Client testimonials are one of the most powerful tools to have in your marketing arsenal. Understanding the 3 main reasons why you need them will motivate you to become a collector so you can power up your marketing.
Testimonials are hands down the most powerful tool in your arsenal for creating trust and value in you and your offering. Conversely they are also one of the most underutilized in most businesses.
If you don't already have a strategy to collect and use them in your marketing mix then you are leaving a lot of money on the table. The strength comes from the fact that you're not blowing your own trumpet. Someone else is giving you a good report and it's this third party validation that overcomes skepticism and carries more weight than anything you could possibly say about yourself.
There are really 3 reasons why you need them and fully understanding these will give you all the motivation you need to become an active collector and user of testimonials in all your marketing messages.
The obvious one is logic and most people don't think beyond the obvious to capitalize on the full potential. There's also an emotional and energetic reason. These work synergistically to create the power that great testimonials deliver.
Let's look at each separately.
Logic is really about providing proof or evidence that you are credible, reliable and will do what you say. Often called social proof. It's the acknowledgement from other people that they have experienced what you are offering and had the results you promised. This proof is often in the form of specific and measurable results that support the before and after picture you are painting.
We know that people buy on emotion then back this up with logic. Testimonials stir the powerful emotion of desire. Desire to be, to do, to have like the person giving the testimonial. That household phrase "I'll have what she's having" made famous by the film When Harry Met Sally, says it all. Used well, the reader can easily picture herself having those same results so there's no need for hard sell when you're pushing those hot buttons of desire.
The last important reason to have testimonials is more subtle which means it's deceptively powerful but no less effective than logic and emotion. It's about the energy created in building your story through others that gently pulls the reader in. What happens for the reader is they lean in because they want to be included. There's a feeling of comfort and belonging that does not need to be addressed specifically in words. It's the underlying attraction to want to associate with you and your tribe of like minds.
So become a collector of testimonials. Treat them like the gold nuggets they are and fossick and mine for them to deposit in your testimonial bank. You can never have too many of them and you can exploit all the mediums of copy, audio and video to power up your marketing.
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