The Power Of Social Proof with Michelle Braswell

You know that your reviews and testimonials are important for booking more weddings and getting couples to trust you, but did you know that is only one type of social proof?

Social proof provides evidence that what you are selling will give your clients what they want, shows them that they can trust you, and motivates them to buy. It is a powerful psychological phenomenon and you can harness it to book more weddings.

There is so much more to social proof than just getting testimonials to put on your website or racking up reviews on WeddingWire or The Knot. You can use social proof in so many fun and easy ways to book more weddings.

How exactly do you do that? Listen to this episode to find out!

In this episode we’ll cover:

• What social proof is and why it’s so important
• Types of social proof that exist beyond reviews & testimonials
• How social proof impacts your ability to book more weddings
• How to get over the idea that sharing social proof is bragging
• How to collect social proof and share it
• How to make the most of the social proof that you have
• Common mistakes wedding professionals make when it comes to social proof
• How and why you should get social proof in client onboarding
• How to weave social proof into your social media strategy
• Easy and overlooked ways to get social proof
• How to get testimonials that sell for you

The Power Of Social Proof with Michelle Braswell

Heidi: I am your host, Heidi Thompson, and I am all about helping wedding professionals just like you. Attract and book more of the clients that they really want to be working with as well as have a business that gives them the freedom and flexibility that they want.

No, those two things are not mutually exclusive. You can have both. 

And I’ve got a great episode for you today on the podcast with Michelle Braswell. If you don’t know Michelle, she has been in the weddings and events industry for over 22 years. She and her husband sold their full-service venues to retire young ish and grow their online business in 2019, which oddly enough turned out to be pretty good timing.

So she now has a podcast membership and courses that help. Wedding pros worldwide book the right clients using simple marketing steps. And today we’re talking about social proof. 

Social proof is something that doesn’t get talked about as much as it should. We talk about reviews every now and then, but we don’t talk about how to make the most of them, how to utilize them, how to use them as the sales tools that they are, and the other types of social proof that exist today kind of get thrown to the wayside, but they are all very, very powerful tools. 

Now, as I am recording this, we are, and as you’re probably listening to this unless you’re listening much further in the future, we’re approaching the end of 2023. And a lot of people at this point are feeling, you know, a little introspective, looking at planning for the next year.

If that’s you, and if you really want to have a clear plan for what you’re doing next year, I want to invite you to join us in The Wedding Business Collective. The Wedding Business Collective is the membership that I’ve created to help wedding professionals really just follow a simple roadmap to booking more of those right clients and also building their business in a that supports them and the life they want to live. So they have that freedom and flexibility as well. 

And something we do each quarter in The Wedding Business Collective that I really love and the members love as well is a quarterly planning session. We get together. for two hours, once a quarter, and we look back at the previous 90 days, and then we plan together for the next 90 days.

So this combines how to, like I take you through questions for how to actually create your plan, how to put this together. It also allows you to ask questions to get help in putting that together. And it provides some accountability, you know, if you want to share that with our private community inside The Wedding Business Collective, you are absolutely more than welcome to do so.

And it helps you give yourself accountability because you can see, okay, these are the things that I wanted to do. Two, three months ago when I thought this would be a really good idea. Did I do it or did I not do it? 

And we break it down into not just like, I want to accomplish this. We break it down into, okay, what needs to go on your calendar and where for you to add it to actually make this happen. 

Our next quarterly planning session is coming up pretty soon here on January 3rd. And if you are a member of the Wedding Business Collective, you will of course get an email about this. If you’re not and you would like to join us, you can go to https://evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/wedding-biz-collective. 

You can comment on any of my Instagram posts or send me a DM with WBC for The Wedding Business Collective, and it will send you the direct link where you can join us. And I hope you will because when you go into the new year with a plan, it makes things so much. easier to implement. 

And perhaps one of those things on your quarterly plan is going to be making better use of your social proof. So let’s get in to this interview with Michelle about all things social proof. 

Today I’m joined by Michelle Braswell, who you are going to love because we are talking about a topic that I don’t think we talk about anywhere near enough, and it’s a really crucial component to marketing, and that is the power of social proof.

So Michelle, thank you so much for joining me. 

Michelle: Thank you, Heidi. I am super happy to be here, and I agree 100%. It’s something that we overlook a lot, and it is definitely an effective marketing strategy. 

Heidi: Well, before we dive in, because I want to just go all over the place with social proof, tell me a little bit about your background and how you got to where you are now.

Michelle: Well this ages us, right? So always, like if you’ve got experience, it also means you’re old. So we started out in the events industry. Actually, if we like go all the way back, really what I wanted to do was I had a marketing degree and I wanted to have a baby and work from home with her back before working from home was not cool at all.

But I just knew I wanted to be with her, but I also wanted to do something. So we purchased an inflatable bounce house and a trailer and my husband has a full-time job. And I just kind of let that take us wherever it would, and we could take the baby with us. 

And so we grew that business. We when we sold, we sold it, that was in 2000 and we sold it in 2012 and we had ended up with over a hundred big inflatable rides and we had casino nights and we booked our own entertainers and catering and all the fun things.

And we were all over the place. We’re in St. Louis, Missouri so We had fleets of trucks and baby going, I mean, she was big by then and she thought she was running it. 

And then we also added in a wedding venue and did it full, a full-service wedding venue where we did everything on site and kind of thought that was part of the event rental business, but turns out it was a lot bigger than, than that too. So we ended up selling the event rental business and thinking that having everything in our four walls would be just super easy. And as we know, nothing is super easy with business. We learned as we went along and just had a blast with it.

My husband was turning 50 in 2020 in December. So we were like, you know what? We’d been in the industry for 20 years at that point. And lots of 24/7 work all the time, heavy stress and heavy lifting and all the things. And our daughter got married and she actually married our house DJ, and so they both have full-time wedding businesses and like, let’s do a little empty nest adventuring.

So we sold our house in the subdivision and moved to what we think is a hip downtown loft. We’re not as hip as the loft area that we live in and like, let’s just. And so we had two venues at that point, and let’s make a goal of selling our venues by 2020, not knowing what 2020 had in store for us. So we actually sold one at the end of 2019 and the other in the beginning of 2020. So perfect timing. 

But at that point, we love overlap in our businesses. So, you know, we had overlapped the event rental business with the wedding venues. Then we also have rental property and real estate investing kind of thing. So we get that overlap going. And in 2018, we had started an online business where we started out helping wedding couples navigate the wedding planning process online because we knew how difficult it was for them in person.

We’re like, we could expand on this a little bit and reach more people and help more people online. And then that evolved into evolve. That evolved into helping wedding professionals grow their businesses. Also in the online space. So selling the venues and then having the online business overlapping with that just worked out perfectly for us.

And so now we enjoy being a little bit more flexible and being online full-time. 

Heidi: That is so cool. I always love hearing people’s journeys because they always make sense in reverse, but when you’re in it, it’s like… 

Michelle: Yeah, hindsight is such a lovely tool, isn’t it? 

Heidi: So we’re talking about social proof for anyone who isn’t familiar with that term.

Can you define that for us? 

Michelle: Yeah, I see social proof as just proof that other people are purchasing from you or found value in a product or service that you offer and showing that I love showing that online. It could be in person too, but I think online is really effective marketing for that technique right now. 

Heidi: And can you give a couple examples of what that might look like?

So someone could visualize it.

Michelle: So I mean, obviously it’s reviews and testimonials. We like to say testimonial. I think, Heidi, I bet you like saying testimonials to a lot of people reviews is kind of a blanket term that a lot of people say, or that, like, our clients would say, Hey, can I leave you a review or.

You know that I feel like that’s more their terminology, but in reviews or testimonials is the most obvious place for social proof. And I can expand on that a little bit now or later. 

That and then also just showing and celebrating your clients when you book with you. So when they book with you and you do a post that might be, let’s say it’s an Instagram story where you welcome them into the family of the business that you have or the service that you offer, you celebrate them and welcome them.

And that is a form of social proof. So you’re getting to serve your clients by celebrating them and onboarding them. And then also show other future clients or your existing clients. It helps build trust with them that you’re out there doing stuff. 

Heidi: That trust-building component is really interesting to me because it’s very simple.

Like the whole concept of social proof is super, super simple. You’re basically saying this person decided to work with me, this. Platform decided to feature me, you know, whatever the credibility indicator is, but what it does in someone’s mind is really, really interesting. It positions you as having your shit together for lack of better words.

Michelle: Yeah, it really does. And I think as wedding professionals and business owners, we kind of keep that in our heads sometimes. And we think just because we know it, everybody else knows it, but that’s just not the case. 

And it is such a simple concept, but there’s, there really is so much to it. And you touched on it a little bit about, you know, publications or getting social proof in those kinds of ways.

There are just so many ways to get it that once, you get it. And then, does it just like live in that? Even if you get in a publication and you use that as your social proof or that is social proof for you. Do you let that just stay on the publication? No, you can just keep that going and going and going and post it on your social media, and put it on your website.

And it’s really easy to just let that stuff kind of die where it where it sits. 

Heidi: That’s a really good point. And I think it’s something we all tend to do a lot. Like we work really hard to like, get a shoot featured, get a wedding feature, get a placement somewhere. And then it’s like, okay, mission accomplished done.

And then we don’t actually think about how can I leverage that? How can I maximize that? So that people see that. I was featured in this, you know, particular publication that makes me really stand out.

Michelle: Totally. And I think, you know, we talk about imposter syndrome a lot. And I think that that sometimes comes in and you’re like, gosh, I got that.

It’s amazing. And then you feel like publicizing that or putting that on your social media is bragging about it or kind of overdoing and really it’s not. 

Heidi: I want to talk about that. How do you, maybe with the people you’ve worked with or for yourself, get over that idea of it’s bragging and I don’t want to be that person?

Michelle: So, I don’t think any of us want to be that person. I, that’s a great point because we don’t want to be that person. But when you come from a place of service or building up who you’re working with, like, let’s say you get a publication and you share that on your social media as you know, check out this feature in whatever magazine or whatever publication and you make it about the publication and how cool it is.

Let’s take it a little bit meta. Right before we came on here, I did a Instagram story that said, I think I said. I just did it really fast. And again, these take like two seconds to do. So it’s, it’s not hard to get social proof or to provide social proof, but doing it from a place of service, like, I think I said getting ready to chat it up with the amazing Heidi Thompson on her podcast and then tag the podcast.

So I’m serving you in a way that we’re publicizing for each other, but also providing social proof that we collab together or that, you know, you’re a team player. 

Heidi: It’s funny. It’s, it feels weird. It feels like, oh, I’m just doing this thing. Like it’s not a big deal, but I think the more you can get into the habit of just treating it as like a, like, it’s just a behind-the-scenes, just show people what you’re doing because everyone is genuinely nosy and wants to see what other people are doing. 

And if, you know, you find out the photographer you’re looking at was just featured somewhere, was just interviewed somewhere, just got this great testimonial that might push you over the edge to want to work with them over someone else. 

Michelle: So true.

And then even when, you know, you’re tagging that publication and when you tag that publication, let’s say in an Instagram post, I think this is overlooked often too. If you just do an Instagram post and tag them, I don’t think it’s that rare of an occasion that a couple that’s searching for you or looking at this publication to go on the publication site and see who tags them in their posts.

They would be smart to do that. I think a lot of people do that, but then you’re showing up in that publication’s post too. So that credibility that you’re providing is really powerful. 

Heidi: And you make it so super easy. You’re giving them something to share. Like you’ve tagged that publication. I have not reshared your story yet, but you better believe when we get off of this, I’m going to.

Michelle: Yeah, it was super fast. And you know, you put all this work and effort into the publication or even meeting up and aligning your times and your schedules and just the quick of doing something and sharing it with each other is so cool. 

Heidi: It’s funny because it feels like such a simple random thing, but when you think of it in the bigger scope of I am providing social proof by doing this, it makes it a much more intentional activity.

Michelle: And, you know, not slimy. 

Heidi: That’s a big thing. 

Heidi: So I’m sure you probably get people asking you, okay, well, how do I get social proof? You know, how does that even come about? 

Michelle: So like from a client? Yeah. Like in the, reviews or testimonials? 

Well I have, I like to always do a hot tip at the end, so I’ll wrap up with the ways to do it, but you know, there’s a lot of ways.

One that is so overlooked and it’s just really lame to even say is to ask people just saying, Hey, if you share this tag me, Hey, can you leave me a review or provide a testimonial? 

Like, we forget, like, you don’t always have to ask. And I’ll, I’ll share a couple of things that keep you from having to ask, but just asking like you and I both value testimonials and reviews and all the things and we’ve done this like till our eyes bleed and we still forget to leave them like I forget, I want to leave a review for everybody or a testimonial like I’ll do it for anybody. 

I want to, but I forget to go to Google and leave a review for something small. I totally forget. We’re like Amazon, you know, they send you the little slip. That’s like, Hey, leave a review and we’ll send you a free gift. I’m like, Oh yeah, I want to leave a review completely forget. So it’s not, it doesn’t mean that kind of going back to imposter syndrome too.

It doesn’t mean that you didn’t do a good job just because someone didn’t volunteer a testimonial or review. They just get busy, especially wedding couples, and they just forget, but something that. 

What I like to do is send a handwritten note before, like when you’re talking about weddings, if you work with wedding couples and you send them a handwritten note, thanking them for choosing you to celebrate their day with or to provide services for their day, send it to them before the wedding, just a couple days, even, or a week before the wedding.

And there’s such a power in reciprocation that they want to do something back for you and they want to communicate back with you. There’s so much appreciation for that, that you might even just get a handwritten note back from them because they’re in thank you note writing mode and they’re like, Oh gosh, I got a thank you note from them.

That was amazing before we even worked together. And they jot you down a little thank you note. Those are so valuable to us that personal one-on-one kind of testimonial that we might get from a handwritten note or text or a messenger message or however they communicate with us. But it doesn’t have to just stay with that.

You can use a template or, you know, take a picture of it and share it on your social media. Those, those things again, don’t have to just die with the review or the testimonial that they sent you. So the power of reciprocation is huge. 

And then also resharing again, what you receive from them, even if it’s 1 on 1, it doesn’t necessarily have to be on a traditional platform.

Heidi: And even just taking like a photo of that handwritten note that you get and being like, Oh my God, this just made my day. I just got this from our couple and we just had their wedding last weekend. They were so amazing. And like, you are just gushing about this couple.

It’s not you. It’s genuine. Yeah, it’s not you being like, Hey, everybody, look at how good I am. 

Michelle: Exactly. 

Heidi: So sharing on social media is a big component. Do you advocate any sort of a structured approach to that? Like, do you want people to like be resharing things on a certain basis or making sure that they bring up that feature and maybe not share it just the one time but also share it next month?

Michelle: Well, I think. You know, as online people, we definitely repurpose everything and we’re always looking for more content. And just because you shared something once doesn’t mean everybody in your audience saw it or the new people didn’t see it. Social media moves fast and you can repeat that content.

I teach my people to use pillars in their content. So let’s say Instagram maybe they use six or nine pillars in their Instagram strategy and reviews might be one of those. And they just keep rotating out new reviews. 

And it doesn’t have to be a formal review that they’re sharing. You know, maybe somebody, let’s say, you know, we’re all in these Facebook groups. Let’s say somebody is in the Facebook group and says, I’m looking for a DJ in St. Louis and then you’re a DJ and somebody tags you and says, Hey, I used. ABC DJ, and they’re amazing. We had the best time. You can screenshot that comment and that can be your testimonial or your review for that rotation, you know, always make sure you’re getting permission or blocking out names.

Heidi: It’s really, really simple. And I think because it’s simple, it gets overlooked, but it’s such a crucial component. Like, it’s funny that, you know, we think like, oh, I’m not influenced by, you know, these sorts of things, but I mean, we all are.

Michelle: We see Amazon, like, yeah, you’re shopping on Amazon when I’m shopping on there.

Maybe you have 10 choices of the same thing to buy. I’m not buying the one with no reviews. Yep. 

Heidi: Absolutely. And you’re buying the one that has reviews that are specific to the thing that you were concerned about. You know, like this is perfect for, you know, a small room like, Oh, okay. Awesome. That’s exactly what I’m looking for.

You relate to it. It’s so funny. It works on so many different levels. It gives credibility. It builds trust. It, you know, builds reciprocity when you are the person who is providing a really good experience, someone wants to give this to you. And I think sometimes we think we’re asking so much by, you know, asking for a testimonial, asking for a review, but we’re really not. People do genuinely want to help you out.

Michelle: They really do. And it’s even often an honor for people to be asked to provide a review for them. It makes, them want, especially in the wedding industry, they want to talk about their wedding and they want to acknowledge, their vendors. And, you know, it’s just really a powerful thing, even for your existing clients to see that.

People are giving you reviews. It’s not just for, you know, marketing to your new clients. And then the more reviews you get, the more people want to give you reviews because they see that that’s part of your process. 

Heidi: It’s so funny the way it works and we get so weird about it in our heads. I think another way I love seeing this used is anytime people have any credibility factors mentioned in their about page, their bio, any like logos of places that they’ve been featured.

We don’t really think about these things cause we just see them every day, but they are powerful.

Michelle: They are powerful. And yeah, that social proof of brands that you’ve worked with is, is just huge is so powerful. And then. Of course, you go down the whole rabbit hole of anything that you can put on your website.

Like, that is just going to be even more powerful for you. 

Heidi: Yeah, absolutely. So what are any other components you teach your people? Any steps you teach them to take to really harness the power of social proof and like you said, not let it die?

Michelle: Just kind of, we touched a little bit on this just now about putting it on their website, having a page on your website, where and Heidi I noticed you have this this to having a page on your website that shows reviews and testimonials.

And again, it’s really good for your SEO because they’re often in the language that your clients use in their everyday language. So it’s also what your clients are searching for. So that’s a good point. And then also just, you know, the proof. And if you want people going to your website, of course.

Heidi: I love when I see people have a testimonial page, that’s super important. But I really love when people take their testimonials or case studies or anything like that, and just kind of sprinkle them a little bit throughout.

So if it’s like, I only see the homepage. I only see the about page. I only see the services page. I’m still seeing, you know, some form of social proof. 

Michelle: Yes, and again, it doesn’t have to take up a lot of real estate. It can be little screenshots or it can be, you know, that’s another thing that we do that if you get a little positive feedback or just like little itty bitty things or big things, take a screenshot on your phone and save it to a folder.

So like I have a folder on my phone where I take screenshots every time I see somebody being excited about working with me or just, you know, anything comments like we said the thank you notes that come in, take pictures, and keep those on your phone and keep them in a testimonials file so they’re always there for you to use. 

Sprinkle them on your website. Even whenever you’re feeling a little down, like if you’re having kind of a crappy day, it’s fun to go to that testimonials file and get a little pick me up. 

Heidi: I do that. I have a folder in my email. It’s called happy stuff. And I put all like positive things that people have said.

So A. I have a place to like, you know, easily find that stuff. Yeah. And B, it just is nice to be able to be like, Oh, okay. I am feeling like, like you said, the super imposter syndrome today. What am I even doing? Like, okay, no, what I’m doing is important. What I’m doing is having an impact. People are happy with what I’m doing.

I need to just move forward. 

Michelle: Exactly. And then that also helps you get out of your head for asking for reviews and testimonials again. So it’s the whole full circle. 

Heidi: Yeah, I think we, we often think of testimonials as a crucial component of our process. And, yes, you should ask for a testimonial in the end.

But I don’t think we consider these other forms of social proof. Like you said, these random little screenshots of things people say about you when they tag you and recommend you, you know, the things behind the scenes that people don’t see like an email or a thank you note that somebody sends you. 

Or you know, getting featured somewhere that kind of adds that third-party credibility of like, well, they think I’m good so you should think I’m good too. So, if we don’t go beyond the reviews, I feel like we miss out on so much of this. 

Michelle: That is so true. We really do. And it’s easy. You just have to like, you know, just your mind a little bit to look for it. And it is so easy and fast. 

Heidi: Yeah. And easy and fast. Like you said, you just keep a folder. It’s like a super streamlined, easy way to stay organized with this. And you just kind of grab things as you see them and put them in there. And then when you’re going to create. You know, a piece of content for social media. They’re all just right there for you to grab.

Heidi: Are there any mistakes you see people make commonly when it comes to getting and leveraging their social proof? 

Michelle: Good question. Well, one of the main things is letting it die wherever it got left. One of the other things is that I see people being disappointed in where the social proof came from or where their review is left.

Let’s say they really love getting reviews on the not, but one of their couples left a gushing review over on Google, and they’re like, man, they left me the review on Google instead of The Knot. I really need that reviews and testimonials count on The Knot.

Heidi: That’s easy to get hung up on. If you’re just focusing on building it in one platform, 

Michelle: It really is.

And same thing with whenever someone gives you amazing feedback one-on-one, just like the thank you note or the DM, like, gosh, I wish they would have left out on a platform where you can put it in all the places like Google My Business. You can use that like a Facebook feed.

It has a feature of a feed and there’s, you can put images on it. So just use it, use a template, and put that as an image on your. Google My Business or whatever they call it now. And that comes up when they search for you online, it’s so powerful and it’s not a disappointment for someone to leave something, what you think I’m doing air quotes in the wrong place?

Heidi: I suppose you could always. You know, contact them and be like, super grateful about it, but say, like, would you mind just like copying and pasting that?

Michelle: Yep. That’s another thing. Just, yeah. Keep, keep asking if they have gone so far as leaving you a review or a testimonial, they want to. 

Heidi: That’s a really good point.

I think. You know, like I said, it feels like we’re taking, it feels like we’re asking so much by doing this. And we really aren’t. We all want to help out the people that we have loved working with. 

Michelle: Yes, totally. 

Heidi: So is there anything else about social proof that you want the person listening to know?

Michelle: Okay. Well, I saved my hot tip for that and we’ll, we’ll get into it and you’ll probably have some feedback for this too. But my hot tip is to ask for feedback as part of your onboarding process. It’s not something we think about when onboarding. I use a tool called VideoAsk.

It is a really simple, just one-on-one tool that you can shoot on your phone. And there are lots of different tools that you can use for lots of them that do the same thing as VideoAsk, but it’s just you welcoming your new client into your world and part of their onboarding, you can even give them instructions through this video and video is powerful and you don’t want to be afraid of it.

It’s, you know, just you talking to your client. Just say to them that you’re excited to be working with them and that you are grateful that they chose you and then ask them how they’re feeling about things or ask them their vision or if you really want to ask them how they’re feeling, let’s say on a scale of 1 to 10, how they’re feeling about their wedding planning process or wherever they, whatever they’re doing in the service that you provide, how are they feeling on a confidence level on a scale of 1 to 10?

And then do the same thing after their wedding or after their event when you’re doing your kind of off-boarding things like asking for reviews, you can send them that same type of video and say, Hey, thank you so much. I really enjoyed working with you now. You rated how you were feeling on a scale of one to 10 before you had your wedding or early in the planning process, how are you feeling now? And just using that comparison is huge when it comes to social proof and even helping them see where they, how far they’ve come.

Heidi: That is a brilliant idea. I love being able to create that milestone of like, this is how you were feeling when we first got started. This is how you’re feeling now. This is like the whole journey. I think this is something that gets missed out in testimonials a lot that I try to help people pull out is showing the journey.

It’s so important. 

Michelle: It really is. Because again, it’s in their head and they think that they know they even think they know or like we think we know, but getting it out and having a little scale of where they have come along that journey is so good for them. 

Heidi: I love video testimonials too because once you have video, you can use it and any other format.

Michelle: Yes, then you can transcribe it or have audio or again, you know, use the little video clip any anywhere all over the place. VideoAsk is really cool.

Heidi: It really simplifies the idea because I think the concept of like, okay, I’m going to like set up my phone or my laptop and record this video and it has to be like this super well produced thing whereas VideoAsk makes it a much more casual and easy to use. 

Michelle: I agree. And when you have come to them with a video that feels casual, then they are going to be less intimidated to send you something back. And there’s just, it just takes down all the barriers. 

Heidi: I just had an experience like that recently with VideoAsk.

I was like, do I need to like, you know, make sure I have really good lighting? Do I need to make sure I look really good? And I watched the video that they sent and I was like, Oh, okay. I can just be normal. This is fine. 

Michelle: Yes, exactly. That’s a great tip is, I mean, just really, it’s scary to get on video sometimes.

And the same thing on social media, the less polished you are with your video ask or your social media or whatever, the better response you’re going to get. 

Heidi: It really shows that it’s a real person giving their real feelings and they haven’t been, you know coached and overproduced. 

Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. And again, back to that genuine place of service.

Heidi: That is a huge, huge piece of it. And I think the sincerity that comes across in video. Nothing beats it. Text testimonials are great. Don’t get me wrong. But if you can hear the inflection in someone’s voice, if you can see their face and you can see them talking through how they felt and what the experience was like, that’s so powerful.

Michelle: It really is. 

Heidi: So with VideoAsk, do you, do you find people have any like hesitations or like struggles getting started with that, that we can just like nip in the bud right now?

Michelle: With us using it as business people? Yeah. So the thing about it is that it’s free, like totally free. Almost all of its features are unlocked in the free version.

It’s just restricted to how much, how many minutes are being used for video. It’s probably audio too, that is counted, but text is not counted. So 1, it’s totally free to, again, thinking that you got to get fixed up or practice a million times before you set up your first one, just do it. Like, this is what I tell my people all the time.

Put one foot in front of the other. Take one step at a time, just go in there, sign up for it. It’s like nothing to sign up for. I think it’s your email address and a password and that’s it. And then you can immediately get started. And there’s an app for your phone. There’s also a desktop version. You can set it up to be either audio, video or text or all 3 or 2 out of the 3. 

So you don’t even have to ask for a video response back if you’re not comfortable with that. If you think that your clients are going to be more likely to only do text, you could give them the option of only text. I give them the option of video, audio or text just because I love the chance at getting a video testimonial back from them. 

But you know, that, that kind of intimidation of asking them for a video goes away whenever you can offer them three options. 

Heidi: Guys, I can’t tell you how easy this tool is. It is so cool. Like you just record yourself.

You’re basically recording like a one-sided message and then they see that and then they can click to respond to you with audio, video, or text. So it will just say click any one of those, let us know what your experience was like, or if you want to give them some example questions to answer that can be helpful.

Michelle: Yes and then, like you said, you can even tell them, to leave me a video you do not have to get dressed up for this. And then also you can do steps and ask them what only one question at a time is your best way to get a response. 

Heidi: It’s so much more digestible that way. Just you click the video, it asks you a question.

You click start your video. You answer the question. You click stop. It is the easiest thing on the planet.

Michelle: And you can practice it. So if you don’t love what you did, you just hit it again. Yeah. The hardest thing is hitting that red button, right? 

Heidi: Oh, yeah. And I always just, I don’t watch my back. I’m just, I don’t want to watch myself. No, nobody does. That is a really, really valuable tip. 

Is there anything else before we wrap up? You want people to know to go forward, start collecting social proof and start using social proof as a powerful tool in their business. 

Michelle: I’ll just really do just ask. Don’t be afraid of asking and don’t be afraid of sharing something.

Look for anywhere that you can possibly just. Re-share something. So if, like we said, if there’s something that was shared about you, it takes two seconds to re-share that or the behind-the-scenes of getting ready to do something. 

Or if you’ve never booked a client before, you can post a behind-the-scenes of getting ready to book a client or getting ready to have a meeting with them or posting on your social media.

All these things are social proof that you’ve got a business. 

Heidi:  That’s a really good point. And I think sometimes when we’re getting started, we can feel intimidated that like, oh, I don’t have any bookings or I don’t have as many bookings as this person, but you can just use social proof in so many different ways.

You can use it to show that you’re working on something that you’re learning something that, you know, there’s so many different ways to do it. Yeah, I love it. It’s a powerful thing. Make sure you use it in your business. 

Michelle: Yes. Always. 

Heidi: Michelle, if people want to learn more about you, what you do, and your podcast, where can they go to find you.

Michelle: My website is www.letsbookclients.com so they can go there. I’m on Instagram, Michelle Braswell. I’m on Facebook and my podcast is Let’s Book Clients. The website should send you where you need to go. 

Heidi: You can watch her sharing social proof in different ways and be like, I see what you’re doing.

Michelle: Yeah. It’s motivating me to even look for different places to do it. So fun. 

Heidi: Thank you so much, Michelle. This has been great. 

Michelle: Thank you, Heidi. 

Heidi: I hope you got a lot out of that. I hope that’s given you some ideas about how your social proof can be better used, different types of social proof that maybe you’re not using that you should be or that could really help you or maybe that you have that you haven’t really been calling attention to.

Like we talked about getting over that feeling that it’s like bragging and actually making the most of the social proof that you have. So I have some links for you. I will include them over in the show notes for this episode. 

And I’ll be sure to include the link to my testimonial templates ’cause the way I teach people to collect testimonials typically results in testimonials that do a lot more selling for you than the typical like yeah, she was great. We loved working with her. 

Because as you just learned your social proof can do so much more than just make you sound good. It can do so much of your selling for you and if you approach getting testimonials in a way that does this, they’re just going to help you so much more.

So I will link to that and the other items we talked about in this episode. I hope you will come join us over in The Wedding Business Collective and that I will see you for our quarter one planning session happening January 3rd. That again is at https://evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/wedding-biz-collective

Or you can just comment WBC on any of my Instagram posts or just DM me on Instagram and I will send you the direct link so you can join us. Have a fantastic rest of your day. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me here and I will speak to you again very soon.

About Michelle Braswell

Michelle has been in the weddings and events industry for 22 years. She and her husband Joe sold their full-service venues to “retire” young-ish and grow their online businesses, in 2019, which turned out to be perfect timing.

She now has a podcast, membership, and courses that help entrepreneurs worldwide book the right clients using simple marketing steps.

Website: www.letsbookclients.com
Instagram: @michellebraswellxo

 

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Links & Resources:

The Wedding Business Collective
Download my Testimonials That Sell Templates
Dealing With Doubt & Imposter Syndrome
VideoAsk

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