Turn Your Video Upside Down with the Inverted Pyramid

One of the first things I was taught as a student at the nationally respected University of Missouri School of Journalism was the theory of the inverted pyramid. The “inverted pyramid” is a style of writing news stories. The idea is simple: the most important details are put at the top of the story with the least important information funneled to the bottom of the story.

Popular in Newspapers

The inverted pyramid was most useful to newspaper editors. In laying out the paper, editors would sometimes need to cut the length of stories submitted by reporters. The editor knew he or she could slice the last paragraph or two and not take away a key piece of the story. Reporters quickly learned the higher up they wrote something in the story, the better chance it wouldn’t get edited out.


Works for Video

The inverted pyramid is also a good way of thinking when producing a visual story for your business. When you sit down to lay out the reasons that make you or your service unique, rank them in order of importance. You will discover the ones at the bottom of the list may not need to make the cut.

Remember you only have a few seconds to capture a viewer’s attention. What if someone doesn’t watch your whole video? If you wait until the very end to give your strongest message, there’s a good chance much of your target audience will never see it.


Look for a Journalist

Understanding the inverted pyramid is one reason why it makes sense to hire someone who comes from broadcast journalism to produce your video. Journalists are trained to tell stories. Our team at Point Across Media is made up of experienced broadcast journalists. We know to how to combine words with visuals to create a story that highlights the most important facts about your company. The end goal is to grow your business. Video does that by telling your story in way no other medium can.