We're talking testimonies today. We love testimonies, but before we get too deep, we want to challenge a thought we run into time and time again. Testimonies and reviews are different. We differentiate these from common language that's generic to transformative, emotionally driven language.
Reviews are simple and often focus on information vs. emotion. They rarely create a feeling inside potential customers and often don't move the needle of your business in the right direction. The occasional 5 stars help with SEO on Google, but beyond that, they carry little weight. For us, testimonies are distinctive and powerful and carry weight for reaching potential customers and work as a tool in your sales arsenal.
WE WANT TO BUILD SOCIAL PROOF
INTELLIGENTLY.
So we have a few things in store. Below you will learn a bit about us, our methods, and why we love testimonies, especially in video form. You'll get a free DIY method to building your own testimony system and access to our "Profitable Testimonies" Questions and Guide.
We've built this brand on emotional storytelling with films that aim to connect with audiences. In a world where video is getting lots of attention, we start most relationships with our partners, uncovering stories. Most of these stories reveal themselves to be testimonies. Great brands make great experiences, and those experiences are stories waiting to be told and often translate into future customer opportunities.
Most times, this isn't as obvious to brands, though. The new brand film around culture or mission definitely serves as a great project and has years of shelf life, but testimonies are the unsung hero of video. They create quick ROI, support your sales team, and create invisible influence.
SO WHY GIVE THIS AWAY?
While we love producing these, we also realize most businesses are building more and more internal teams for marketing efforts, and this system is a great way to learn our ways and create a healthier business, ultimately creating more opportunities for projects with partners like us. Additionally, if you already gather great DIY versions of the stories, it's that much easier to hire us and save time in the "homework" phase discovering the stories. You've already done the work, know our system, and we can work together that much faster and smarter, making both parties great collaborators.
Storytelling ultimately is a team sport, and hoarding information has never been our style.
In this video, we walk you through the whole process we use to create transformational and profitable testimonies. In short, this is a system you can use and implement. It's at a very high level and focused on the outcome more than the small details, as we feel there are plenty of ways to get the same results. The key focus is on how to ask the questions, the type of responses you should gather, how you capture these, the copywriting method, and then turning these into usable content. Essentially in less than 15 minutes, you can start creating unlimited client referrals for years to come.
Ok, you watched it. Don't scream at us yet. You can get the profitable testimonies questions right here "3-Layers to Storytelling Starter Kit & BONUS Profitable Testimonies Guide"
These questions are included in our free starter kit as they play a huge role in who we tell stories. We recommend reviewing the guide and copying it for your use. You may want to use them as they are or as idea generators for more specific questions. Either way, these are key to guiding your interviews smoothly and getting the right results.
SOME ADVICE FROM US TO YOU.
Let's talk about the notorious "ROI". Return on Investment. It's a tricky term and gets thrown around to sound good for projects, and creatives are blamed when it doesn't turn out immediately. We hate it but understand it better than most.
Unless you're running ads, ROI can be tricky with the film types we create. Emotional storytelling is a long game in earning trust, which is why we don't flinch too much when brands ask the question, "What's the ROI of this project?"
We don't have an ROI promise. What we do have is great storytelling and an understanding of how customers feel about brands. The lurkers and researchers are there when you don't realize it. From building awareness, educating, aligning values, and forming trust, video does this better than any other medium as long as you're committed to uncovering the stories within your brand's story. This is where a partner comes into play.
We give this away because we know it's smart for more brands to be doing internal work AND to do it well. Not generic. That's sunk cost and a waste of money, the opposite of ROI.
Additionally, if we give this away and add value, we know we're closer to a partnership, not for more revenue and profit (although we like that as any business), but because we collaborate. We work with people who show and share respect, who have stakes in the project, and who can work with us to tell the best stories.
As a bonus, we have a whole episode of our podcast devoted to the danger of referrals and how to shift toward proactive marketing. This is all about testimonies and how you can use them in your marketing efforts. It pairs nicely with our system, and we felt it made sense to include it here.
If you find this article valuable, great. If you implement it, even better. If you get results, hell yes! You are our people. You're action-takers. That takes effort and guts. We would love to know and hear about that success (josh@jecp.co).
If you want to work with our team directly, please shoot us a message or book a discovery call. We can help make these films alongside your team and give you a full production experience while still supporting internal efforts.
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