It’s easy to get caught up in the everyday life of selling products to help your customers achieve their goals. But do you know what can make your marketing efforts more effective and simplified? Testimonials from loyal customers or respected industry individuals will go a long way in selling your goods and services. Testimonials are unbiased, often unprompted and come from peers in the industry that have often faced that same challenges as your prospective customers. Yes, you can relay all the benefits of a product, but those benefits become more meaningful when your prospect hears that the Rocking S Ranch improved its conception rates to 97%, especially in a year of drought.
There are several ways to incorporate testimonials into your marketing strategy. You can use testimonials in your advertising campaign. Post them to your website, even having a dedicated space for testimonials like BioZyme® Inc. does. You can feature testimonials on your social media each week using the hastag, #TestimonialTusesday. Or, often satisfied customers are glad to talk to others on behalf of your company and your brand at events like trade shows or producer meetings.
When compiling a testimonial, there are a few things to keep in mind to keep it genuine and effective. Remember, the purpose of testimonials is to create reliability and to convert prospects into new customers. Follow this 5-step approach to build up your testimonial strategy.
1. Be Selective.
The key to testimonials is that they include specific product benefits that help prospects decide if they want to try your products or not. Therefore, your testimonials need to include specific information, not just “I like VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® and my cows do too.” Provide a testimonial that tells the benefits of the product: “We have been feeding VitaFerm® products for several years. VitaFerm Concept•Aid® plays an important role in the performance of our breeding cows and heifers, as well as our bulls. We see increased conception rates of our embryo pregnancies by 23%, and on our bulls, we see an improvement in semen quality.”
2. Add a Face.
Remember to include a photo to each testimonial to give it a persona. We might not always remember Tim Smith’s name, but when we see the man in his signature pearl snap shirt and beat up hat, we remember him as the guy who gets top dollar at the sale barn each year. Adding a face to your testimonial makes it more real and significantly increases the trust factor. Research has shown, that on web-based testimonials, adding a picture increases your click-through rate significantly.
3. Use them Everywhere.
Once you’ve got a testimonial, use it. You can add it to your print advertising, post it to your website, use it on social, make posters to hang at businesses around town, and even use it in mailers and texts.
4. Remember your Audience.
Be sure to capture testimonials for each potential customer you are trying to reach. You are trying to grow your market share in the cow-calf sector, be sure to get some testimonials from cattle producers. Perhaps, there are several horse farms in the area. Talk to an equine enthusiast who uses the product to get a testimonial from them. It doesn’t do any good to have one testimonial for one product line when you are selling multiple lines.
5. Never Be Fake.
The most important thing to remember is that testimonials are designed to establish trust and credibility. The most important rule in sharing testimonials is to use real testimonials from real customers. It’s not worth the risk to fake anything in your marketing plan, especially testimonials.
Testimonials are a great way of using established relationships and growing your customer base. Follow these simple steps to create your own testimonials and convert prospects to new customers.