"5 Ways To Use Testimonials In Your Marketing"

This is an obvious message for some of you but is it for all of you? Are there areas you're missing in your marketing where you could be utilizing testimonials in order to give you, your business and your products and services more credibility?

Using testimonials in your marketing in various ways is a F.R.E.E. way to compel people to buy from you so you really want to maximize your efforts.

First of course you have to HAVE testimonials to show. If you don't have any then ASK your customers for them. If they drag their heels in getting them to you on their own then offer to write them for them if you have to and let them review and approve them. If you have customers that are business owners, offer to showcase their testimonial with their picture and website link on your website or in your ezine and they'll get added exposure for their business just for helping you out.

If you have customers that want to keep their involvement with you kept secret or the services you provide are more embarrassing for many to admit to using for example then try getting testimonials from vendors, referral sources or other means for other things.

5 Ways to use Testimonials in Your Marketing:

1. Ezines
You may always want to put a testimonial in your ezines because it could be the only thing your subscribers see about you every once in a while. Whether they read every single issue or only one once in a while, if you always have a testimonial in them then that ONE day that ONE person decides to think about taking action with your products or services from one of your ezines it could very well help them make their decision if you have a really great testimonial in it.
Notice I always have a testimonial in my ezines right below the featured article, whether I wrote the article or if I'm using a guest article, it doesn't matter. I trade them out about every 3 ezines in case you didn't notice...I do have many and collect them all the time for this reason.

2. Website
You should always have testimonials on your website and I say it's better to sprinkle them all over the site, on every page in boxes or side columns so they stand out rather than just putting them all on ONE testimonial page (which you can still have but put them everywhere too).

3. Direct Mail
You want to use testimonials even in your direct mailing like on oversized postcards, letters and flyers or anything you send to add credibility to whatever you're trying to sell. (P.S. Hopefully you ARE still doing direct mail as a means of follow up even if you're doing email marketing too!!)

4. Marketing Materials
You can put testimonials on your brochures (if you still have them), your handouts, flyers and anything in print you use to promote your business with. Testimonials are actually more important to show here than bullet points of your products or services; those should be on your website because most people will look at your website before taking action with you anyway and one marketing piece sure isn't going to sell them. So use testimonials to give them an incentive to actually go to your site for more info.

5. Ads
If you're still doing some sort of traditional advertising (it's still a good way to market for some businesses, but typically not entrepreneurs like coaches, consultants, etc.) then the same thing goes for testimonials in your ads like I mentioned in #4 above. People are less likely these days to buy your stuff from an ad but your ad if done well and compelling enough could lead them to your website where you can get them on the list and encourage them more to take action.

Another thing to consider when gathering your testimonials is to try getting them in other formats rather than just the written word. You can have your customer read their testimonial into an audio recording service with their phone even. You can videotape your clients when you meet with them or have them videotape themselves and send you the file. With videos then you can even upload them to your YouTube, MySpace and Facebook profiles in addition to your website.

The more creative you can get the more they will work for you.

My favorite thing to do whenever I can is to brainstorm with entrepreneurs on how they can design, update, recreate or shift their businesses and implement new marketing strategies in order to be happier, live a more fulfilled life and do the things they are passionate about that can make them a very good living if set up correctly.

What is YOUR favorite thing to do for 'work'? Are you doing that or do YOU need to make a shift?