81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool – are you?
Hubspot, January 2018
It’s no secret that client testimonials are of great value to a business. We all want to share our good news. Aside from case studies and ‘text’ quotes, have you ever considered sharing your client success stories in video format? We’re quite passionate about video testimonials at Feelingpeaky and we’ll tell you for why…
Benefits of Video Testimonials:
- Did you know that people are more likely to share videos that text-based content? Engaging content is worth all the hype… trust us!
- Text based content + sharable video testimonials = An SEO dream come true!
- Visitors to your site will naturally feel more trusting if they can view your customers sharing good news. Show your human side. This seriously improves your credibility.
Video Testimonial from The Henry Smith Charity
So where do you start?
Planning
The pre-production process is extremely important to the whole project. You’ll get the best out of a shoot by being prepared.
There are many ways to tell the same story and each way will provoke a different reaction. As the story teller one of the first things you should do in preparation for the project is ask yourself these questions:
- What is the story?
- Who is my audience?
- What are you trying to say?
- How is it best to tell this story?
Don’t be afraid to discuss your ideas and ask for input, your project manager and/or cameraman will have experience with many different stories.
To bring your story to life, we need to discover as much information about the story as soon as possible.
Style of shoot
Carefully consider your branding and objectives as this will affect the style you’re going for.
Avoid overly complicated backdrops or anything with patterns! You should however, also avoid boring backgrounds. The use of props can liven up even the dullest of environments. You may need to bring props to set up in the background to add interest.
Ask the subject to wear something that is quite plain, crazy patterns and colours produce an unwanted more patterns and glare on camera. This looks awful and will be very distracting for the viewer.
Other things to consider…
Storyboards
These don’t need to be elaborate well executed masterpieces full of illustrations detailing every second. A good storyboard highlights the key parts throughout the story that you think are important and act as prompts which help keep the story on track. These can be stick men scribbles, mood board style cut-outs or even short sentences.
Also gather and collect important photos, illustrations, video, sound clips etc that you want to use.
Budget
Your budget needs to cover three stages – pre-production, production and post-production. These three key stages come together to produce your final video case study. Don’t forget to consider the costs associated with additional content i.e. copywriter material – where does your background music originate from?, sound bites, images etc.
Initial Questions
Come up with a list of questions. These don’t have to be final, sometimes the best stories come about by themselves under environments that are more relaxed. That said, it’s a good idea to send the questions to the subject before the day itself, so they have time to think over the questions a little. This should help avoid nerves and gives them the opportunity to think through a few answers, gather stats etc.
Filming Environment
Research the best environment for the shoot. Somewhere or something that will add to and help illustrate the story, e.g. if it’s a surfboard company, the interview could take place with some surfboards lined up in the background. You want to choose something that is appropriate for the tone of your project.
Finally
The level of consideration you need to make in these areas will depend on how involved you really want/or have the time to be. At Feelingpeaky we can fully project manage this process for you or provide a cameraman and supply the final edit. Get in touch to discuss your video testimonial ideas!
Next blog… will focus on the big day itself, ‘Production Day’!