Trust is something not easily gained or given. In the world of land banks and agricultural lenders, trust is particularly paramount in the relationship between customers and lenders. Agricultural lenders are always seeking the next best way to market to their customer base. One method that’s been tried and true for decades is testimonials—video testimonials even more so. Few things hold as much weight as a recommendation. Mad Genius is adept at making video testimonials, and has seen them prove effective time and time again. There are a few reasons for this, so let’s take a look at the impact of video testimonials for farm credit agencies serving the needs of their clients—be they farmers, country home buyers and builders, or people purchasing recreational land.

Testimonial Videos Provide Peer-to-Peer Endorsement for Farm Credit Services

Peer-to-peer endorsement has always played a large role inside the ecosystem of the farm credit business. Borrowers may go with this feed or that truck or the other lender because a peer suggested it. Video testimonials demonstrate that other customers have had positive experiences with an agricultural lender’s product or service. 

Identifying a peer, and hearing about their rewarding experience with an agricultural lender, quickly builds trust and confidence with any viewer. Who, in turn, are more likely to give your organization a shot based on what they saw and heard. Video testimonials allow your existing customers to speak to your new customers, effectively cutting you out of the loop (or at least, that’s the perception), letting them share thoughts about previous lenders and their positive experiences with you.

Farm Credit Borrowers Respond to the Authenticity and Flexibility Video Testimonials Provide

Scripted promotional content can feel forced. Video testimonials can mitigate a lot of the disingenuous pandering consumers feel plagues most marketing today. Showcase genuine experiences with your brand and the unfiltered opinions from real customers. Authenticity resonates. Your ideal borrower will find it easier to relate to and trust the experiences of fellow farmers and rural land owners than paid actors. No matter how Oscar-worthy their performances are, they’re still performances, and customers know it.

Video testimonials also give you the flexibility to show off the diversity of your business. Agricultural lenders aren’t exclusively working with farmers. Your organization might offer loans for hunting land or other recreational property and rural land and construction loans for country homes. Pulling testimonials from your entire customer base gives you much wider marketing opportunities. 

Video Testimonials Present a Genuine Emotional Appeal

The personal stories conveyed via testimonials deliver a resonance that can’t be captured in other marketing methods. The emotional appeals from a genuine person who is, for all intents and purposes, like the viewer themselves, can be a powerful motivator for potential customers. When prospects see how your organization has positively impacted someone else’s life—someone like them—they are far more likely to believe it can do the same for them.

Video Testimonials Have Shareability in the Agricultural Lending Space

Video content is easily among the most shared forms of media online. Videos are shared 1200% more than both text and images combined. This makes video testimonials perhaps your most powerful tool in your marketing strategy. When customers love and share your video testimonial with their network, it acts as a referral, which can produce new leads for your business. To further speak to the impact that shareability has, take this video testimonial we created for Southern AgCredit as an example.

Here are the numbers: Interactions with this testimonial alone resulted in four loan inquiries, one contract form, and nineteen loan calculations. In 2022, the average new loan was around $30,000, meaning this single testimonial potentially generated over $800,000 in new business.

A core goal of most brands is to give customers a positive experience worth sharing. Farm credit services thrive on trust, creating brand loyalty. Video testimonials can humanize your business in a way no other marketing method can. Mad Genius has the experience and confidence to produce visually and emotionally appealing video testimonials to successfully supercharge both trust and brand loyalty. You’ve given your customers something to talk about, now let video testimonials help you share that with the world.

Talk to a Farm Credit Marketing Strategist

If you have looming questions about video testimonials, join us for a free, 30-minute Q&A with an agricultural lending marketing strategist.