Do you want to create attention-grabbing, thumb-stopping fitness testimonial videos for your brand, gym or business?
Great! When used at the right point in the customer journey, testimonial videos can help you convert more leads into customers.
The trouble is many people don’t plan testimonials well because they fear that if they do, the videos won’t look ‘authentic’ or ‘natural’.
This means a lot of testimonial videos produced without much thought don’t deliver on expectations and can be a nightmare to create.
So how do you plan testimonial videos if you’ve never done it before?
Easy! Follow this checklist to help you produce great testimonial videos that are quick to edit, look and sound, and serve your business well for years to come!
- Film in a quiet location with plenty of light.
- Turn all background music off
- Always use a tripod and a lapel mic.
- Put a sign on the door so you don’t get disturbed
- Be selective on who you interview for your fitness testimonial videos. Choose a variety of different people who exemplify your ideal customer and have a story to tell.
- Give your interviewees space – don’t back them into a wall. Choose a background that looks good, but not distracting.
- Create a brief for your video team to explain how you want your videos to look once edited. Work with your video team to choose the best framing to accommodate any on-screen branding, graphics and captions.
- Allow plenty of time with your interviewees so they don’t feel rushed. The more they talk, the more relaxed them become and the better answers they give.
- Don’t make a point of saying “we’re recording now”. Start the interview with general chit-chat before moving into questions. Arrange with your film crew to start filming discretely as soon as they enter the room.
- Provide your interviewees with a copy of the questions in advance so they can prepare their answers.
- Ask open ended questions like ‘How did you…” , ‘Explain why….’ and ‘tell me more about…”
- Avoid closed questions that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
- Allow a second or two of silence after each answer before asking the next question. Your editor with thank you for it.
- Train yourself to nod in agreement throughout the interview so your voice isn’t heard when your interviewee is talking.
- For every question you plan to ask, write a list of ideal answers you’d like to hear and tick them off as you go.
- Write a list of words or phrases you don’t want to feature in your testimonial videos and listen out for them.
- Prompt your guests to mention the question in the answer.
- Ask your guests to mention your product, service or brand by name instead of using ‘they’, ‘you’ or ‘it’
- When you hear a great quote or piece of content, write down the time you hear it.
- Ask your interviewees to sign a release form. This gives you the permission to use their image audio and words for all your marketing needs.
- Provide your video editor with the questions and notes for each interviewee.
Filming testimonials can be as easy as sticking a camera in someone’s face, but that’ll only get you average results at best.
It’s easy to film anything nowadays, but if you want to guarantee better results and create effective marketing videos then there’s no substitute for planning your projects properly.
Follow these tips and you’ll create fitness testimonial videos that are authentic, quick to produce and remain useful for years.
Musclefood testimonial filmed in 2016 for the lunch of the Do The Unthinkable 12 week fitness filmed over 5 days in Nottingham.