Planning for Your Testimonial Videos

What does booking a vacation, buying a car and hiring a plumber all have in common? In today’s connected world, buyers are most likely to read and study multiple online reviews before committing to a specific product or service.

Businesses, both small and large, spend millions of dollars annually on advertising. And while catchy slogans are fun—unless, of course, you can’t get a particular jingle out of your head—they cannot match the raw power of simple word of mouth advertising.

Today, the Internet is home to scores of niche websites devoted exclusively to customer reviews for every product and service imaginable. Here, people can compose their thoughts and often accompany their words with relevant photos. For an individual business to receive a multitude of enthusiastic praise is priceless advertising at its best.

In the same way these consumer driven review websites can dramatically boost sales, testimonial videos take word of month advertising to the next level and beyond.

Executive Producer Jay Conner, who owns and operates Jaybird Media LLC, specializes in testimonial videos and is constantly amazed by their marketing prowess.

“While producing a testimonial video actually does require preparation and planning,” Conner said, “the trick and the goal is to make the video look, feel and sound completely natural and authentic.”

“Because customers are on camera explaining why they recommend a given product or service they have used,” Conner continued, “I don’t want the testimonial video to simulate the ambiance of a big production commercial where the consumers are paid to say nice sentiments about them.”

When filming a product or service-oriented testimonial, Conner says his practice is to take the camera into the customer’s home, which lends itself to a more relaxed environment. Working in this relaxed space will yield a video that will be more conversational in tone and not one that’s filled with scripted soundbites. Drawing genuine and off-the-cuff like emotions from his subjects is his ultimate goal.

“Raw is how I want it,” Conner said. “On camera, I want my subjects to share their feelings, which means they’re not afraid of releasing all their emotions. Their positive experience and passion for the featured product or service will connect with the emotions of prospective customers, and that is how businesses benefit from these testimonial videos.”

Despite the required realistic quality of the video, it is important that it have an entertaining quality to it, too, so it does not come across as stiff in any respect.

“One way to achieve this entertaining element is to create a story centered around the product or service,” Conner said. “The story would then flow something like this: First, a problem existed. Then, the customer discovered the product or service in question, and the problem was immediately eliminated. Now, life is happier and less stressful thanks to this product or service.”

In the end, creating a testimonial video that’s compelling and fun is the key to success.