Customer testimonials have the potential to be a powerful marketing tactic for your business. Collecting letters, cards and emails of positive, believable testimonials can be put to good use to build a glowing marketing portfolio for your company. Constantly be on the look out for that positive, believable feedback. Please ask for it too! See if you can get your customer on video. Most satisfied customers would not take the time to proactively provide testimonials, so just ask.

There are many characteristics that make up a great testimonial. Use a testimonial that addresses a specific benefit &/or addresses a personal situation, overcomes objection, especially where a customer admits to it, the more dramatic, the better. It’s best to show off the detailed and specific ones, but not the overly long ones. Keep it short and sweet.

When it comes time to use your testimonials make sure you put them in a relevant place. The possibilities are endless; ads, direct mailers, brochures, Facebook, Youtube, blog, on-line business directories, newsletters, web site homepage, product page, landing pages or group your testimonials on one page. Anything else?

Remember to get written permission from your customer, quote the lines you are requesting to use and state what media form will be used. To increase your believability, include your customer’s full name, city, state, job title, company. For top rate believability use your satisfied customer’s photo and email address. That’s what I call a “WOW!” factor.

It is a little bit of extra work, but powerful advertising for your company.  You can even encourage your customers to share their success stories by offering rewards for their testimonials.

Have fun with it! Cheers!