Copy Tip 42: 13 Ways To Build Trust With Video
An early start today before I head off to some face-to-face events — firstly, with Pete Godfrey and his new private coaching group (first meeting) and then 4 days in Sydney at Mal Emery’s Platinum2Mastermind meeting (Think Tank on Monday, and then 3 days at Platinum). I plan to finalise my Platinum presentation on the plane!
As we’ve discussed before, and in my last tip, it can be easier to be persuasive and get your message across in person.
That’s why we have our events like the ones coming up … the value of the “in person” networking and get togethers; that’s why politicians would much rather make a speech before a large, live crowd at a big political rally (the enthusiasm of some of the crowd can raise the enthusiasm of the rest of the crowd — to make you more convincing).
So when our copy reaches our prospects — in print or online, and it’s just words on paper or words on a screen … it is harder to be effective.
One way to improve the impact of the message is to use video.
Online, you can just embed a video in your message — and with services like YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Google Video and countless others … the job is a whole lot easier, cheaper and faster than it used to be. And the bandwidth is better, so the use of video is more acceptable as the download times are much less tedious.
Offline, you can include a DVD (or video tape) … and depending on your prospect and the value of your customer’s business (and your conversion rate – you must know your maths to know if it is worth it!), you might be able to include a premium such as a DVD player, portable player, iPhone size multimedia player or the like — to really get attention!
Again, the cost of production and the technology readily available to do a competent job with inexpensive tools, means that it’s quite simple to add this to your offline marketing.
For example, many phones now have video built in suitable for what you’d need. And many small pocket-size digital cameras also include video that’s high enough quality for your needs.
(The video example below was just from my small Canon digital camera).
How It Helps
The best thing about video is that it engages more senses in your prospect — they see an animated/moving visual and hear your message — and don’t just have to read it. Engaging more senses means you can help “connect” to prospects whose process information using more dominant visual or auditory senses.
Also, your message is most likely perceived to be more believable and genuine because people can see and hear it — the visual images appear much less orchestrated and the chances of you editing/changing what people might say about you seem a lot less likely in these formats.
And for many people, reading is not their preferred method of getting new information! Lots of people like to be entertained by television and the cinema rather than necessarily read a book. If you are a fan, would you rather watch the Super Bowl or read a book about the game?
Video can use strong powerful, emotional visuals and match that with powerful audio … or it can be just as persuasive as a “raw” looking customer testimonial.
For example, I use video testimonials (only 2 so far, but more to come!) on my “Success Stories” page. Take the first one for instance, from Focus Health and Fitness owner Travis Fitzpatrick. Here it is, to save you jumping across:
What Travis says in the 1 minute and 41 second video is not now just something to read, but something to see and hear as well. You see him in “his environment” — at one of his business locations — in his work gear. It’s a lot easier to confirm visually that Travis is a genuine bloke than if I just had a written testimonial on the page.
Video Content?
As you can see from the example above, a testimonial is ideal content for using video. This could either be on webpage or on a DVD (or even just on a popular video site like YouTube, with a link back to your site).
Testimonials are easy to capture — and later on in the Copy Tips series I’ll share with you Nineteen Ways to Use Testimonials and Seven Ways to Capture Testimonials!
(We’ll even look at why something like a digital camera is a better way to capture the testimonial than more dedicated video cameras).
Here are some more ideas for video content …
- You can review your products — talk about them, turn features into benefits, get people to see and hear more about it before making a decision to purchase. There is a MASSIVE opportunity here to really get video-based product reviews onto websites — helping remove the anonymity barrier between your product and your prospect.
- How about on-the-spot interviews with customers — not just a testimonial, but their input and feedback … people love to give their opinion!
- You could produce a customer newsletter message via video — short, succinct, easy to watch and quicker than reading
- As many online marketers do — you can deliver a sales message via video: again, seeing a real person helps develop a relationship and helps build trust and rapport
- You can “open” a product and show people exactly what’s included “in the box” — you could, for example, if you were selling an information product online, use this to highlight how much physical stuff is in the box … the overwhelming value in your offer
- You can deliver video-based tips and advice — again, having a talking face helps prospects relate to a real person
- You can show highlights or a complete speaking presentation — helping show your expertise and position you as an expert in your industry
- If you or your product have been on television, you might use video to show an excerpt for prospects to again see you in a persuasive, expert role
- You could simply have a video diary to just open up your relationship with your customers. I keep thinking of Ed Dale chasing an echidna in one of his 30 Day Challenge video posts last year!
- Other than testimonials, you can show how customers use your product. Sell sheds? Put a video into action showing the myriad of ways people use them to add value to their lives. Sell wedding speech services? Have videos of your customers receiving accolades for their entertaining speech.
- Get customers to promote you via video! Have a competition and get them to do something fun, record it, send it to you and pick a winner. Put the videos online and on DVD. Remember that viral videos where Google had people passing a printout of the Gmail logo from left to right on video, and then had them all linked online to show Gmail being delivered around the world? They received 1,100 clips from Gmail fans in 65 countries! (see below!)
- Promote an issue you are passionate about. For example, if your company supports a charity, you could have a video showing the ways you provide support, or contribute in the community.
That’s 12 more content ideas (as well as testimonials)!
Next time, we’ll look at using Graphics to help build trust… until then, get your video out and start recording!
Oh yeah, here’s that groovy Google Gmail video:
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