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How to use Testimonials as an additional Marketing Tool
By Abe Cherian
Copyright ? 2005
It's been said before that one unsatisfied customer will
go out and tell 10-20 of their friends and family about
their unsatisfactory experience, but the opposite doesn't
seem to occur. Your customers, vendors, suppliers and
associates might think you walk on water, but they won't
seem to tell everyone else how great you are unless you
show them how and give them an actual reason to do it.
There are many ways to get testimonials from your
customers. You can actually hold contests for best
testimonials. Request letters of endorsements from your
customers, vendors, suppliers, and any associates you
have. Use those to promote your products and services.
When you use testimonials to add credibility to what you
do, you're letting your customers do the marketing for
your business.
Testimonials from your customers are one of the strongest
marketing tools available.
What is a testimonial? It's a statement, usually written
by your customer, saying nice things about some aspect
of your business, you, your employees or your products
and services. If you want to use the testimonials in
marketing efforts, you need to get a written release
from your customers who wrote the testimonials giving
your business the right to use the testimonial in
marketing.
The best time to obtain the release is at the time the
customer delivers the testimonial to you.. You might
tell them you want to share their insights with your
other customers or some other complimentary statement.
When you use these testimonials, you want to weave
them into your marketing story. Use them to embellish
and support your claims and promises. For every benefit
or objective you need to overcome in your products
or services, it is the best scenario to have testimonials
establishing or referencing each of those benefits or
objections.
You can take the next logical step and establish that
your business delivers what it promises. This becomes
a very powerful statement.
You don't need to use all of what it says in each
testimonial letter. Here are some choices or ways
you can use testimonials.
¡è You can print the entire letter.
¡è You can print one sentence.
¡è You can print one word.
¡è Print with a picture of the person whose testimonial it is.
¡è Print the person's initials only.
¡è Print the entire name of the person providing the testimonial.
¡è You can actually do video or audio recordings of a person's
testimonial.
Ideally, you want to use all of these techniques. The
benefit of using testimonials on your web site can
help link popularity in search engine results as well.
Whether you use this marketing tool for both inbound
or outbound reasons, you will have an advantage over
your competition. Check them out next time you visit
their office or web site and see for what people are
saying about their business practices. You'll be amazed!