On the morning of May 6, 1954, no one in recorded history had ever run a mile in less than four minutes. Many people considered it impossible, a feat outside the capabilities of the human body. But plenty of runners believed it could be done, and it became the mesmerizing goal they trained for.
By May 7, 1954, the whole world knew it was possible because an Englishman by the name of Roger Bannister had done it. A mile in 3:59.4. The impossible had become real.
46 days later, Bannister’s record fell as someone clocked a mile in 3:57.
And in the last 65 years, a sub-4-minute mile has happened more than 1,400 times.
Isn’t it amazing what people can accomplish when they believe in what’s possible? It just takes someone to show them.
In marketing speak, we call that social proof. Look, here’s our product or service in action, and here are all the amazing results people get from it.
And one of the most powerful forms of social proof is the testimonial video, which is why we consider it one of the must-have pieces of content for every company. Testimonial videos increase your credibility, create intrigue, reduce skepticism, and motivate people to buy.
But, if they don’t use the crucial elements of good storytelling, they can come off as a self-serving infomercial, and now you’ve spent a lot of money to turn people off.
So today we’re going to walk through how to create powerful testimonial videos that turn into more sales for your company. Here at Indigo, we don’t just create amazing videos. We use video to create systems of amazing influence so you can be more successful.
And the difference between a successful video and an unsuccessful video usually boils down to two key factors:
1) The quality of your storytelling
2) The marketing system you build around it
Creating Your Testimonial Video
So here’s how to go from dull to dynamic with your customer testimonial videos.
1) Make them specific. Having someone say that they had a good buying experience or the sales staff was friendly, those things are fine, but they don’t wow anybody. Any business should have a positive experience for their customers. That’s baseline service. Instead, make sure your testimonial paints a clear before and after picture that clearly demonstrates the value you bring to your customers.
For example, what’s more powerful:
Dr. Smith was friendly and nice, and she has a really nice office. I think she did a great job adjusting my back and now I feel a lot better. Definitely recommend her.
For years I’ve been dealing with back pain. Chronic pain like that really interfered with the overall enjoyment of my life. I just could not do the things I loved to do and be pain-free. I tried all the stretches and exercises and even went to some other chiropractors. Some of them offered temporary pain relief, but not a real solution. I went to Dr. Smith and she was able to explain what my pain was and what was causing it. After a few sessions, I’ve felt better than I have in years. I can’t tell you how great it is to have my life back. If you need a good chiropractor, then you have to go see Dr. Smith.
2) Make the customer the hero. Too many companies try to make the testimonial all about the product or service. If you do that, you will bore people, and they won’t watch for long. Instead, use the classic hero’s journey to tell a real story that captivates people. Within your customer’s success story, show how your brand made their journey faster, cheaper, or easier, but don’t run over the story. Keep the customer the hero.
3) Make them visually compelling. If at all possible, introduce action into the video. A talking head video is certainly better than nothing, but you can make the story come alive by showing scenes of your customer’s life. When you look at the popularity of Carpool Karaoke, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, and the people on YouTube generating hundreds of millions of views, you’ll see how important movement and place is to storytelling.
Those are the key components to testimonial video production, but how do you get the real meat of the story in which to build a film around? These are the eight questions I absolutely must ask for any testimonial video. You can ask more as necessary, but without these, you’ll be missing important pieces to the Hero’s Journey, and the video will not be as compelling.
1) What was the problem you were trying to solve and why?
2) Had you tried other solutions in the past? If yes, what were they?
3) What made you decide to buy my product/use my service, etc?
4) How did you put it into practice?
5) What impact has it had on your life/work/relationships?
6) What would you say if a friend asked you about my product/service?
7) If you hadn’t done this, what would your life look like now?
8) Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Success! We have our amazing testimonial video finished. It looks and sounds amazing, but now what do we do with it?
I’m going to bring you over to my computer screen quick and walk you through a visual map that shows how to turn a testimonial video into an entire selling ecosystem.
Building Your Marketing System
Before we build out our Testimonial Video marketing funnel, we create a suite of assets from the video. You can create quote images for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, your website, etc. Turn the testimonial video into a case study for your blog. Take the entire audio from the interview and release it as a podcast. Turn your customer’s results into an infographic. Cut short teaser videos, or create vertical video teasers for Instagram. And on and on.
YouTube
Now that we have our assets ready to go, we’ll set up our YouTube campaign. We are big proponents of YouTube campaigns because the shelf-life of video content is much, much longer, and the search and discovery possibilities mean people will be finding your video organically for months or even years.
In order to maximize your video’s discovery on YouTube, we use a handful of research tools to determine the best keywords and tags that will help your video rank high in search results. Then we create a keyword-rich description, a catchy title, and an eye-grabbing thumbnail.
We’ll also set up a paid campaign, which will guarantee that your video gets in front of your most valued audience.
Retargeting will also be important, but let’s dive into that for Facebook.
Facebook
Much like search and discovery, maximizing sharing opportunities on Facebook lowers your distribution costs and increases organic views. Can we get influencers to share the video? Can we incentivize sharing through contests or giveaways? And, in the best case, will people naturally want to share the video because of increased social status?
Once we’ve carefully set up your paid video campaign on Facebook, this is where some incredible opportunities open up.
After a few days have gone by and your video has been racking up the views, we retarget people who’ve watched at least 50 percent of the video. Given Facebook’s notoriously low watch times, if someone watches more than 50 percent of your video, it’s safe to assume they’re a good candidate for retargeting.
So now we set up a series of rotating content, almost like a drip campaign. The options here are nearly endless, but the goal is to move our viewers toward a more substantive action, whether that’s an opt-in, set up a call, come to a physical store, make a purchase, etc. The testimonial video creates a desire within them and now using content to promote action.
One important thing to note, and this is something for another article, is that Messenger is an incredible tool that isn’t being fully utilized by companies. Creating a retargeting ad that sends people to Messenger to ask you questions or engage lets you create an email list inside of Facebook, except the open rates and click-through rates are wildly higher than traditional email.
There you have it! A complete funnel for your company that started out as just a testimonial video. When you can combine great content with smart marketing systems like this, it can revolutionize the effectiveness of your marketing.
I hope you found that helpful. Like I said earlier, we don’t just create amazing videos, we use video to create systems of amazing influence, and I really believe the ways in which we approach video marketing make Indigo your best choice.
If you want to harness the power of testimonial video marketing for your brand, I highly encourage you to reach out to us. So please visit our contact page or call us at (212) 765-5224. Thank you!