How To Produce A Testimonial Video For Your Medical Technology Business

March 1, 2016

A testimonial video is an invaluable marketing tool if you have a Medical Technology business.

This is especially true if you’re creating a testimonial video to share online.

According to an infographic by WebDAM, customer testimonials have the highest effectiveness rating for all types of content marketing, with a rating of 89%.

And according to the same WebDAM infographic, 65% of your audience are visual learners.

If you’d like to generate more business for your Medical Technology business, you need a testimonial video.

Producing a testimonial video for your Medical Technology business is an excellent way to add credibility to your product or service.

A well-produced testimonial video demonstrates how much your company has helped your past clients. Consequently, it builds rapport and shows how it can benefit your company’s future clients.

It can be used internally (to build confidence among your employees and partners) or externally, to win over new prospective clients. A well-produced testimonial video can be used and re-used on your company’s website, blog, and social media outlets.

But wait, there is more to producing a quality testimonial video for your Medical Technology business than lining up a few speakers and turning on a camera. Testimonial videos require a lot of pre-production. In fact, if my professional experience of working in the film and television industry for more than two decades has taught me anything, it’s that the success of a testimonial video shoot can mostly be attributed to how much preparation went into the shoot.

My production company is based in Pittsburgh, but we produce videos all over the country. So when we recently shot a testimonial video for a Medical Technology company in New York, we had to make sure we were extra prepared to ensure not only that everything would go smoothly, but we would get all the footage we needed before heading back to Pittsburgh.

Shooting a testimonial video for your Medical Technology business is a great idea, but make sure you work with an experienced video crew that understands the importance of the following:

1. Know your message.

What is your testimonial video about? What message or messages do you want to get across?

For instance, we recently shot in New York City for a company that had developed an application that could diagnose dementia, as well as other issues.

The client wanted to make sure that the testimonial video would reflect to doctors who treated people with dementia that the users of the app (doctors and doctors’ assistants) could easily use this app to make accurate diagnoses with great precision and efficiency.

2. Know your intended audience.

Now that you know what message you want to get across with your testimonial video, think about who the message is for.

Who are you trying to convince with your testimonial video? Who are you speaking to? Who will buy or use the product or service you are selling?

Are you trying to reach doctors? Patients? Administrators? Knowing your target audience is going to affect the language and overall tone of your testimonial video. It’s also going to affect the choice of people you feature in the video and the topics they discuss.

For example, our New York client’s app was designed to be used by doctors and their assistants. Our client wanted to show how happy they all were with this new product. So we lined up several doctors and their assistants who were really pleased with the way the app had helped them diagnose dementia in their patients, as well as some other issues as well.

Everyone we interviewed used language that “spoke to” other doctors, about issues that they would normally be concerned with. In the past, they had to use a manual type test like drawing a clock and asking them questions, so it was difficult to have an accurate and same test every time. This was the first app ever created to help diagnose dementia and it was easy to learn and easy to administer. It was the first of its kind, so naturally everyone we interviewed raved about it!

3. Know what questions to ask

It may seem that testimonial videos are just spontaneous back-and-forth conversations between an interviewer and interviewee, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the questions asked in your Medical Technology testimonial video should be carefully scripted way in advance before the day of shooting.

Be deliberate with the questions you ask. Ask your interviewees to tell stories. Stories are very effective at conveying your message by appealing to the emotions of your target audience. Ask them to tell stories about how the product or service helped them through a sticky situation or problem. Let them speak candidly and from the heart.

When formulating your interview questions, always keep your message and intended audience in mind. Ask leading questions that serve the overall message of your video. Ensure that the responses speak to the intended audience.

3. Select the right interviewees

You’re obviously not going to get professional actors or speakers for your Medical Technology testimonial video, but you should feature people who are knowledgeable and know what they are talking about. The people who you interview on your testimonial video should speak clearly and present well on camera.

It’s a good idea to give the interviewees their questions in advance, so that they can think about their answers, and even practice them and run them by you and the video production team before shooting. Preparation is the key to having a successful shoot.

Be sure to feature people in the video who will be relatable to your target audience. For instance, our New York client’s testimonial video was geared at doctors and their medical assistants, so we interviewed people who had tried the app and were familiar with it, and had also enjoyed success with it.

Before the shoot day, the production company should discuss wardrobe and makeup with your interviewees. As a professional video production crew, we often provide a professional makeup artist for these types of shoots. The interviewees should be advised on what to wear on the day of the shoot: some colors and patterns don’t translate well on video, and noisy or shiny jewelry should be avoided.

And finally, it may seem obvious, but it’s important to make sure that interviewees are on time and can be counted on once they commit to being in the video. If you only have 1 day to interview everyone and capture B-Roll footage, it is critical that everyone is on time and you are able to stick to a schedule.

4. Schedule a successful shoot day

Scheduling a successful shoot day (or days) is trickier than it sounds! That’s because there are many components involved. Your production crew has to consider the arrival times of various crew members, allot setup time for lights, cameras and other equipment, coordinate makeup artists and interviewees, and line up time to shoot b-roll (which can mean preparing alternate locations and securing and scheduling extras).

An experienced video production crew knows how the final Medical Technology testimonial video is going to look before they start shooting. With proper planning, there will be very few surprises.

If you are in the Pittsburgh area and looking for a production company to shoot your Medical Technology testimonial video, contact Josh Birt at Josh Birt Media Productions today. We can travel to other states as well.