Terrific Video Testimonials….

If you’re a professional service provider, you have to work harder marketing your services than any other type of business.  Because while the appliance store owner needs to convince you to shop at his store, he doesn’t have to “sell” you on the need for a refrigerator.  Also, once the refrigerator is in your home, you also won’t have any trouble discerning whether the refrigerator is working.

If you’re a professional service provider, on the other hand, you have a tough road ahead of you.  Not only do you have to let people know what you can do, you also have to CONVINCE them that you can, in fact, do what you say you can do.

There’s the story of a business owner who needed to hire a video crew to shoot footage for a promotional DVD.  He came upon the web site of a gentleman whose web site proclaimed his video expertise.  On the opening page of the web site was a photo of the web site owner posing with very expensive video equipment.  The business owner hired the videographer for a small project.  To the business owner’s horror, the videographer showed up without any of the equipment in the image on his web site…. the equipment he did show up with was clearly amatuer quality and even then, the self proclaimed “videographer” had trouble using the hand held camcorder he was using.

Whether you’re a web developer, an attorney, or an acupuncturist, you’re constantly battling the unspoken question in potential client’s minds of ” Can you really help me?”

One acupuncturist is answering that question by posting video testimonials of his clients to his blog.  Wholistic Blog has  posted video testimonials to his blog.  As you watch the videos… there’s no doubt that these are REAL people, which I think increases the impact of the videos.  These are real people talking about their experience, not paid actors.  It’s authentic, it’s real and it gets to the “root” of the problem we all face…. because whether it’s building a web site, or handling a divorce or relieving pain, it’s difficult to recognize in advance who is the best web developer, attorney or doctor.

That’s why the video testimonials are a terrific marketing tool!

If you need a step by step guide to creating truly effective marketing messages for your small business- pick up a copy of my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.