When you’re trying to convince potential clients that you’re the right consultancy for them, few other marketing tactics are as effective as the testimonial.

You could talk about your business, services, experience and expertise all day long. But the moment you capture a testimonial from a client, it lifts your credibility 10 fold.

Testimonials are so powerful because they give you ‘social proof’. They show your prospective client that you’ve done such a good job for someone like them, they are happy to recommend you. Instantly transforming you from a potential risk to a guaranteed benefit.

But simply writing these down will only take you so far. Your prospective clients know the game. They probably realise your testimonials are self-written and client approved. In some cases the client may not have even seen it!

That’s why video is so powerful and a format that we recommend to everyone we work with.

For example, we supported consultancy Berkley Partnership to put together several video testimonials. They feature senior leaders from a number of high profile companies, providing genuine and compelling evidence that Berkley’s services surpass expectations. You can watch some of them here.    

We also practise what we preach. When we want to showcase another happy client we head straight to video. We’ve delivered effective digital marketing strategies for a range of consulting firms. So if you want to hear about their experience with us, watch and listen to some of the testimonials on our clients page.

Six reasons video testimonials work so well

1. They’re captivating

Written testimonials are good. But people are naturally drawn to other humans. So you’ve got more chance of capturing their attention when you show a real person talking about their problems and how you helped solve them.

2. They’re succinct

A video testimonial allows your clients to quickly explain their complex challenges and the solutions you provided. On paper, this might take a few hundred words, and involve a lot more work on your part.

3. They’re persuasive

Humans tend to believe the spoken over the written word. Especially when it comes from ‘someone like us’. When your clients talk about how well your service worked for them in a testimonial, whoever’s watching is more likely to trust what’s being said.

4. They’re rare

Relatively few consultancies are using video testimonials right now, so you’ll stand out among your competitors who are still doing things the traditional way.

5. They harness your clients’ authority

Having a well-respected voice of authority enthusiastically singing your praises is brilliant social proof. It demonstrates your quality in the same way as winning an award. And the higher profile your clients, the better.

6. They’re reusable

As well as displaying them on your website, you can use video testimonials within sales pitches, across your social channels, as part of advertising campaigns, on your podcast and more.

How to capture video testimonials

We understand it’s a daunting prospect to try and create video testimonials, but the beauty of them is you don’t need any video recording experience… Your client can record a high quality testimonial straight to their iPhone!

All you need to do is send them some simple instructions. Below is the template that we send to our clients. Feel free to use this for your own. Just remember to swap out any parts that are about us, with details of your business and service.

Recording your testimonial:

Your testimonial doesn’t need to be long. Nor do you need any expensive equipment. A self-shot video on your iPhone is perfect. One thing we would suggest is that you shoot in landscape rather than portrait.

In terms of what to say, we’ll leave that to you, but we’d recommend a quick introduction, an honest review of the service, an overview of how it has helped you and a closing message to say if you’d recommend the service.

Here’s an example…

1. Who you are – “Hi, I’m [NAME] and I’m a/the [JOB TITLE] at [COMPANY NAME]”

2. Why you engaged us – “We wanted to run a [CAMPAIGN TYPE] to expand our marketing and reach new prospective clients…”

3. How we helped – “Create Engage helped us deliver the project end to end. They supported us with X, Y, Z…”

4. Results/how you felt the campaign went – “This campaign went <<really well/better than expected…>> and the results were …”

5. Whether you’d recommend us – “If you’re a [SECTOR] firm looking for support with your Digital Marketing I’d…”

What should you do next?

If you’re ready to start putting together your video testimonials, don’t wait for clients to offer, proactively start asking them to be involved.

Contact clients that you know have been happy with your service and ask if they’d be kind enough to record a video testimonial for you.

You could even get back in touch with people who’ve already given you a written testimonial – if they’ve said good things about you in the past, they might be easier to convince.

You’ll then have some really powerful content you can use across a range of marketing channels.

If you’d like help with any aspect of your digital marketing, including video testimonials, please get in touch for a chat.