Hi Reader,A testimonial is just a performance. Right? You set up the camera, you ask the client to say nice things, and you put the prettiest quote on your website. But what happens when the client says something you didn't want to hear? "The product is amazing, but honestly, the onboarding process was incredibly confusing." Through the lens of a traditional testimonial, that quote is a mistake. It gets left on the cutting room floor. But for a business owner? That quote is pure gold. It is...
10 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, I had two conversations yesterday that touched on the exact same point. A lot of companies feel behind because they don't have a massive marketing plan. Funnels, ad buys, SEO. But for most of us, honestly? That's fine. If you don't have a complex strategy, the fix is actually right in front of you: Your current best clients. You don't need a complicated strategy or a massive ad budget if you have a current client explaining exactly how you improved their business. But you can't...
17 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Testimonial check. Open your CRM. Take a look at your last few clients (or better yet your last few testimonials). Do they check these boxes? 1. They are enthusiastic about giving you a testimonial? ⬜ Yes 2. They look like the prospect you are trying to attract tomorrow? ⬜ Yes 3. They can they articulate a specific ROI metric? ⬜ Yes Most companies film clients who score a 1/3. And it is usually just checking the first box. These testimonials are "nice." They make you feel great...
24 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, In remote production, it’s easy to focus on just the gear or just the story. But without one, the other is worthless. Clarity This is about Strategy. As I mention in the clip, “Clarity helps you choose the client who represents your best story” to validate your market, rather than just filling airtime. Action This is about Trust. “Action means presenting that story at the quality that your brand deserves” so that the medium enhances the message, instead of undermining it. This is...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, A few years back, I had a client with a serious logistical problem. Techstars was running an accelerator program in Japan. They needed high-quality pitch videos from 30 different founders. But it was mid-Covid lockdown. I am based in New York. Obviously, I couldn't fly there. And even if we could - 30 setups would have made the production cost-prohibitive. So, I had to innovate. I adapted our early vidKit into a low-cost, high-quality setup using parts I could source locally on the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Friction kills projects. We see this scenario a lot with our agency partners: Your client is based here in Buffalo. But their best success story is in Philly. Or Houston. Or Denver. You want to capture that testimonial, but the logistics get in the way. That is "Geographic Friction." When the best stories are 1,000 miles away, the math gets messy fast. You are usually stuck with two bad options: Blow the budget flying a crew out for a 1-hour interview. Hurt the brand by recording a...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Happy New Year. I’m kicking off 2026 with a major fix. My resolution for the year is simple: Maximum long-form video quality. But getting there required a tough decision. I ended 2025 by "firing" my R&D consultant. The Backstory: For months, I was getting increasingly frustrated with our remote video quality during stress tests. Short clips were fine, but longer-form interviews would eventually lose fidelity. My AI assistant at the time insisted the problem was our internet...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, There is often a significant gap between what we think we deliver and what our clients actually value. We tend to operate on a comfortable assumption: that we know exactly why our best clients chose us. We assume it is our "innovation," or perhaps a specific feature we worked hard to build. But as I discussed recently with Diana Southall of Atlas Alignment in one of her WNY Growth Club interviews, this assumption is often a blind spot. When we rely on our own internal narrative, we...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Yesterday I talked about the "Testimonial Hierarchy" on LinkedIn - specifically, why the Video Testimonial is the "Crown Jewel" of social proof. It sits at the top because it delivers what text can't: a voice and expressed emotion. It builds an immediate sense of trust that bypasses skepticism. But if video is so powerful, why do most businesses stick to the bottom of the hierarchy? Because video is usually a logistical headache. You generally have two options: Coordinate...
3 months ago • 1 min read