Steer Clear from Cliché Testimonial Videos (Episode 99)

Welcome to the Video Made Simple podcast. I'm your host, Chris Schwager. Today's get coached question is from Stephen. Stephen wants to know, how do you create effective testimonials that give value to your business?

This is a great question. I love testimonials. I love the discussion around testimonials. If you want to put a face on your business and give credibility to your brand, there's nothing more convincing than your customers account of their experience. So Stephen, this is a great question. Thank you so much. Let me help you understand how testimonial videos work.

Firstly, what's the situation? Let's paint a situation shall we? You have a very willing customer and clients ready to testify on your behalf. But their interviews are generic and vague. And this is a common common problem. Do not pick up your iPhone as your clients leaving the door after the job and chuck it in their face and say, Hey, give us a testimonial. Some people have good stories to tell, but it's not going to come out in interviews unless they are better prepared. And the preparation will show on the video. And another thing you're going to try and avoid is the cliches Oh, it's so easy to get stuck in a cliche frenzy. Oh my god. So how is x y Zed company to work for? Aw, it's great, they're affordable, they're friendly, they're easy to work with. Boring! That doesn't really demonstrate value at all. So you got to ask better questions, you got to understand what the true value is that you bought to your customers? What is the value? What is the benefits? What are the features like really talk about those man because that's all that your perspective buyer, your viewer wants to see.

Let's talk about testimonial videos, they've got to be snackable they've got to be easy to digest. They've got to remove skepticism of your business brand product service, whatever it is that you're advocating, it's got to showcase the culture and the environment of the business as well. And that's sometimes really beautiful, real place to do it. If you shoot on location and this is something I do we do recommend and it becomes very hard to replicate okay, you can't tell that same story from the same person again on location to see all the surrounding areas is a really great way to film it shooting on site it's great.

This is conversion based content. Now what I mean by conversion is the really got to know about your product or service or brand understand what you're about before you hit him up with the testimonial content right. It's a bit early if you're trying to throw a testimonial video in front of someone and they don't really understand what the offering is yet. So make sure you get those other videos in place right your awareness content, your education content, then load them with the testimonials.

I'll let you in on a little secret on creating effective and valuable testimonial videos. Here's four ways to really do testimonial videos well.

One, use influences if you can now not influencers is the way we know influencers, right? I'm talking about happy people who fit your exact target demographic. These are your top clients who get what your company is about. And you know, by using them, you're going to attract more of that type of person.

Two, brief your client beforehand. Don't chalk them up cold man. And I'm not saying give them questions. I'm saying talk about the experience with them. You know, and make sure you lay out on the table what the real value was. Make sure you're both on the same page and that this is not a promotional video for their company. Okay. Just be clear. You know, if they're looking for something in return, give him 32 tickets dinner for two, right? Take him out to the movies. Take him out for a boozy lunch, go go karting, whatever it might be, but it's not a promo for the company and I don't think it will ever be a promo for their company.

Alright, three, work on the story. Make sure the story demonstrates the value of the benefit of the product service and company.

And four, keep it short, man. Keep it short. You can really pack in a lot with a great editor. You can pack in a lot and it really does not never ever need to be more than 90 seconds long.

Want to know how to properly script testimonial videos. This is an art jump on a 15 minute video call with me so I can talk you through how you can create testimonial videos with a clear message that's conversational, clear and relaxed and you definitely don't want to make it sound scripted. We have helped hundreds of professionals just like you.

Check out the testimonials page on the Ridge Films website and the Link will be in the show notes. And Stephen, thank you so much man for asking your question. How do you create effective testimonials that give value to your business? And if you want to build credibility through customers firsthand experience of your business I'm sure this podcast is really, really going to help.

And for listeners, one has you feeling overwhelmed, submit your video marketing question to ridgefilms.com.au/question For your chance to get coached by me. I'd love your feedback on this podcast. Go ahead and like rate review, subscribe, because I want to know that I'm producing the right content for you. Thank you so much again for listening and I can't wait to see you next week.