Testimonials about you

[chris f]

I'm going to start creating video testimonials of my best clients to include in my marketing/sales materials and I was wandering if anyone else has done this, how did you go about the actual filming of the testimonial? I'm thinking it would be awkward and affect the content and delivery from the client if I were behind the camera or even in the same room. I'm also worried about getting good content if I run the camera and then step out of the room without knowing how the video turned out until afterwards.

Any ideas, suggestions, experiences worth sharing?

[MikeWilkinson]

Either just stick in the room, or have a trustworthy assistant run things while you step out? I should think that any client who has good things to say about you/your business, upon agreeing to do this, would have no problem saying these things in your presence.

[Sean Smith]

Here are a few basic ideas that come to mind. Your mileage may vary. :)

Shoot in a hotel room, studio, or any other controlled area. This gives you the chance to show off your lighting & set design skills, including matching color palette for the rest of the marketing video. Ask several leading open-ended questions covering all aspect of your company that you may want to use, like professionalism, customer service, profit, re-tension, time management, so on. Have the client re-phrase or consolidate any answer as to tailor to your needs. Ask them to smile if need be. At the end, ask if there is anything the client would like to include.

Have someone else conduct the interview so you can monitor the content. Remember that just because your clients may be the capitals of industry, does not mean that can talk on camera. I've wasted 2 hours of tape once trying to get the leading industry person to be a leading spokes person. Not 2 hours of time but 2 hours of tape. Consider a company spokes person if you do not get what you are looking for.

Make your clients very relaxed, especially any mom-types. Serve hors-de-vours and talk with them about the process before you set them in front of a camera with lights. If there are more than 1 client during the session, you have the option of provide private interviews while having the rest wait in a green room with the craft services or lead with your best person (read outgoing/charismatic) and have the rest view the process on set to better see what you are after.

[zacuto]

Edi Schnieder just made this testimonial for Zacuto, http://zacutovideo.com Watch this and see if you get some ideas.

[chris f]

That Zacuto testimonial was great and definitely gave me some ideas.

[Sean Smith]

Zacuto, very nice approach.