Referral Marketing Film case study

Referral marketing film case study – Cimar

Commissioning a referral marketing film is a no-brainer – period!  When looking to buy a new product nothing is more persuasive than a recommendation from a trusted source. Personal endorsements give us confidence – which is why referral marketing film production is on a meteoric rise.

We have recently completed a referral marketing film for Cimar, a very clever and efficient cloud-based medical image exchange system.  The client subject for this film is Chartwell Private Hospital of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex – a specialist facility which provides various medical scanning services to hospitals, GPs and physicians.  Chartwell is prefect subject material for Cimar to use on a referral marketing film as their system has made a very positive change to their working practice and efficiency.  They are exactly the type of new business Cimar are trying to attract.

Tell a story with your Referral Marketing Film

The first tip in creating a referral marketing film is not to concentrate on the nuts and bolts of the product, but rather the customer experience and how it benefits their lives.  Most of all, it must tell a story. It’s an often-overused phrase but with referral marketing it really is about selling the sizzle, not the sausage!  The technical stuff is obviously important but at this stage your goal is to connect with, inspire and motivate your prospect to find out more. In fact, you need to leave them wanting more.

The second tip is to pick the right people – and to keep things as natural and conversational as possible.   A good referral marketing film is just a conversation with a client during which you capture their story and true feelings about your product or service.  If they come across as trying to perform for the camera, or trying to deliver someone else’s words or experiences – it will not be believable.  If this happens your referral marketing film will have the opposite effect.  Your audience will not expect to see a polished performance.  The occasional stutter, um or err is natural.  We do this in everyday conversation – which is what you are trying to capture.

Saying it as it is

It is important that your interviewee/s use their own language and terminology. This will almost certainly be the same language and terminology used by your potential customers. You might well call your widget or feature ‘XYZ’, but if your customers refer to it as ‘ABC’ then that is what other customers will understand.

In addition you should allow plenty of time to record your interviews. Make sure your interviewees do not feel rushed nor pressured.  Allow enough time to take two or three versions of the same statement or answer. Even if you think you’ve got the perfect take, first time. Try phrasing the same question differently.  This will often result in the interviewee giving a slightly different emphasis in their answer.

Icing on your referral marketing film cake

Make sure you film plenty of what are referred to as b-roll or cutaway shots.  These could be general shots of your customer’s premises, the products/services they provide, and shots of them going about their normal activities.  These images are used to cover edits within their replies and to help you tell the story.

To ensure you are covering the key points in the shortest time possible, it is good practice to transcribe the interviews and create a ‘paper edit’.  This should result in your client saying exactly what you want them to say in – in a logical and natural order.  However, this might mean quite drastic cutting and re-ordering of the original interview footage.  This is where that all-important b-roll or cutaway footage is used to cover up jump cuts in the visuals. (watch the Cimar film again and see if you can spot where this has been done)

Your next referral marketing film

Producing a referral marketing film should result in you having an extremely powerful marketing tool for your business.  It’s like having your favourite happy customer with you at every sales meeting extolling your virtues.  Hosting this video on your website will mean they’ll be doing it 24/7, 354-days a year.  A great referral marketing film will take the selling out of sales, completely.

Ready to start planning your referral marketing film?  Please give Video Artisan a call today on 020 3602 3356 or email kevin@video-artisan.com.

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