Three weeks ago we discussed how your testimonial marketing must specifically identify the people who gave you the testimonials, otherwise they (your testimonials) lack credibility. Believable comments from happy camp families can persuade prospects to attend your camp. But if your testimonials aren’t specific, they’re not believable because anyone or his brother could’ve provided the testimonial.
Getting a comment like, “Johnny had the time of his life at camp” is nice. But crediting that statement to a general “Camp Parent” will not persuade a prospect to sign up at your camp. On the other hand, what if you attribute that statement to “Mary Higgins, Camp Parent of Johnny Higgins, age 10, from Las Vegas Nevada who’s been attending our camp for 6 years”? Now you’ve got a believable testimonial since it has a specific attribution.
Now here’s how you can REALLY make your testimonials even more powerful. Use video.
You already know moms love to talk to other moms about where they’re sending their kids to camp. And moms use YouTube, you can bet on that. Make a video testimonial to put on your blog, website, facebook page and YouTube. Email your testimonial video to your list. The credibility you get from a live, happy customer on video is amazing, and people will share your video across the internet with their friends simply due to video’s built-in social nature.
If the video goes viral enough at least in your local community, chances are good someone who sees the video will already know the person giving the testimonial — and that could be just what you need to push a family on the fence to enroll at your camp. (I made the video above 2 years ago. It’s only been viewed on YouTube 181 times, but it’s accounted for 26 camp enrollments from people sharing it with their friends.)
You don’t need an expensive, high-quality video camera to make this work. You can use your cell phone. Whatever you do, just make sure you add video testimonials to your marketing strategy next year.
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