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Testimonials have always been a powerful marketing tool.  In my book Beyond the Niche I outline a few tactics small business owners can use to gather testimonials from their customers.

Ken McCarthy says:

When we, the advertisers, say something, or even relate a customer comment second hand in the form of a “testimonial,” our much-abused and rightfully skeptical prospects take it with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, when a real person says it, credibility skyrockets.

THe power of the testimonials lies in its ability to build TRUST with the unknown potential client or customer.  A testimonials provides PROOF that the provider of the product or service really can do what he/she says s/he can do!

Of course, the reason VIDEO makes the customer testimonial so much more powerful is that it is harder to “fake” than a written testimonial.  And that’s the driving force behind Expo.com.  According to Ken:

In the online video arena, one company is making business of video customer reviews: ExpoTV.com. These guys are harnessing the two biggest forces on the Internet today: consumer-generated content and video.  Currently, the site has over 50,000 product reviews, all provided by consumers who shoot, edit and upload their own videos.  ExpoTV then turns around and syndicates this content to sites like Smarter.com, Buy.com, AOL and Yahoo.

Of course, you don’t have to be Buy.com to get video testimonials on your web site.  Simeon Pollock is an acupuncturist whose Wholistic Blog features video testimonials Simeon has shot of his own satisfied customers.

Take a look and see if you don’t agree that video testimonials are MUCH more powerful than written ones.