Convincing Your Customers to Give Video Testimonials

No doubt, video testimonials are powerful, but how do you convince your customers to give them? After all,shooting a video is more intimidating and time consuming than writing a few sentences of praise. Below are a few ideas that can help.

  1. Understand the objections your customers may have. Spend time identifying common objections customers may have to giving a video testimonial. There are many ways to do this including surveys and polls, brainstorming, and informal focus groups.
  2. Come up with solutions to those objections. Once you’ve identified the most likely objections, come up with solutions. For example, a customer may not mind giving saying a few words on camera, but may worry about taking a day off work to travel to a studio. A solution to this is to shoot the video testimonial at the customer’s office or home. Another customer may be worried about stuttering or not knowing what to say once the camera is rolling. A solution could involve multiple takes and preparing a script in advance.
  3. Make video testimonials easy. Depending on your business and clientele, you may want to keep a small video camera with you at all times and offer to record the testimonial on the spot. For example, if you own a mobile dog grooming operation, you could record the video after the dog is groomed. Imagine how lovely it would be to have the customer holding a freshly clipped poodle as she raves about your service. Another easy option is to allow customers to upload their own video testimonials via your website. The downside to this is that you have less control over the production values of the finished video. If you conduct seminars, workshops, or classes, set up a video testimonial shooting booth in a quiet area and let participants know about it. At the end of the session, hold a video testimonial shoot.
  4. Ask at the right time. The best time to ask is when customers are grateful for your product or service. At this point, they want to help you because you have helped them. Ideally, you’ll ask before the novelty has worn off. Sure, they’re still happy, but they may not be as motivated to give a video testimonial.
  5. Offer an incentive. Most satisfied customers are happy to spread the word on their own. However, because video can intimidate some, a small incentive could nudge those who are nervous about the process. Be careful though because you’ll want to avoid any situation where you might have to label the testimonial as a “paid endorsement.” Think of small items that serve as gestures of appreciation such as a logo coffee mug or keychain. Regardless of whether or not you offer an incentive, make sure to thank your customer for helping you or considering your request.

By understanding common objections, offering solutions, making it easy, asking at the right time, and thanking the customer, you’ll be on the right track for convincing your customers to give video testimonials.

Web Video Scriptwriting Tips

You’ve been tasked with writing the script for your company’s Web video – now what? As you stare at the blank page in front of you, you may feel intimidated especially if you’ve never written a script before. At this point, don’t worry about the finished product; take small steps instead. As with any project that requires extensive writing,scriptwriting requires brainstorming, outlining, writing, and refining.

Brainstorming Ideas for the Web Video Script

Whether you’re creating a marketing video, product tutorial, or training video, nothing happens until you have an idea or theme. Plan a brainstorming session and generate as many ideas as possible. Let your creative energy guide you and don’t be afraid to get a little silly. Use a white board or a large piece of paper and write down all ideas. Your ideas will likely evolve as you go. Ultimately, one idea will emerge as the clear choice.

Outlining the Web Video Script

Once you’ve found the perfect idea for your Web video, it’s time to start formulating it. Like any story, your online video will need a beginning, middle, and end. Use an outline to plot your plan. You don’t need to go into great detail here; simply organize the key points you want to address and estimate each section’s approximate running time.

Web Video Scriptwriting

Using your outline as a guide, it’s now time to start writing the script. Use a simple two column format with the left column designated for video and the right column for audio. For example:

Video Audio
Wide shot of company headquarters Opening music
The CEO inspects assembly line NARRATOR: At XYZ Corporation, everyone from the factory worker to the CEO is involved in customer service.

This script format is useful throughout the production. Not only does it serve as a guide during shooting, it helps the editor during editing. You can also use storyboards as a visual aid. As you write, keep the Web video’s total running time in mind. For example, if your final Web video is to be no longer than three minutes, you’ll need to pace the script as you write.

Refining the Script

Few writing projects are complete after the first draft. Go through the script and edit it. While you’ll want to correct any spelling and grammar errors, you’ll also want to go through the script with an eye on organization. Does the order of your key points make sense? Do you need any transitions? Does the script have any redundant areas? Is the script too long or too short? Does the script have a strong call to action? Does it address everything it promised to cover in its introduction?

It may take a few rounds of revisions before your Web video script is ready. By taking the time to brainstorm and outline the project before writing the script, you should have a workable first draft requiring only minor revisions.

Behind the Scenes of Video Production: The Three Stages of Production

Like most business processes, video production is made up of several distinct stages. The three stages of video production are: pre-production, production, and post-production. Breaking video production down into these stages allows the production team to plan, produce, and polish the video. As with any project, skimping on one area can adversely affect the final product. Here’s a quick look at each of these important video production stages.

Pre-Production

Consider pre-production the planning phase. This is the time where the producers and directors create their video production plan, draft a budget, obtain funding, commission a script, cast actors and actresses, scout and line up locations, acquire costumes and props, design, set up and light the set, and create the shooting schedule. Essentially, anything that needs to be coordinated before shooting begins occurs during pre-production. In fact, even some post-production tasks may be handled during pre-production such as hiring an editor or booking editing time in advance.

If you’re a business owner planning a Web video, your input will be needed throughout the pre-production phase. The director will likely consult with you extensively about your target audience, goals and objectives, message, and more.

Video Production

After extensive planning, the video production will ultimately move out of pre-production into production. Think of this phase of the project as the “execution” stage. This is the time where it all comes together: The actors deliver their lines in front of cameras. Having carefully planned every little detail, the production should go smoothly though a few minor setbacks (such as a microphone not working) aren’t unusual. Professional video production companies expect these mishaps and plan for them. For example, during production, a sound engineer will constantly monitor sound levels from each microphone and be prepared to promptly replace any malfunctioning audio equipment.

Production involves an entire crew complete with makeup artists, camera operators, sound engineers, lighting technicians, control room personnel, the floor director, the director, and various assistants. These professionals are dedicated to helping the talent perform to their best abilities and capturing those performances to the highest standards.

Post-Production

At the end of shooting, you’ll likely hear the director tell the crew, “That’s a wrap.” From there, the crew will begin breaking down the set and putting their equipment away. While the performance has been captured in video form, the work isn’t done yet. It’s time for post-production to begin. For the most part, post-production involves editing the raw footage into a polished video ready to be shown to the masses. Graphics, special effects, music, and voiceovers typically take place during post-production editing though some effects may be generated during production in the control room. After the video has been edited and approved, copies will be made and distributed and the video production process finalized.

The next time you consider making a business or marketing video, pay attention to each of these important stages of video production and commit to doing your part in making each stage go as smoothly as possible. You’ll be glad you did!

What Video Quality Says About Your Product, Service, and Brand

You’ve spent years carefully developing your product and your image. Your product is perfect, the marketing materials are brilliant, the website is gorgeous, but your marketing video looks like you handed your forklift driver a Flip camera and set him loose. While your forklift driver may be handy with a video camera and have a creative streak, communicating a quality image with your potential customers requires as much care as your product’s development.

Video production values speak volumes about your product, service, and brand. Shaky camera work, boring segments, inaudible audio, and other undesirable factors relay a not-so-subtle message to your viewers. It’s a message about quality and since the quality is poor, it’s a message that says that you don’t care about quality.

Is that the message you want to send to your customers?

Unfortunately, in the digital age of YouTube and viral online videos, production values have taken a back seat to the immediate gratification of a few laughs. This doesn’t mean that poor quality videos have become a viable replacement for marketing videos. Video production values matter as much now as they ever did. Consumers are willing to watch amateur videos if the payoff is good enough. However, today’s television viewers are used to Hollywood effects, high definition video, crisp soundtracks, and realistic, fast-paced dialogue. If you’re going to develop a marketing video lacking a well-framed, crystal clear image and audible, easy-to-understand dialogue, your marketing message will be drowned out by the message the video screams out about quality.

Video Production Values – What are they?

Just as your company newsletter conforms to a set of predefined guidelines, so too do marketing videos. With your newsletter, you expect an attractive layout, a nice use of white space, well written and error-free text, and interesting content. You wouldn’t tolerate blank columns or pages, blurry photos, smudged ink, or ripped pages. With a video production, you expect a properly framed shot, clear focus, clear audio, attractive talent, and interesting content. You wouldn’t tolerate blurry images, a lack of audio, shaky cameras, unlit subjects, or “dead air.”

There’s more involved to video production values than these examples. For example, the quality of the camera, lighting, stage direction, set, editing, and other factors all work together to create a video with strong production values.

A marketing video with strong production values actually downplays those values because they’re expected while one with weak production values draws attention to itself. If you find yourself struggling to see a product or image, straining to hear, or simply bored out of your mind while the onscreen talent babbles nonsense, you can bet that video needs work. If you find yourself questioning the quality or credibility of a product, service, brand, or company, the marketing video likely lacks one or more production values.

Excellent video quality is a must; it shows you value quality. A lack of it shows the opposite. What do you think? Share your thoughts below.