You know this. Everybody says they know this. Yet, most marketing I see suggests company leaders have forgotten. How do I know? People aren’t looking for a “…best in class, end-to-end customer experience solution…”. And people don’t want help “Guiding interactions with smart, omni-channel visual engagement platforms.” But oh, my, I can just see the people inside these two companies when they hear those empty, hollow words: they just LOVE it!!
A client asked me to collect a handful of customer testimonial videos in preparation to create three or four for his company. After looking at 30 or 40 it was obvious almost all were professionally done to be sure, but most were obviously designed to impress the people who hired the video company. Not to connect with and move customers.
How to create videos that connect with your customers?
Get a customer, turn the camera on, and ask them a lot of open-ended questions. Don’t have a “script” in mind for what you want their message to be. Do a pre-interview to make sure they have a “spark” and an suitable personality. But don’t get invested in what they’re going to say. Then get them talking and listen. They will tell you amazing things. You just have to let them. Talk for 30 minutes. Edit it down to three. Repeat with another customer.
How to create marketing that connects with your customers?
Get a customer and ask them a lot of open-ended questions; on the phone is okay. Get them talking and listen. They will tell you amazing things. You just have to let them. Let those things inform your marketing; both how you reach out and what you say. Repeat with another customer. Stop at four or five.
It’s that simple, and that hard.
