Spread the Word (About How Awesome You Are!)
Hey – it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true.
That’s what I say to clients who argue with me when I tell them to gather testimonials for their marketing.
Because I know you. And I know you get a little squirmy when it comes to asking (that is, allowing) your favorite clients to say happy things about their work with you.
But I also know how effective testimonials are at helping you build credibility for the work that you do. You MUST have these throughout all of your marketing.
That’s why for the past few weeks I’ve been sharing a whole series on everything you need to know about how to ask for, collect, write, store, and retrieve great testimonials for all of your marketing needs.
We’ve talked about how to how to approach your clients and ask for them for a testimonial outright. We’ve talked about how to pick up spontaneous examples when they show up around you, like this one, shared this week in the Ideal Practice Community.
But now what?
Now that you’re holding all those bright and shiny testimonials in your hand, what do you do with them? How do you use them?
Where do you use them?
The short answer? Everywhere.
The long answer: in all your marketing materials.
For example…
- On your website
- In your newsletter
- On the back of a rack card
- Sprinkled throughout your presentation or talk as case studies
- Printed on the handouts you share with a talk
- All through your sales pages when doing a launch
- On ALL of your social media channels
- In articles you write
- In a video as a client success story
- In your slides for a webinar or offer,
- Throughout your online course material
- In all your webinars and workshops
- As part of a Facebook Live video
- In your paid advertisements
- In a sponsorship ad of any kind
And I could keep going.
Seriously, you can add at least one testimonial to every marketing piece you do.
Sarah, who’ll be coaching with me soon, has already begun collecting these, even though her practice has barely started. She posted this in the Ideal Practice Community after reading my post last week.
So I headed this advice on Monday, used the third template and got the sweetest client testimonial! Now if only I had a website to put it on!
She’ll have that website, and more, soon enough. And she’ll be ready!
Here’s the bottom line. Testimonials affect your income – so make it a point to learn how to use them.
In marketing language, this is called “social proof”.
Have you ever bought something based on the reviews it did – or didn’t – get? As online shopping has become more popular, social proof has become more important than ever. Testimonials ARE social proof.
Think about it.
We are more likely to hire a housekeeper, choose a doctor, or send our kids to a summer camp that our best friend recommends. There’s a reason we tend to check the reviews when we’re buying a product on Amazon.
Just last week, I was about to hit the buy button for a software program that I’d been leaning towards for weeks when I stumbled on a whole series of recent reviews that were blistering and negative. Yikes. After reading them, I decided against buying it.
On the other hand, not long ago I hosted an event at my house and realized I needed help getting things in order. I brought in someone to help clean on very short notice, purely on the recommendation from a trusted friend.
I was leaning on testimonials, see?
When you share these on your site, you provide reassurance to those who are thinking about hiring you. Your clients provide your social proof when they write about how you’ve helped them.
This really can be a game-changer. It shouldn’t be the only thing you use to market your services, but it will make a difference in giving prospective and new clients confidence in their decision to hire you.
Remember, you’re sharing the truth.
And it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true. :)