How Client Testimonials Videos Increase Lead Generation on Small Business Websites

video testimonialsOne strategy On Your Mark recommends to our New Jersey small business clients Is to include video testimonials in their internet marketing. Video testimonials are the gold egg of trust building tools that help a business build credibility with a website visitor who has never seen or heard about them before.

Some small businesses claim the growth and success of their company can be traced back almost entirely to word of mouth referrals. We hear this all the time! Similarly, when a customer talks about the positive experience they had with your business on camera, that real life testimony becomes a valuable trust building tool. This is not a little quoted blurb that may have been edited or even fabricated by the savvy business owner or marketing professional. This first person story telling shows potential clients that their experience is real and in the customer’s own words. It also speaks to the gratitude felt by the customer because of the effort and time it took that person to participate in the video on behalf of the company. A positive video testimonial speaks to the service and/or products provided by the business and showcases the relationship between the client and the customer.

Sometimes a client will feel awkward about asking their customers for testimonials about their business. For some, soliciting a positive review may feel like a hard conversation. In all seriousness and to be blunt… get over it. This is a feeling we strongly suggest you put aside or find a way to approach your customers in a way that can soften the request and make it seem less like you are asking for praise and more like you are requesting feedback so that you can improve upon the services you provide your own customers. You intend to use their input as a tool to improve your own services, operations and customer service. The fact is, testimonials, online reviews and the closely related subject of reputation management, are an essential cog in the internet marketing machine – and it’s better to be proactive about your online reputation that to be purely reactive to it. The more positive testimonials you can accrue from happy customers, the less devastating it will be when and if a nasty review were to appear online about your company.

An additional benefit of creating video testimonials is they can also increase your online footprint. Youtube in a massive search engine owned by Google. Video testimonials are considered original video content that should be published on a youtube channel set up for your business. Each video should be optimized with a link and optimized description back to your website. This arrangement has the potential to gain you traffic from people browsing youtube, as well as provides a relevant, high quality link that will give your website more weight in the eyes of Google search results and can potentially improve your website’s search engine ranking.

If you have a positive relationship with clients who have used your small business, you should consider collaborating to create a video testimonial to add to your marketing efforts. This would certainly help to build trust with potential customers and increase the lead generating power of your small business website.