Medical device and healthcare videos do not have to be boring. In fact, they better not be. Video on the web is very hot these days. It’s quickly gone from being a bonus item for your web site—to something your visitors expect.

If you have a landing page dedicated to your medical product or service, it needs to have a high-quality, engaging video. Again, people expect it. In addition to being interesting, visitors expect your video to be short—as in one to three minutes.

Since video production for the web is such a “now” topic, I decided to create a three-part series with essential writing tips I have put together based on my extensive experience writing medical marketing video scripts. These tips are easily adaptable to non-medical products and services as well.

Tip #1

 Never lift words from your print or web marketing pieces and place them directly into your video script. Your messaging must be consistent with your print pieces, but video narration should be written as conversational dialogue – the way people speak. Otherwise your narration will sound stiff and contrived.

Even more than printed pieces, video narration must be written in a conversational tone that comes across as natural. To choose the right style for your narration, consider the style and tone used in your printed pieces—and make it slightly more conversational for your video.

Tip #2

 Where you have show, you don’t need tell. And with video, you always want to emphasize show. Much less explaining is required with video, because instead of telling your audience how things work—you can show them.

This is one of the powerful advantages you have with video, so leverage it to the greatest extent possible. People respond to visuals very quickly. Never make the mistake of using 20 seconds of video to explain something your audience has already visually figured out in two seconds.