It’s true, testimonials are crucial. Testimonials have power. It shows prospects that you are credible, your products and services are outstanding and we get to see what kind of customers you serve. The challenge is that when you are starting, you usually don’t have a long list of clients and customers raving about you….just yet.
There are 5 ways to get instant credibility.
- Giving Things Away. The “Free Gift” is a brilliant and long standing marketing technique that works. Think about it. Free samples at the grocery store, free 15 minute consultation, free Victoria Secret panties….the list goes on. When you offer something for free it invites a customer to try your product or service with no strings attached and it gives you an opportunity to get customer feedback. After they try your free offering, ask them what they thought. Turn those comments into testimonials.
- Solicit Rave Reviews. You might be just starting your business now, but you’ve likely worked with people in the past. Make a list of former colleagues, bosses, clients, customers and professors (people who can rave about you), tell them what you are up to and ask for their help in writing a recommendation for you.
- Fame Box. Every website needs a fame box. A fame box is usually in the sidebar or footer of a website and it has the logos of the places you’ve been featured. This shows that you’ve already been endorsed by bigger credible outlets so people know that you are credible too.
- Advance Praise. Are you working on a big project and you really want to roll it out with huge success? Start finding ways for people to review your product before it is available to the public. One of the easiest ways is to offer a beta version of your product or service. This lets you start building buzz and lets you get all of the kinks worked out prior to the launch. Plus, you’ll get to collect testimonials from the people who joined the beta trail. You’ll get huge bonus points if you are able to get “bigger people” into your beta test because they have a bigger audience that they can tell about it.
- Favorite Tweets. Twitter feeds go fast and sometimes we overlook opportunities to capture what people are saying about us. Everyday, look at you @mentions on Twitter. This will show you the list of people who are talking about you. Anytime you see a positive comment about your work, Favorite the tweet and take a screen shot. You can always add those to your website or sales page too.
This week, I challenge you to choose one of these areas to focus on. Let me know in the comments what you think will work best for you.