How to Write a 30 Second Commercial

OTT (over-the-top) advertising — otherwise known as digital TV ads — can be a powerful tool for small business owners. These ads offer pin-point targeting and guaranteed viewership, which makes for a potent combination. That’s why at Render Perfect Productions, video marketing experts in Baltimore, Maryland, we want to go over how to write a 30-second commercial video script.

Limit it to 500 characters

When writing the script for your commercial, try to keep it under 500 characters, which is approximately 80 words. This will ensure that you can get your full message across without having to talk too quickly to cram it in.

There are tools in Google Docs and other word processors that make it easy to measure character count. There are also several online tools you can use.

Keep it short and sweet

Since a 30-second video is only about 80 words, it’s imperative that you make every single one count. You want your script to be lean, mean and effective, so take out anything superfluous that doesn’t add to your message.

Take a moment to think about the number one thing you want to get across with your message, and center your script around that.

Tell your story

Stories are powerful. People have been telling stories from the beginning. Stories are how we connect with the world — how we connect with each other.

Tell your story. Don’t just explain what you do. Explain why you do what you do; how you give back to your community and make the world a better place.

Don’t make the sole focus of your commercial video script on a marketing message or a promo.
If you can strike an emotional connection with your viewers, you’ll create a message that’s memorable.

Make your opening line count

One big reason to take advantage of OTT advertising in the first place is that, in my streaming services at least, commercials aren’t skippable. But even though your viewers can’t click away, it doesn’t mean they’ll pay the same amount of attention to every message.

Most people are going to decide within the first few seconds of watching your video if they are going to listen or tune out. Give them a reason to stick around by using an opening line that gets their attention.

For example, an opening line, like, “Against all odds, two women worked together to build…” is much more powerful than, “At ABC Plumbing in Denver…”

The first gives viewers a reason to keep listening and sets the stage for a story, while the second tells the viewer they’re about to hear another spam style commercial they don’t want to listen to.

Test it and test it again

Once you have your script written, your job isn’t done yet. Even if you’re strict about the 80-word or 500-character limit, you need to make sure that the script can be read at an audience-friendly cadence within the 30-second timeframe.

Read your script aloud, and time yourself to ensure that you can do so in 30 seconds. Make sure not to rush through it or speak too slowly. Take your time and enunciate clearly.

Get a professional voice over

Some people have that ideal NPR voice that just sounds natural in a commercial. Others aren’t so lucky. Regardless of whether you have a radio-friendly voice, you can always get a professional voice over for your commercial video.

Voice 123 offers several options for professional voice overs.

Add background music

Like I said, if you can connect with your video, it will have a much bigger impact. One great way to add emotion is through background music.

Have you ever seen a scene of an epic movie without the background music? Let’s just say it’s a lot less epic. Music is powerful, and you should absolutely include it in your video commercial — even if it’s only in the background.

Artist.io and PremiumBeat are great options for royalty-free music that you can use in your videos. You can search for videos by mood, genre, instruments or even keywords.

It helps if you listen to the recording of your voice over while playing the song, you’re interested in. You’d be surprised at how different music can sound with your voice over than how it sounds alone.

Pro tip: When mixing in your background music, keep it low. We recommend keeping the music’s volume between 5-10%. This ensures that it won’t overpower the voice over or distract from your message.

About Render Perfect Productions:

Render Perfect has been built from the ground up to service growing businesses and help them realize their full visual storytelling and digital marketing potential. We’ve created a service offering and skill-set that spans video production, post-production, motion graphic design, 3D animation, web development, and video marketing strategy. Our insight and experience allow us to help clients make better planning decisions and get more out of their video production effort.