Are you doing enough to connect with your customers?

Connecting with your customers and building a long-lasting, committed relationship with them has never been more important. Kim Goodhart explains how and why you should be using video storytelling to build committed relationships with your customers.

Storytelling has long been heralded as the most powerful tool in the art of communication. To see why, compare these two sentences.

1. “We were just off the coast of Stewart Island when our small boat was surrounded by 7 shark fins. One of them, at least, was a Great White….”
2. “There have been, on average, ten percent more shark sightings off Stewart Island per year, over the past 15 years, leading many marine biologists to speculate as to why…”

Which one caught your attention?

Usually, it’s the first and that’s because it’s crafted as the beginning of a story carefully designed to capture your imagination before feeding you with the relevant information.

The second is just dry information and unless you’re a marine biologist involved in the study, you’re unlikely to read on.

Humans are hardwired to enjoy stories in every format. In fact, you could say we’re addicted to them. A great story grabs our attention with a hook that focuses our attention. It then carries us on a wave of emotions flooding the brain with oxytocin, serotonin, adrenalin and cortisol which sparks our empathy and activates mirror neurons. Once our mirror neurons are activated, we actually think and feel what the main protagonist is going through.

This powerful combination not only helps us remember what we’re told, it actually changes our behaviour and attitudes and kicks us into action. As such it has been used for thousands of years to educate, connect and inspire groups of people to achieve incredible results.

But humans are not only hard-wired for story. We’re visual creatures, which makes video storytelling the most powerful tool in the art of communication.

So how should you be using video storytelling to build committed relationships with your customers?

There are three main ways that companies are capturing their customer’s attention using video stories.

• Customer success stories

“90 percent of buyers who read positive customer success content claimed that it influenced their purchasing decisions.” – Dimensional Research.

We’re social creatures and we like to see social proof, via testimonials, before making a purchasing decision.  But not all testimonials are equal. Thousands of years of evolution have ensured that humans are hard-wired to know when someone is telling us the truth and research has shown that 95 percent of what we pay attention to in face-to-face communication is body language and tone of voice. So, when creating testimonials, a real person talking in a video is more powerful than text. Critically though, when you make customer success story videos, don’t script what you want them to say. Don’t ask them to rehearse their lines. You want them to be so relaxed that they speak from the heart.

When your potential customers watch these videos and hear what actual customers have to say about you, they’ll want to purchase your product or service.

• Teaser videos for social media.

“The human attention span has dropped to eight seconds.” – Microsoft.

Yes, it’s true! The theory is that we’re bombarded with so much content these days that it’s affecting our ability to focus. So, what does that mean for you? It means that you have eight seconds to grab your audience’s attention. You must get to your point fast! 

Short teaser videos designed especially for social media are perfect. These are videos you can take from your customer success story videos. Each teaser video should be between 90 seconds and two minutes long, starting with an attention-grabbing sentence that will capture your potential customer’s attention in eight seconds. It should then highlight one key point of difference that you offer your customer to solve one specific pain point.

Both Facebook and LinkedIn give you the opportunity to build an audience of people who watch these videos, allowing you to re-target them with more specific content and start building a real connection.

•  Educational videos for retargeting

“73 percent of customers are more likely to purchase after watching a how-to video.” – truefocusmedia.

Once you’ve found your target market online and created an ‘audience’ full of potential customers you can re-target them with education videos, predominantly how-to videos.

Now this content isn’t for everyone. It’s designed for a warm audience that you’ve already collected with your teaser videos. This content is educational at heart. It teaches your target audience things they need to know, and should know, to benefit from what you offer.

It helps them to learn about who you are and what your values are.

You might not have the budget to make all these videos straight away, but the great thing about this content is that it lasts for years and can be re-cycled over and over again. So, start building your library of useful videos for your customers and potential customers today, so that you have the power to reach out to them and start building a relationship.

That way, the next time they’re in need of your services they’ll come to you as their trusted friend for help and you’ll have the opportunity to build a long-lasting, committed relationship with them. – Kim Goodhart, Real TV