February 21, 2025 • 23 mins
Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Mariana Henninger shares her extraordinary transition from collaborating with media giants like the New York Times and NBC to becoming a trailblazing entrepreneur. We promise you'll come away with deep insights into crafting unforgettable brand videos that build trust and forge emotional bonds with your audience. Mariana opens up about her journey, founding Brand Magnetic, and the transformative power of video in creating compelling marketing strategies. Discover the secrets of her high-end brand video services and the Brand Video Accelerator program, which empowers individuals to tell their stories with authenticity and impact.
Emotional visuals are the backbone of effective brand communication, and Mariana offers a masterclass on how to choose them wisely. Authentic, emotion-driven imagery can turn passive viewers into engaged participants in your brand’s story. Join us as we explore how strategically placing brand videos across platforms can elevate your online presence, turning static profiles and About Me pages into dynamic storytelling experiences. Whether you're a visual learner or a text enthusiast, the tips and strategies Mariana shares will inspire you to rethink how you present your brand to the world.
Check out Mariana's Ultimate Cheat Sheet To A Brand Story That Converts
http://brandmagnetic.com/cheatsheet
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Eric Eden (00:02):
We are talking about the power of video and branding
, and we have the perfect guestto help us talk about that today
Mariana, welcome to the show.
Thanks, eric, great to be here.
So why don't we start off byyou sharing just a little bit
about who you are and what youdo?
Mariana Henninger (00:22):
Yeah for sure.
So I am a documentary filmmaker, emmy award-winning documentary
filmmaker turned entrepreneur.
I'm the founder ofbrandmagneticcom, and a bit
about my business is that I wasable to bring a lot of my
passion from documentaryfilmmaking.
So to me, documentaries arefilms that you watch and you are
(00:44):
moved to take action or you arehighly empathetic to somebody
whose lives or whose experienceyou never thought you could feel
empathy for or have never beenin their shoes.
And so my background you know.
For 15 years I worked at the NewYork Times, the Wall Street
Journal, time Magazine.
I was at NBC for about fiveyears.
(01:04):
That was my latest sort ofcorporate gig and I traveled the
world.
I went to Haiti and Afghanistanand the Middle East and Ukraine
and Finland and all over theworld, really building trust
with people very, very quicklyso that in a matter of one, two,
three days I could tell theirstory, I could have them trust
me that I could do their storyjustice in a very short format.
(01:27):
So it was a lot about buildingtrust fast, but also knowing
which parts of their story aregoing to create the most impact
for people watching.
And so and I did work on somelonger films, but my sweet spot
was anywhere from like two to 10minutes, and so I also knew
that I was a closetedentrepreneur.
(01:48):
I knew I never wanted to askfor a raise again.
After spending about a yearnegotiating my last raise at NBC
and for many reasons, Irealized like I really need to
spend time building my ownbusiness and just owning what
I'm doing and owning how I'mdoing it and not having to ask
anyone for permission and justlike following my own heart with
what I'm doing and owning howI'm doing it and not having to
ask anyone for permission andjust like following my own heart
(02:08):
with what I wanted to do.
And so that's why I left mycorporate job to start Brand
Magnetic and essentially BrandMagnetic.
I focus on creating brandvideos which are two to three
minute videosideos.
That tells people's stories,like business owner stories, in
a way that creates a deeppersonal and emotional
(02:28):
connection very, very quickly,and it does it at scale.
Right.
If you're able to pack thatpunch inside of one single video
and place it top of funnel inall sorts of different places so
that everyone coming into youruniverse watches that one video,
you're able to essentiallycreate a personal connection at
scale, because we know that,like having a coffee chat with
(02:49):
every single person that signsup for your lead magnet, is just
not doable.
So that's where the concept ofthe brand video came to play.
Eric Eden (02:59):
That's awesome.
I know you've done a lot ofthese brand videos for your
clients and I think you've alsodone a really great one for
yourself.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit?
About some of the remarkablevideo you've done there.
Mariana Henninger (03:12):
Yeah, for sure.
So we have different types ofservices.
Our main core service is eithera done for you brand video, so
those are the more higher end.
We work with cinematographersreally like folks editing these
brand videos.
On my team We'll edit, you know, hbo trailers or Netflix
trailers, so they're reallyreally a high end talent that we
(03:34):
bring on for each of the videos.
But we also I also have aprogram where I help people do
this on their own, literally ontheir phone, and so that's
called the Brand VideoAccelerator.
And, as you mentioned, I've hadclients you know, both students
in my program and clients thatI've done for them.
But I've also really, you know,could have nudged by a lot of
(03:56):
people around me and for myself,you know, because I believe in
brand video so much, I knew thatI had to create my own.
I wanted this to work for meand it you know, I won't lie to
you it was hard doing for myself.
I the way that I sort ofdescribe it is, you can be the
best surgeon in the world, butperforming surgery on yourself
(04:16):
is going to be reallychallenging, and so I went
through the challenge of reallyunderstanding, like, okay, what
parts of my story going throughmy own framework, if you will
understanding what parts of mystory resonate.
How can I tell it in a way thatreally packs that punch in a
short amount of time?
And eventually I created my ownbrand video.
Eric Eden (04:38):
And what was the hardest thing about doing that
for yourself?
And what is the hardest thingthat you see working with
clients on creating the brandvideo?
Like what's the hardest partabout doing it?
Mariana Henninger (04:52):
I think people probably struggle in a
couple of different aspects ofit.
Sometimes Some people, I think,okay.
So I think the biggest strugglethat some of the folks coming
through my program have had iswhen they don't know their
audience well enough, and thisis a point that I push really,
really strongly, because we'renot just creating a video that
(05:14):
looks good or that feels good.
It's not just your origin story.
Your brand video is really avery curated, intentional brand
story that creates thatemotional connection.
So you're coming into myprogram with the promise that
this video is actually gonnamake a difference in your
business.
It's a marketing tool, but thatdoesn't feel like a marketing
(05:36):
video, like most marketingvideos, where you have, you know
, really articulated copy, ifyou will, and then you have a
call to action.
You're essentially feeling thatthe end result of the brand
video is trust.
You're accelerating trust bywatching that video, and so in
order to do that, you have toknow your audience deeply.
It is your story that we'retelling, but at the end of the
(05:57):
day, it's all about them andtheir feelings and what's in it
for them.
So that's the end goal, that'sthe North Star, and we're just
using your story as the vehicleto get us to those feelings, and
so the struggle that some of mystudents have had is because
they don't know their audiencewell enough.
It's hard for us to thenreverse engineer from that into
(06:18):
their story.
For me, my struggle was because, again, I was doing it for
myself, and so I had to bereally intentional about
listening to feedback, even moreso than my own gut feeling
about things.
And so, for example, my brandvideo, which folks listening to
this can watch it atbrandmagneticcom slash Mariana
(06:41):
M-A-R-I-A-N-A.
If you go listen to that, comeright back, listen to the rest
of this conversation.
But in my brand video Iessentially talk about the story
of when I was a little girl,and the end goal that I wanted
to get to was that I'd been anentrepreneur my whole life, and
so the story that I chose waswhen I was a little girl, about
(07:03):
seven years old, I asked my dadto bother my neighbors to empty
out their garden shed so that Icould build a little school in
there, because I realized that Ihad something that, as a first
grader, that kindergartnersdidn't have I knew how to read,
and I knew that I could teachthese kindergartners how to read
and in exchange you get paid 25cents a lesson.
(07:24):
So I called it the ultimate lowticket course.
I had recurring revenue, all ofthese things.
And there's a little hiccup inthe story because kids started
showing up without the quarterfor the day, and so I write this
letter to the parents, whichluckily, my parents kept.
So I read the letter in thevideo and anyway.
(07:45):
So I told that story of, like,this young entrepreneur, mariana
, before she became a filmmaker,won an Emmy, was nominated
again and then eventually becamean entrepreneur after this
career in filmmaking.
But originally I was going totell a completely different
story which I won't get into,but that was, you know, it was
kind of like which story tochoose.
I had to very much listen to myaudience and not only hear what
(08:10):
they were resonating with buthear what parts of my
personality they were mostattracted to.
So it is part of my framework,that first portion I just talked
about, which is knowing youraudience really deeply.
The second step of my processis what I call the neon fox.
It's knowing yourself reallydeeply through the eyes of your
(08:30):
audience, which is very it'skind of different than just
knowing yourself right.
It's knowing what people loveabout you?
Why did they buy from youspecifically?
So that was definitely achallenge, just like you know,
being able to teach this so well, but then doing it for myself,
without a guide, if you will washard.
Eric Eden (08:52):
Yeah, I can imagine.
So what makes the videos thatyou've worked on with your
clients, what makes themremarkable or exceptional, like
the best ones that you've done?
What are the things that youlook at and you're like, wow,
(09:12):
that was really great because ofX, Y, Z.
Mariana Henninger (09:18):
I think the thing that most stands out, in
addition to knowing how wellcurated the actual story is.
So that's the big one, actually.
So I'll mention two things.
One is that we're not justtelling the story of this person
, we're not just telling Eric'sstory.
You know the way that you would, maybe on your about me page,
(09:41):
if you know if you haven't donesome with this brand story work,
or you know if people ask youlike, hey, eric, why did you
become an entrepreneur?
Why did you start podcasting?
Right?
So the way that the story iscrafted is incredibly
intentional, in that every wordis chosen for a reason, and
every part of the story, andobviously the story itself, is
(10:04):
chosen for the reason ofcreating trust, and so that is,
like, very much, the foundationof this whole thing.
The second, though, is that weare using the video format to
the max.
Like, the visuals that we usein brand videos are not just
B-roll, right.
They're not just illustrationsof what's being said.
(10:25):
I don't even call it B-roll, Icall it emotional visuals, and
the reason I do that is becauseyour visuals should really be a
character in your story.
They should be pushing certainfeelings and certain emotions,
creating what's called narrativetransportation, which is
basically when people shut offthe parts of the brain when
they're thinking oh, I'm goingto be, eric's going to sell me
(10:47):
something, eric's going to talkto me about his program.
Now, how much is it going tocost?
Can I afford it?
What will my spouse say, am Ispending too much money on my
business?
They don't think about any ofthat.
All they're thinking about islike oh my gosh, eric's an
awesome guy, like he gets me andhe cares for me and he's an
expert.
Those are the three sort oftakeaways that a brand video
(11:07):
should imprint very deeply, youknow, in the emotional state of
the person watching your brandvideo.
So, obviously, with my done foryou clients, we're, we're
really using high end, beautifulcinematography to express and
show these emotional visuals.
They're typically, you know,visuals that really express a
(11:29):
feeling way more than illustratethe information.
You know they're.
They're things that make youfeel, illustrate the information
you know they're things thatmake you feel.
So, for example, I rely a loton nature.
You know I recently worked withsome clients who were in the
fitness space and so a lot oftheir expression, or that maybe
they were outside doing aworkout and they gaze out on the
(11:49):
water and it sounds cheesy, asI'm describing, but it's
actually really beautiful.
They were able to do it likevery authentically.
It's a lot about, you know,making them feel comfortable in
front of the camera too.
So there's there's part of thatwork there as well.
I'll give you another example ofa student of mine from the
Brandvid Accelerator program.
Her name is Julia.
She's the pot known as thepodcast teacher, and so one of
(12:12):
the things that we relied on.
We knew that her students lovedher love of systems and order,
and so we show her, you know,putting markers in rainbow order
, because that's what she usedto do when she was a little girl
, and she talks about that.
You know it's a jigsaw puzzle.
A puzzle is basically somethingthat's really complicated and
then when you put it together,it all makes sense Right.
(12:33):
It all makes sense right, andso it's looking for visuals that
are going to really express adeeper feeling or a deeper part
of your personality, versus,just like I said, covering your
film.
Eric Eden (12:46):
That's great, I think, a unique way to tell the
story that you don't usuallytell in your about me
description.
And the power of the video islikely very important, because
people are much more likely towatch something for a couple of
minutes rather than to read along thing.
(13:07):
In today's market.
That's, that's my assumption ispeople are just more used to
that today, right?
Mariana Henninger (13:17):
That's my assumption is people are just
more used to that today, right?
Actually, I think it's both.
I've seen evidence that somepeople prefer to read.
I think this is a little bitdepending on where you're at.
I think if you're on socialmedia platforms, tendency to
read is less You're used to.
You're expecting a video video,although carousels are doing
really well, but we're literallytalking about very short
(13:38):
sentences at a time.
Um, the goal with the brandvideo is to keep them pumped
right.
We're not assuming anything.
We're not assuming that they'regoing to keep watching, and so
all of the principles of reallygood video apply in that.
We're still very intentionalabout that first sentence, about
those first visuals.
We tend to like draw them inwith something fast-paced, with
(14:02):
something like really curiosityinducing.
We don't like really slow.
There's no slow entry here asyou would in a documentary.
You know, feature-length filmhave a bit more of that
flexibility.
You know, if you've got peopleinside of a theater watching a
movie, you've got a captiveaudience.
There's nowhere else to lookbut the screen.
Obviously, that's not the casewith how we consume a brand
(14:25):
video.
So I think what it does do isreally bring your story to life.
You know, I think most of us,when we write our About Me page,
we write it kind of reluctantly.
It's kind of uncomfortable towrite about ourselves and we
don't look at it for years.
Right, it's like, oh, wechecked it off our list.
Okay, I have some text thathopefully somebody will read it.
(14:47):
But our About Me page is thesecond most visited page on any
website.
It is highly, highly visiblereal estate inside of our
ecosystem and, to your point,we're just typically just
writing something there andhoping people will read it when
instead, if you could put abrand video there I mean, I've
had people mention it over andover you know, having watched it
(15:11):
on my about me page or havingseen it on my signature, that
this is the awesome thing aboutthe brand video too.
It goes in so many differentplaces.
It's the most used video inyour ecosystem by far.
Because it can go, it should gopinned on your social media
profiles, your email signature,your about me page.
If you're the face of yourcompany, put it on your home
page as well.
Goes on your sales page whenyou have, you know blurb about
(15:35):
you when you're again sellingsomething right there.
I use it in our welcomesequences.
I encourage my students andclients to do that as well.
I have a little text that Ishoot somebody every time I get
a new follower on Instagram.
If I'm not too busy that day,I'll copy that text, and it has
my braided video there as well.
(15:56):
It's like thanks for followingme.
I'd love to get to know you.
Blah, blah, blah.
Here's my brand video, anyway.
So there's a lot of use forthat brand video, and the hook
is certainly important too.
Eric Eden (16:08):
Is doing a brand video something that everyone
should do?
Is it something everyone who'sworking on their personal brand
should do?
How do you think about that?
Mariana Henninger (16:18):
I think, more and more, we're buying from
people whose values we alignwith.
We want to spend moneyintentionally.
More than ever, we don't wantto spend money on people who we
know are doing things that wedisagree with, and so the more
that brands align with values,the more that they should show
what their values are, andbrands have been doing that for
(16:40):
a long time.
So the answer is absolutely yesIf you want to connect with
your customers, if you believethat knowing who you are is
going to impact your offer andtrust me, it does Like
statistics show us that peopleagain buy based on the values of
the company that the companyrepresents.
(17:01):
And so you know, I've workedwith folks in e-commerce.
I've worked with folks, but Imost primarily work with folks
who are the face sometimes notthe name, but at least the face
of their brand.
But I've also worked with folkswho were typically behind the
scenes and realized that they'remissing out on something really
great.
You know, people want toconnect with the person behind
the brand.
I think of Jessica Alba withthe Honest Company, lots of
(17:24):
folks whose names are now theface of their brand or who are
well-known personality behindthat brand.
People gravitate to the brandeven more so because of that
behind that brand.
Eric Eden (17:38):
People gravitate to the brand even more so because
of that.
I think if people use all thedistribution methods that you
mentioned from highlightingtheir website to their social
profiles to including it inemail sequences I think there's
a lot of places to use it and itcould be the most used video in
your library, like you'resaying.
(17:58):
So I think that's some greatadvice.
Anything else that you want toshare about the secret to
creating great brand videos?
Mariana Henninger (18:12):
I think it's all about understanding what's
going to build trust, first andforemost, in your audience.
You know, before we startedrecording, we were talking about
this awesome success story thatmy clients have had, but also
that I've had.
You know, I had a 600% increasein my launch revenue after
launching my brand video.
I had people literally tellingme this works.
(18:34):
I have just bought your programbecause I watch your brand
video.
So, above everything that I hadbeen doing, you know, objection
handling and future pacing andcreating scarcity and urgency,
like all of the other marketingthings that I've been doing,
helped.
But once they watched my brandvideo, they were like I'm sold
on you, and that is the biggestimportant concept that I want to
(18:57):
leave with your listeners isthe idea that once people are
sold on you, they will buyanything you sell right, as long
as it's not somethingcompletely unnecessary.
And even so, there are usecases for people buying those
things out of being super fans.
But the idea is that there arethree types of buyers.
There are people who buy fromyou without knowing you, and
(19:21):
that's typically.
You know, we get ads for thingsand we're like I don't know who
this person is, but the copy isreally good and it's speaking
to my pain point.
That's a very big pain pointthat I have and it's kind of a
low ticket thing.
I'm not going to think about it, I'm going to just buy it.
I have like millions of swipefiles and templates and things
that I've bought in that way andI forgot that I bought them.
(19:43):
I didn't have any connectionwith the person selling them.
The second type of buyer arepeople who buy from you because
they know you.
So if you're persuasive enough,if you really have good, all of
these good marketing strategies, chances are you might be able
to make that sale.
And the third kind of buyer isthe buyer who buys from you
because they trust you.
That is the easiest buyer tosell to.
(20:05):
That is by far the easiest buy.
They're already sold on you.
They already trust you.
They trust that whatever youoffer them is going to be good
and that you stand behind whatyou're offering them.
They also trust that you getthem deeply, that you care about
them and that you're an expert.
Those are the three things thatyour brand video is going to
convey to them in one go.
So the idea that you can createone single video that lives top
(20:29):
of funnel that everyone seesand that can get them so much
closer to buying from you.
And that can get them so muchcloser to buying from you.
And, by the way, one of thethings that led me to create the
brand video is the fact that Iwas signing up for all these
lead magnets and I was gettingemails from random people.
I'm like, who the heck is thisperson?
I can't remember, I couldn'tget track of who everyone is,
(20:49):
and that's where I realized likethere has to be a way to create
that personal connection.
I won't ever forget Eric rightNow I obviously won't because
we're chatting but had I signedup for a lead magnet from you?
It might've been, you know, orI'm amusing you as an example
but for most people, you sign upfor something, you connect with
(21:10):
them, you start following themon social and you can't remember
who the heck they are.
So that's why it takes six to12 months to build that trust,
because you have to have so manytouch points seven hours of
touch points, you know, somestudy show.
So the idea that you canaccelerate that process so much
by having just a single two tothree minute video, that does
(21:32):
the heavy lifting for you whenyou're doing other stuff is just
incredible and super excitedabout it.
Eric Eden (21:40):
I think that's great advice and you have a resource
that people can go to that I canlink to in the show notes.
But can you just talk aboutthat for a minute.
Mariana Henninger (21:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
You were asking about what's agood way to make a great brand
video, right?
So I have the ultimate cheatsheet for a brand story that
converts.
So your brand story isbasically the foundation of your
brand video, and you can grabthat awesome cheat sheet at
brandmagneticcom slash cheatsheet.
(22:11):
It lays it all out for youthere.
And I'd also love to connectwith folks on Instagram.
If that's a platform that youuse, just find me on at brand
magnetic.
Feel free to shoot me a DM, avoice message.
I reply to everyone.
My DMs are open.
If you have any questions or ifyou just want to say hello, I
am happy to connect with youthere.
Eric Eden (22:32):
Awesome.
Thank you very much for forsharing that resource, for being
on the show today and sharingyour insights.
We appreciate it, Thank you.
Mariana Henninger (22:41):
Thanks, Eric .
We are talking about the power of video and branding
, and we have the perfect guestto help us talk about that today
Mariana, welcome to the show.
Thanks, eric, great to be here.
So why don't we start off byyou sharing just a little bit
about who you are and what youdo?
Mariana Henninger (00:22):
Yeah for sure.
So I am a documentary filmmaker, emmy award-winning documentary
filmmaker turned entrepreneur.
I'm the founder ofbrandmagneticcom, and a bit
about my business is that I wasable to bring a lot of my
passion from documentaryfilmmaking.
So to me, documentaries arefilms that you watch and you are
(00:44):
moved to take action or you arehighly empathetic to somebody
whose lives or whose experienceyou never thought you could feel
empathy for or have never beenin their shoes.
And so my background you know.
For 15 years I worked at the NewYork Times, the Wall Street
Journal, time Magazine.
I was at NBC for about fiveyears.
(01:04):
That was my latest sort ofcorporate gig and I traveled the
world.
I went to Haiti and Afghanistanand the Middle East and Ukraine
and Finland and all over theworld, really building trust
with people very, very quicklyso that in a matter of one, two,
three days I could tell theirstory, I could have them trust
me that I could do their storyjustice in a very short format.
(01:27):
So it was a lot about buildingtrust fast, but also knowing
which parts of their story aregoing to create the most impact
for people watching.
And so and I did work on somelonger films, but my sweet spot
was anywhere from like two to 10minutes, and so I also knew
that I was a closetedentrepreneur.
(01:48):
I knew I never wanted to askfor a raise again.
After spending about a yearnegotiating my last raise at NBC
and for many reasons, Irealized like I really need to
spend time building my ownbusiness and just owning what
I'm doing and owning how I'mdoing it and not having to ask
anyone for permission and justlike following my own heart with
what I'm doing and owning howI'm doing it and not having to
ask anyone for permission andjust like following my own heart
(02:08):
with what I wanted to do.
And so that's why I left mycorporate job to start Brand
Magnetic and essentially BrandMagnetic.
I focus on creating brandvideos which are two to three
minute videosideos.
That tells people's stories,like business owner stories, in
a way that creates a deeppersonal and emotional
(02:28):
connection very, very quickly,and it does it at scale.
Right.
If you're able to pack thatpunch inside of one single video
and place it top of funnel inall sorts of different places so
that everyone coming into youruniverse watches that one video,
you're able to essentiallycreate a personal connection at
scale, because we know that,like having a coffee chat with
(02:49):
every single person that signsup for your lead magnet, is just
not doable.
So that's where the concept ofthe brand video came to play.
Eric Eden (02:59):
That's awesome.
I know you've done a lot ofthese brand videos for your
clients and I think you've alsodone a really great one for
yourself.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit?
About some of the remarkablevideo you've done there.
Mariana Henninger (03:12):
Yeah, for sure.
So we have different types ofservices.
Our main core service is eithera done for you brand video, so
those are the more higher end.
We work with cinematographersreally like folks editing these
brand videos.
On my team We'll edit, you know, hbo trailers or Netflix
trailers, so they're reallyreally a high end talent that we
(03:34):
bring on for each of the videos.
But we also I also have aprogram where I help people do
this on their own, literally ontheir phone, and so that's
called the Brand VideoAccelerator.
And, as you mentioned, I've hadclients you know, both students
in my program and clients thatI've done for them.
But I've also really, you know,could have nudged by a lot of
(03:56):
people around me and for myself,you know, because I believe in
brand video so much, I knew thatI had to create my own.
I wanted this to work for meand it you know, I won't lie to
you it was hard doing for myself.
I the way that I sort ofdescribe it is, you can be the
best surgeon in the world, butperforming surgery on yourself
(04:16):
is going to be reallychallenging, and so I went
through the challenge of reallyunderstanding, like, okay, what
parts of my story going throughmy own framework, if you will
understanding what parts of mystory resonate.
How can I tell it in a way thatreally packs that punch in a
short amount of time?
And eventually I created my ownbrand video.
Eric Eden (04:38):
And what was the hardest thing about doing that
for yourself?
And what is the hardest thingthat you see working with
clients on creating the brandvideo?
Like what's the hardest partabout doing it?
Mariana Henninger (04:52):
I think people probably struggle in a
couple of different aspects ofit.
Sometimes Some people, I think,okay.
So I think the biggest strugglethat some of the folks coming
through my program have had iswhen they don't know their
audience well enough, and thisis a point that I push really,
really strongly, because we'renot just creating a video that
(05:14):
looks good or that feels good.
It's not just your origin story.
Your brand video is really avery curated, intentional brand
story that creates thatemotional connection.
So you're coming into myprogram with the promise that
this video is actually gonnamake a difference in your
business.
It's a marketing tool, but thatdoesn't feel like a marketing
(05:36):
video, like most marketingvideos, where you have, you know
, really articulated copy, ifyou will, and then you have a
call to action.
You're essentially feeling thatthe end result of the brand
video is trust.
You're accelerating trust bywatching that video, and so in
order to do that, you have toknow your audience deeply.
It is your story that we'retelling, but at the end of the
(05:57):
day, it's all about them andtheir feelings and what's in it
for them.
So that's the end goal, that'sthe North Star, and we're just
using your story as the vehicleto get us to those feelings, and
so the struggle that some of mystudents have had is because
they don't know their audiencewell enough.
It's hard for us to thenreverse engineer from that into
(06:18):
their story.
For me, my struggle was because, again, I was doing it for
myself, and so I had to bereally intentional about
listening to feedback, even moreso than my own gut feeling
about things.
And so, for example, my brandvideo, which folks listening to
this can watch it atbrandmagneticcom slash Mariana
(06:41):
M-A-R-I-A-N-A.
If you go listen to that, comeright back, listen to the rest
of this conversation.
But in my brand video Iessentially talk about the story
of when I was a little girl,and the end goal that I wanted
to get to was that I'd been anentrepreneur my whole life, and
so the story that I chose waswhen I was a little girl, about
(07:03):
seven years old, I asked my dadto bother my neighbors to empty
out their garden shed so that Icould build a little school in
there, because I realized that Ihad something that, as a first
grader, that kindergartnersdidn't have I knew how to read,
and I knew that I could teachthese kindergartners how to read
and in exchange you get paid 25cents a lesson.
(07:24):
So I called it the ultimate lowticket course.
I had recurring revenue, all ofthese things.
And there's a little hiccup inthe story because kids started
showing up without the quarterfor the day, and so I write this
letter to the parents, whichluckily, my parents kept.
So I read the letter in thevideo and anyway.
(07:45):
So I told that story of, like,this young entrepreneur, mariana
, before she became a filmmaker,won an Emmy, was nominated
again and then eventually becamean entrepreneur after this
career in filmmaking.
But originally I was going totell a completely different
story which I won't get into,but that was, you know, it was
kind of like which story tochoose.
I had to very much listen to myaudience and not only hear what
(08:10):
they were resonating with buthear what parts of my
personality they were mostattracted to.
So it is part of my framework,that first portion I just talked
about, which is knowing youraudience really deeply.
The second step of my processis what I call the neon fox.
It's knowing yourself reallydeeply through the eyes of your
(08:30):
audience, which is very it'skind of different than just
knowing yourself right.
It's knowing what people loveabout you?
Why did they buy from youspecifically?
So that was definitely achallenge, just like you know,
being able to teach this so well, but then doing it for myself,
without a guide, if you will washard.
Eric Eden (08:52):
Yeah, I can imagine.
So what makes the videos thatyou've worked on with your
clients, what makes themremarkable or exceptional, like
the best ones that you've done?
What are the things that youlook at and you're like, wow,
(09:12):
that was really great because ofX, Y, Z.
Mariana Henninger (09:18):
I think the thing that most stands out, in
addition to knowing how wellcurated the actual story is.
So that's the big one, actually.
So I'll mention two things.
One is that we're not justtelling the story of this person
, we're not just telling Eric'sstory.
You know the way that you would, maybe on your about me page,
(09:41):
if you know if you haven't donesome with this brand story work,
or you know if people ask youlike, hey, eric, why did you
become an entrepreneur?
Why did you start podcasting?
Right?
So the way that the story iscrafted is incredibly
intentional, in that every wordis chosen for a reason, and
every part of the story, andobviously the story itself, is
(10:04):
chosen for the reason ofcreating trust, and so that is,
like, very much, the foundationof this whole thing.
The second, though, is that weare using the video format to
the max.
Like, the visuals that we usein brand videos are not just
B-roll, right.
They're not just illustrationsof what's being said.
(10:25):
I don't even call it B-roll, Icall it emotional visuals, and
the reason I do that is becauseyour visuals should really be a
character in your story.
They should be pushing certainfeelings and certain emotions,
creating what's called narrativetransportation, which is
basically when people shut offthe parts of the brain when
they're thinking oh, I'm goingto be, eric's going to sell me
(10:47):
something, eric's going to talkto me about his program.
Now, how much is it going tocost?
Can I afford it?
What will my spouse say, am Ispending too much money on my
business?
They don't think about any ofthat.
All they're thinking about islike oh my gosh, eric's an
awesome guy, like he gets me andhe cares for me and he's an
expert.
Those are the three sort oftakeaways that a brand video
(11:07):
should imprint very deeply, youknow, in the emotional state of
the person watching your brandvideo.
So, obviously, with my done foryou clients, we're, we're
really using high end, beautifulcinematography to express and
show these emotional visuals.
They're typically, you know,visuals that really express a
(11:29):
feeling way more than illustratethe information.
You know they're.
They're things that make youfeel, illustrate the information
you know they're things thatmake you feel.
So, for example, I rely a loton nature.
You know I recently worked withsome clients who were in the
fitness space and so a lot oftheir expression, or that maybe
they were outside doing aworkout and they gaze out on the
(11:49):
water and it sounds cheesy, asI'm describing, but it's
actually really beautiful.
They were able to do it likevery authentically.
It's a lot about, you know,making them feel comfortable in
front of the camera too.
So there's there's part of thatwork there as well.
I'll give you another example ofa student of mine from the
Brandvid Accelerator program.
Her name is Julia.
She's the pot known as thepodcast teacher, and so one of
(12:12):
the things that we relied on.
We knew that her students lovedher love of systems and order,
and so we show her, you know,putting markers in rainbow order
, because that's what she usedto do when she was a little girl
, and she talks about that.
You know it's a jigsaw puzzle.
A puzzle is basically somethingthat's really complicated and
then when you put it together,it all makes sense Right.
(12:33):
It all makes sense right, andso it's looking for visuals that
are going to really express adeeper feeling or a deeper part
of your personality, versus,just like I said, covering your
film.
Eric Eden (12:46):
That's great, I think, a unique way to tell the
story that you don't usuallytell in your about me
description.
And the power of the video islikely very important, because
people are much more likely towatch something for a couple of
minutes rather than to read along thing.
(13:07):
In today's market.
That's, that's my assumption ispeople are just more used to
that today, right?
Mariana Henninger (13:17):
That's my assumption is people are just
more used to that today, right?
Actually, I think it's both.
I've seen evidence that somepeople prefer to read.
I think this is a little bitdepending on where you're at.
I think if you're on socialmedia platforms, tendency to
read is less You're used to.
You're expecting a video video,although carousels are doing
really well, but we're literallytalking about very short
(13:38):
sentences at a time.
Um, the goal with the brandvideo is to keep them pumped
right.
We're not assuming anything.
We're not assuming that they'regoing to keep watching, and so
all of the principles of reallygood video apply in that.
We're still very intentionalabout that first sentence, about
those first visuals.
We tend to like draw them inwith something fast-paced, with
(14:02):
something like really curiosityinducing.
We don't like really slow.
There's no slow entry here asyou would in a documentary.
You know, feature-length filmhave a bit more of that
flexibility.
You know, if you've got peopleinside of a theater watching a
movie, you've got a captiveaudience.
There's nowhere else to lookbut the screen.
Obviously, that's not the casewith how we consume a brand
(14:25):
video.
So I think what it does do isreally bring your story to life.
You know, I think most of us,when we write our About Me page,
we write it kind of reluctantly.
It's kind of uncomfortable towrite about ourselves and we
don't look at it for years.
Right, it's like, oh, wechecked it off our list.
Okay, I have some text thathopefully somebody will read it.
(14:47):
But our About Me page is thesecond most visited page on any
website.
It is highly, highly visiblereal estate inside of our
ecosystem and, to your point,we're just typically just
writing something there andhoping people will read it when
instead, if you could put abrand video there I mean, I've
had people mention it over andover you know, having watched it
(15:11):
on my about me page or havingseen it on my signature, that
this is the awesome thing aboutthe brand video too.
It goes in so many differentplaces.
It's the most used video inyour ecosystem by far.
Because it can go, it should gopinned on your social media
profiles, your email signature,your about me page.
If you're the face of yourcompany, put it on your home
page as well.
Goes on your sales page whenyou have, you know blurb about
(15:35):
you when you're again sellingsomething right there.
I use it in our welcomesequences.
I encourage my students andclients to do that as well.
I have a little text that Ishoot somebody every time I get
a new follower on Instagram.
If I'm not too busy that day,I'll copy that text, and it has
my braided video there as well.
(15:56):
It's like thanks for followingme.
I'd love to get to know you.
Blah, blah, blah.
Here's my brand video, anyway.
So there's a lot of use forthat brand video, and the hook
is certainly important too.
Eric Eden (16:08):
Is doing a brand video something that everyone
should do?
Is it something everyone who'sworking on their personal brand
should do?
How do you think about that?
Mariana Henninger (16:18):
I think, more and more, we're buying from
people whose values we alignwith.
We want to spend moneyintentionally.
More than ever, we don't wantto spend money on people who we
know are doing things that wedisagree with, and so the more
that brands align with values,the more that they should show
what their values are, andbrands have been doing that for
(16:40):
a long time.
So the answer is absolutely yesIf you want to connect with
your customers, if you believethat knowing who you are is
going to impact your offer andtrust me, it does Like
statistics show us that peopleagain buy based on the values of
the company that the companyrepresents.
(17:01):
And so you know, I've workedwith folks in e-commerce.
I've worked with folks, but Imost primarily work with folks
who are the face sometimes notthe name, but at least the face
of their brand.
But I've also worked with folkswho were typically behind the
scenes and realized that they'remissing out on something really
great.
You know, people want toconnect with the person behind
the brand.
I think of Jessica Alba withthe Honest Company, lots of
(17:24):
folks whose names are now theface of their brand or who are
well-known personality behindthat brand.
People gravitate to the brandeven more so because of that
behind that brand.
Eric Eden (17:38):
People gravitate to the brand even more so because
of that.
I think if people use all thedistribution methods that you
mentioned from highlightingtheir website to their social
profiles to including it inemail sequences I think there's
a lot of places to use it and itcould be the most used video in
your library, like you'resaying.
(17:58):
So I think that's some greatadvice.
Anything else that you want toshare about the secret to
creating great brand videos?
Mariana Henninger (18:12):
I think it's all about understanding what's
going to build trust, first andforemost, in your audience.
You know, before we startedrecording, we were talking about
this awesome success story thatmy clients have had, but also
that I've had.
You know, I had a 600% increasein my launch revenue after
launching my brand video.
I had people literally tellingme this works.
(18:34):
I have just bought your programbecause I watch your brand
video.
So, above everything that I hadbeen doing, you know, objection
handling and future pacing andcreating scarcity and urgency,
like all of the other marketingthings that I've been doing,
helped.
But once they watched my brandvideo, they were like I'm sold
on you, and that is the biggestimportant concept that I want to
(18:57):
leave with your listeners isthe idea that once people are
sold on you, they will buyanything you sell right, as long
as it's not somethingcompletely unnecessary.
And even so, there are usecases for people buying those
things out of being super fans.
But the idea is that there arethree types of buyers.
There are people who buy fromyou without knowing you, and
(19:21):
that's typically.
You know, we get ads for thingsand we're like I don't know who
this person is, but the copy isreally good and it's speaking
to my pain point.
That's a very big pain pointthat I have and it's kind of a
low ticket thing.
I'm not going to think about it, I'm going to just buy it.
I have like millions of swipefiles and templates and things
that I've bought in that way andI forgot that I bought them.
(19:43):
I didn't have any connectionwith the person selling them.
The second type of buyer arepeople who buy from you because
they know you.
So if you're persuasive enough,if you really have good, all of
these good marketing strategies, chances are you might be able
to make that sale.
And the third kind of buyer isthe buyer who buys from you
because they trust you.
That is the easiest buyer tosell to.
(20:05):
That is by far the easiest buy.
They're already sold on you.
They already trust you.
They trust that whatever youoffer them is going to be good
and that you stand behind whatyou're offering them.
They also trust that you getthem deeply, that you care about
them and that you're an expert.
Those are the three things thatyour brand video is going to
convey to them in one go.
So the idea that you can createone single video that lives top
(20:29):
of funnel that everyone seesand that can get them so much
closer to buying from you.
And that can get them so muchcloser to buying from you.
And, by the way, one of thethings that led me to create the
brand video is the fact that Iwas signing up for all these
lead magnets and I was gettingemails from random people.
I'm like, who the heck is thisperson?
I can't remember, I couldn'tget track of who everyone is,
(20:49):
and that's where I realized likethere has to be a way to create
that personal connection.
I won't ever forget Eric rightNow I obviously won't because
we're chatting but had I signedup for a lead magnet from you?
It might've been, you know, orI'm amusing you as an example
but for most people, you sign upfor something, you connect with
(21:10):
them, you start following themon social and you can't remember
who the heck they are.
So that's why it takes six to12 months to build that trust,
because you have to have so manytouch points seven hours of
touch points, you know, somestudy show.
So the idea that you canaccelerate that process so much
by having just a single two tothree minute video, that does
(21:32):
the heavy lifting for you whenyou're doing other stuff is just
incredible and super excitedabout it.
Eric Eden (21:40):
I think that's great advice and you have a resource
that people can go to that I canlink to in the show notes.
But can you just talk aboutthat for a minute.
Mariana Henninger (21:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
You were asking about what's agood way to make a great brand
video, right?
So I have the ultimate cheatsheet for a brand story that
converts.
So your brand story isbasically the foundation of your
brand video, and you can grabthat awesome cheat sheet at
brandmagneticcom slash cheatsheet.
(22:11):
It lays it all out for youthere.
And I'd also love to connectwith folks on Instagram.
If that's a platform that youuse, just find me on at brand
magnetic.
Feel free to shoot me a DM, avoice message.
I reply to everyone.
My DMs are open.
If you have any questions or ifyou just want to say hello, I
am happy to connect with youthere.
Eric Eden (22:32):
Awesome.
Thank you very much for forsharing that resource, for being
on the show today and sharingyour insights.
We appreciate it, Thank you.
Mariana Henninger (22:41):
Thanks, Eric .
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