3 ways to make your videos sizzle instead of fizzle

Most corporate videos are boring and creatively bankrupt.

These duds include talking-head videos, tired product demos and pandering customer testimonials. It’s no wonder they evaporate quickly into the online mist.

Here are three steps for creating videos worth watching:

1. Understand what kills creativity. “There’s an almost universal disaster happening in companies today when it comes to working with creatives,” says John Zissimos, chief creative officer at Salesforce.

“The world is full of idea killers,” he says. “These are people who zap the energy out of every presentation and demoralize and de-motivate their creatives without even knowing they’re doing it.”

What causes this destructive force?

“Everyone thinks they’re creative, so their minds are always imagining what they would create or do,” he explains. “When a team comes in to present ideas and your first inclination is to throw out your idea or say it won’t work or a million other negative responses, it triggers a kill switch in the creative’s mind.”

The result: “They shut down or go in defense mode. That’s creative cancer.”