Testimonials are powerful and effective marketing tools, but they are of little value if your prospective client never sees them.
When it comes to the use of testimonials, at the Marketers Club we teach our clients one all important principle.
Testimonials must be Integrated, not Isolated.
If you watch commercial television, you may, like most people, tape the shows and watch them later.
The reason people love to tape their favourite programs is simple: they can fast forward through the ads and avoid the advertisers’ messages.
Of course, companies pay a lot of money to place their messages in front of those viewers and their return on investment is being severely impacted if the majority of the audience can simply fast forward past their commercial.
To combat this “record it first, watch it later” phenomenon, the advertisers have started to integrate their messages into the show they advertise on, to stop viewers missing their message.
If you watch reality TV, like one of the cooking or home renovation shows, you’ll notice that the advertiser’s message is now part of the show, ensuring you know which supermarket or hardware shop the contestants get their materials from.
This is known as integrated advertising and it’s growing in popularity.
As a small business owner, you need to apply the same principle to your testimonials.
If your testimonials are all stored on one page on your website called Testimonials, then it’s likely that your prospective customers aren’t seeing them.
They become like a recorded television program, that can simply be fast-forwarded past. In essence, they become invisible.
The key to increasing the effectiveness of your testimonials and to ensure they are SEEN, they need to be INTEGRATED into other important content.
For example:
If you are explaining how someone can avoid a common challenge that you help clients overcome, then integrating a testimonial of a client you helped resolve that specific issue, is an excellent use of a testimonial.
Now your testimonial is able to do what it’s designed to do:
- Demonstrate your expertise
- Provide evidence of the results you produce.
- Build trust in your services
None of this is possible if the testimonial is hidden away.
Take a look at your website and see if your testimonials are integrated or isolated, and then get to work to put them where they can do you the most benefit.