Crafting killer client videos: Stephen King and the power of storytelling

It’s 4 am.

I turn another page of my book, fighting off sleep, safe in the small pocket of light kindly provided by the IKEA lamp in my otherwise pitch-black room.

I’m in the home stretch now, the final chapter. Pet Sematary has its claws well and truly dug into me, and it won’t let go until I finish the story.

The final page turns just before the sun creeps through the blinds of my en-suite student room. Stephen King has, yet again, stolen not only my attention, but any chance of attending my 9 am lecture.

And how did he do it? Did he force me to keep reading? Did he threaten me at gunpoint?

No, he just told me a really good story.

Client testimonial videos – the king of social proof

Storytelling is an indispensable tool for capturing audience attention, building trust, and fostering engagement.

While written content, such as a monthly newsletter, plays a major role in your ongoing marketing, nothing brings stories to life quite like client testimonial videos.

These real-life stories from clients can deliver powerful, relatable narratives that connect on a deep, emotional level, much like the masterful storytelling found in my favourite Stephen King novels.

But what valuable lessons can you learn from the king of authors himself when it comes to crafting your client videos?

Hook the audience early

“The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.”

This iconic line opens the first chapter of The Gunslinger, volume one in King’s epic, multi-book fantasy series, The Dark Tower.

This opening line is perfect, because the reader immediately has questions, questions they want even more immediate answers to.

Who is the man in black?

Why is he fleeing?

Who is the gunslinger?

In Stephen King’s novels, the opening scene is crucial. He doesn’t waste too much time drawing the reader in; the hook often happens within the first few pages, leaving you intrigued and eager to know more.

The same principle applies to testimonial videos.

In testimonial videos, it’s vital to engage viewers within the first few seconds.

Start with an attention-grabbing statement or a compelling result your client has experienced. This could be something like, “Thanks to [name of your company], we have complete confidence in our financial future!”. It’s also best if this quote is taken from something the client has said during their testimonial.

At The Yardstick Agency, our client videos always begin with an intro card. The style varies from firm to firm, but generally we like to include:

The firm’s logo/name
An image, and the name of, the client providing the testimonial
A hero quote to hook the viewer in.

Here’s an example from a recent client video we produced for Mortgage Medics.

When you lead with a powerful statement like this, you capture the audience’s attention instantly.

You show a real person, with a real story, and the viewer wants to know more.

The power of relatable characters

King’s characters are often ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

The Stand, for instance, sees a group of regular people facing the aftermath of a virus that wiped out 99.9% of the world’s population. Though their overarching virus problem is luckily not too familiar (I’m looking at you 2019-2022), their everyday, ordinary, relatable issues are what really endear them in the eyes of the reader.

King taps into universal emotions, making readers see a little bit of themselves in almost every one of his characters.

In testimonial videos, your client is the main character in the story, so it’s important to choose clients that your target audience can identify with.

Shining the spotlight on relatable clients who share common problems with your target audience will make it easier for potential clients to see themselves in the stories they hear.

Furthermore, they’ll be much more interested in hearing what solutions you, as a firm, were able to provide to solve these problems.

In short, client testimonial videos are a great way to share heartfelt stories from clients you have helped, and that’s an incredibly powerful tool in your marketing.

Building emotional tension

Stephen King is a master of creating emotional tension. He slowly builds anxiety and fear, keeping readers invested in what happens next.

As a result, I’m up turning pages at 4 am instead of getting my well-earned beauty sleep, so it’s definitely effective!

In client testimonial videos, emotional tension comes from your clients openly sharing their challenges and fears.

Those taking part should be encouraged to describe their problems because when they finally talk about how your service transformed their situation, the emotional payoff is much stronger.

Hearing about an existing client’s journey from struggle to success will resonate deeply with potential clients and give them a huge push towards converting.

The importance of pacing

The average King novels often spans hundreds of pages. I’ve just finished reading The Stand, which could easily be used as a house brick with the right application of building mortar. In fact, when it was first published, the book was so large that 400 pages had to be cut, due to its mammoth 1,153 pages being too much for the publishers to bind properly.

Despite his long novels, King keeps the reader’s attention with perfect use of pacing, knowing when to build suspense and when to hit hard with climactic events.

In testimonial videos, pacing is equally crucial.

Testimonials should be concise, engaging, and to the point. Excessive details may cause the audience to lose interest, so it’s important to guide your clients to tell their story in a compelling way.

In client videos produced by The Yardstick Agency, we like to answer a few key questions:

What was the client’s problem?
How was it solved?
What was the outcome?

Generally, we find answers that are around 20 seconds long help to maintain a nice pace throughout, and client videos are usually kept to around 3-5 minutes in total length. Anything longer than this and you’re really starting to test people’s increasingly short attention spans.

Stick the landing

King is notorious for endings that are both satisfying yet open-ended, leaving readers thinking about the story long after they’ve turned the final page.

After finishing reading Revival, I spent days thinking about the ending. I read theories, other people’s opinions – anything I could get my hands on to find more answers.

In short, I took action.

With client testimonial videos, you can take a similar approach by leaving viewers wanting to learn more about your services, and then guiding them to your doorstep (both metaphorically and literally).

End with a compelling call to action — whether it’s asking viewers to visit your website, sign up for a consultation, or contact you with any queries they may have.

You’ve told a story, and built trust, and now it’s time to give your potential clients the information and the push they need to take action.

Here’s an example of how we do this at The Yardstick Agency.

At the end of every client video, we have an outro card, which has a simple call to action, and lists the contact details a potential client will need to take the next steps in their journey.

Stick the landing, and you’ll have potential clients knocking on your door in no time.