Make Your Testimonials Come Alive With Video! Part 2 - Be Your Own Videographer

By Author: collene francis
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Make Your Testimonials Come Alive with Video! Part 2 - Be Your Own Videographer

By Colleen Francis

As we discussed last time, there is little debate that video testimonials drive conversions!
As for your options on how to collect them, this newsletter, we'll take a look at being your own testimonial videographer in more detail. For many, this may seem intimidating - both from the skills required as well as the technology involved
I've got great news - it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. If you see your customers then there really isn't an excuse not to capture their feedback and then edit and post their video testimonials on your web site. Let's start with the equipment:

Camera. If you're just going to be posting videos to the web, you don't have to go and get a fancy, professional camera. There are inexpensive alternatives. While you see a lot of people running around with Flip video cameras, we actually recommend and use the Kodak Zi8. Why? In addition to having the resolution and features you need, unlike the Flips, it can handle an external microphone. Also, make sure you use ...
... a tripod if at all possible. There aren't expensive and really make it look more professional

Microphone. An external microphone is very important as otherwise these compact cameras produce pretty mediocre sound. And poor sound really takes away from the impact of the testimonialSo what to do about the microphone? If you have the opportunity to place a lavalier (or lapel) microphone on your customer, then one that produces great results is the Audio-Technica AT899. With the right adapter, it will plug right onto your camera and produce great results. Again, this is the one we use ourselves!

Of course you can spend more if you want, but you don't need to! Many thanks to Blue Melnick - videographer extraordinaire - for originally providing these recommendations for us They have served us well And he has great advice on creating video that sells for your web site.

Great - so you've now got the raw video, what do you do with it?
In short, you'll likely want to do a bit of editing to any video testimonial you capture. It can be as simple as trimming the start and end of the clip, to more ambitious effects like adding fades, background music and graphics.
Again - don't be intimidated. It's far better to have a very simple clip on your site versus nothing at all. Start simple and as you become more comfortable, add more effects to make the testimonial slicker. Along those lines - what do you use to edit and prepare the video testimonial? As you can imagine, there are a range of options available:

Cheap and easy. These solutions will give you some basic editing capabilities

YouTube. This is the easiest and most cost-effect approach for basic video testimonials. You can take your movie from your camera, upload it and do basic editing. Also, it makes it easy to get it onto your web site although there will be a YouTube logo on the result. It also works with our Testimonial Director product if you are using it to manage your testimonials. Did I mention it's free?

Built-in Video Editing. There is some basic video editing software bundled with Windows (Movie Maker), on Mac (iMovie - if you've purchased iLife) or that comes with your camera. In general, these will allow you basic video editing (trim, combine, etc). When you're done - you still need to get them onto your web site which typically means using YouTube or getting the help of your Web Developer

More ambitious. These solutions will give you greater video editing capability as well as the capability of publishing your testimonials in different formats Warning: the learning curves on these are steep and they are not cheap...

If you have a Mac, then Final Cut Pro is your software. On the PC, it is Adobe Premiere. You can produce a feature film or a really amazing video testimonial. The only limitation is your imagination (and your time to learn to use them effectively). We use Adobe Premiere and it more than meets our needs for video testimonials and all the other video we use in the business

Forget this!
If you are starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, there is a very slick done-for-you option - even if you don't meet face-to-face with your customers Pixability provides a service where they will send you the pocket camera (or send it to your customer). You (or they) record their video and then you simply mail the camera back. Pixability takes care of the editing and conversion process and will give you a very slick testimonial video you can immediate use on your web site. It's a great option if you don't feel like managing this yourself

Don't Forget
No matter how you record and publish you testimonials, they need to be compelling. That is, they need to clearly articulate the business value your products or services are delivering. Make sure you review our recommended questions to ask. By leading your customer through their responses, you'll get much more compelling quotes to use in your testimonials.