precision cut.

4. Be sure to nail your hook

Asking your audience a relatable question about why their dovetailing doesn’t work is a great way to grab their attention. However, there are other ways you can hook your audience with a compelling opening question, shot or statement that ensures they won’t immediately click away. 

Some awesome hook examples include:

• The common mistake: Mention a common mistake people make with dovetailing i.e. “one thing home DIYers always get wrong with dovetailing is their hand saw”.

• The pain point: This can be in the form of a direct statement or question i.e. “most home DIYers have a hard time creating precision dovetail joints”.

• The surprising fact: Mention a statistic that piques audience interest i.e. “did you know that 75% of home DIYers avoid dovetailing because of having inefficient tools?”

• The question: Ask your audience a question (the one you are about to answer with your video). “What is the best hand saw for dovetailing?”

• The urgent warning: This could be specifically valuable for reaching home DIYers who use subpar saws for dovetailing i.e. “stop using your everyday hand saw for dovetailing right now”.

5. Your intro is indispensable

Most YouTube viewers exit the video by the 60 second mark. This means one thing and one thing only: you need an awesome hook and introduction to ensure your audience watches all the way to that imperative CTA. you have to ensure that your intro not only contains the hook that is going to engage them but ensures your audience is equipped with the knowledge that your video is going to address their paint point.

For example, you’ve hooked your audience by saying “stop using the wrong hand saws for dovetailing right now”. You know have to tell them the following:

• Who you are: You will tell them that you are Tom, the home DIY expert from Tom’s Tools.

• What you’re doing: You now have to tell them what you’re doing i.e. “and I am here to show you how the Pony Jorgensen 10inch Dovetail Saw is perfect for providing precision dovetail joints”.

• Tell them how: In this example, you would say something like “I have this lovely piece of pine here and I am going to use it to make some perfect dovetail joints. You ready? Let’s get started”.

Be sure to keep everything short and succinct to quickly move onto the body of the video (and why everyone is watching it).

6. Build your body

The perfect YouTube script will show your audience exactly how to use that hand saw to achieve the best precision cutting results. Naturally, the best way to do this is through a step-by-step how-to guide, as this not only teaches the audience how to use the saw to achieve their goal but also elevates you and your brand to the title of Industry Authority.

A step-by-step how-to guide should be written clearly to ensure that your audience will know exactly how to achieve their goal using your product. Be sure to include any relevant information required to ensure they will only have to use your video to complete their application using your product.

What’s more, feel free to add any midway engagement, asking viewers to comment if they have any handy hints or advice that you may have forgotten to cover in your how-to guide. You’ve now done all the hard work and only need to finish with a strong CTA and outro to have completed your product demonstration script.

7. Include a solid CTA

CTAs are essential to driving conversions, so what are they when it comes to how to write a YouTube video script? The CTA is where you invite the audience to do what your video wants to achieve. Do you want the audience to learn more about the hand saw? Ask them to check it out on your website. Do you want them to subscribe to your channel so that you can build trust as an industry authority and, consequently, the best place to buy your product online?

Be sure to summarise the key steps to using the product before asking them to “like and subscribe”, “pick up a Jorgensen Pony 10in Dovetail Saw at tomstools.com” or to find out more at your website. You will now be ready to move on to the filming stage of making your winning YouTube product demonstration.

But if you don’t fancy yourself as YouTube’s answer to Orson Welles, feel free to get in contact with me, and I will write something incredible for you.