Business Matters Magazine

May 2011

Heading: Power of a video testimonial

Aegir Brands

From Surge Media

Written testimonials have been around for years and serve a purpose, but they can lack the credibility and strength of someone being seen actually saying what is good about a product or service like you can on video.

When you see a written testimonial can you be certain the person it is attributed to actually exists, or if they actually wrote what they have put their name to?

With a video testimonial you see a real person actually saying what they believe about a product or service – more believable and more credible with a human touch. Such a third-party endorsement can be your strongest and most effective referral tool.

American business mentor, motivator and guru Ken Varga swears by video testimonials. In fact he carries a camera with him so he can catch people on video when they give him positive feedback, and use the film to get more clients.

He experimented with 20 customers over lunch and all agreed that the video testimonials were more motivational and more believable then written ones.

Businesses need to have a process in place to produce video testimonials with happy and satisfied customers and then make sure they use them – on the business website, on You Tube, Facebook, wherever.

As the experts at Cutting Edge PR say, testimonials have to be real, they have to be genuine. A faked, over-scripted, acted testimonial on video will usually be seen for what it is.

Not that a professionally produced testimonial won’t work in the right context and place, and there are local specialists in online video productions who can do it for you.

A video testimonial needs to be different from an advertisement: it needs to be a strong, genuine message about your business, not an advertisement aggressively pushing a product or service.

The Video Marketing Blog (http://www.yesmediaworks.com/blog/bid/17531/Video-Testimonials-Use-the-Case-Study-Format ) hosted by Yes Media Works say you don’t want “cheerleader” testimonials using words like “awesome” and “terrific” and giving little solid information.

Video testimonials don’t have to be hugely expensive. If you are “on location” shoot as many as you can, keeping some for future use; shoot them at a seminar or other event where your customers are likely to be; or ask customers about doing one when they are in your store or office.

While you need to keep the genuine touch in a testimonial, you also need to have some structure to make it effective, getting the customer to address aspects such as why they first considered your product or service; their perceptions about it before that; if the perception has changed; what they like about the product and why; and would they recommend you to others.

Testimonials can be an important part of your business, as they are for many businesses, particularly using video and social media. For yours to stand out they need to be genuine but unique, professional but credible third-party unbiased endorsement of your business.

For comment or questions please email aegir@surgemedia.com.au