TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS, WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?

WHY THE BEST WAY TO SELL YOUR PEOPLE IS TO USE YOUR PEOPLE

Back in the mists of time, every corporate video had an ambitious narrative, like a storyboarded long-form commercial, a piece of expensive, styled, authored creative in its own right.  These films do still get made and they are great. I make them myself, though more usually I work in short form.  Is this always how you want to disseminate your information, your brand, your company?  Sometimes yes.  Just as sometimes you want to Ronseal it, to say it like it is.  But do you want to be that blunt?  Again probably not.

The psychology of testimonials is of course a key motivator for sales people.  More than 90% of consumers rely on online reviews and testimonials when making key decisions and will trust those testimonials as much as personal recommendations from their friends and family. This means that if you can get your clients or customers talking about how great you are on camera, it will help them make key decisions, reinforce your brand message and build relationships.

Recently I bought a miracle black mould cleaner online.  Worked fantastically. Did the video sell it?  Kind of not really. It was a ronseal.  It told you what you needed to know, and - to be honest - the fake testimonials almost put me off.   Was I taking a punt because it was cheap.  Absolutely.  Is it a glamorous product? Absolutely not. Was their video super high quality? Of course not.  There was no need for anyone to look the best, to come across the best.  It is the least sexy product and one that most people buy not because of fake or badly made tesitmonials, but based on REAL CUSTOMER REVIEWS.   

So what is a Testimonal video and what makes it a good one?  In case this is TLDR, the answer is Authenticity.   The very first testimonial film I ever made was not in fact designed as such.  I was working for a big corporation and we had all kinds of fancy plans for a professional voice over and a huge audio design.  Yet through the process, I convinced my delighted clients that they could save their money by letting the people interviewed in the film provide the script, through carefully managed interview questions.  And that any spaces left, any information missing, could be filled with simple complementary graphic captions.  And we would use the contribution of “our people” as the theme behind the film.  What’s good about our company?  Our people.

Testimonial films help build relationships with potential clients because videos allow us to connect with people on a personal level in ways that would otherwise be impossible through text-only formats such as email messages only ever so briefly exchanged between two parties before being quickly forgotten forever when we move onto other things. And it’s a lot more engaging and fun than text.  Words? Who reads em?

Hardly new in the world of modern corporate video, you say.  And I would agree. We have come a long way in twenty years. We have to a large extent outgrown the idea of the pedaogical voice over.  It’s almost a nineties/noughties cliche.  

Of course sometimes you need that authoritative voice when instructing, demonstrating complex information or really hard selling a product.  

But even then, if you have good people, they can get very close to this level of professional and authoritative delivery, and their naturalness will add a whole new level of authenticity.

And THAT in a nutshell is what a testimonial video is best for.  Your clients, your customers and your staff talking about how great you are.  Of course.  You know this.  Only one thing beats real people testifying that you are brilliant.  And that is real people testifying that you are brilliant, who are well shot, well recorded, well edited, well presented.

And so we come back to black mould cleaner.  How do you want your clients and your people to look?  Is the message so engaging, so enticing - and is your audience so captive - that you can get away with the video and audio limitations of a smart phone?

It’s the same question as “could you hold a conference in the back room of a Wetherspoons.”  Sure you could.  But you’re not gonna. Not if you want quality.

Great interviews are well lit, shot with high quality portrait lenses and the sound recorded on top level external microphones.  Great testimonial videos should have all the legitimacy of a news package vox pops, with as near as you can get to the glitz and styling and lighting of a commercial.

What you want is the dependability of real people, with the panache and quality of proper video production. You keep it real, we will add that extra layer of “enhanced reality”