Social Marketing Tips For Online Success

More and more people are asking me about the best ways to use social media to run a successful online business. Although the social media marketing landscape can seem difficult to navigate, the truth of the matter is that basic online marketing principals still apply.  If you want to succeed online with social marketing, follow these helpful marketing tips.

Marketing Tip #1: Spread the word

Build a list of followers using all potential touch points.  Develop accounts on all of the major social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Once you've created and optimized those channels you need to make it easy for potential followers to sign up or follow you.  This can only be done if you're using your website, email, and other touch points to invite users to follow.

Marketing Tip #2: Incentives are key

Provide an incentive for people to follow you via social media. Why should people follow you?  Unless you're a Hollywood movie star, people aren't going to follow you for their own health.  Consider what type of exclusive benefits you can give to those who follow you via social media.  This is marketing at it's best - don't lose site of that.

Marketing Tip #3:  Create value

Your social media marketing must provide something of value.  If all you plan to do is spam your followers with offers, they will unsubscribe.  Choose special offers, valuable content, and information they can't get anywhere else as part of your regular communication plan through social media.  This has tremendous benefit and will keep your social media channels in good standing.

Marketing Tip #4:  Encourage others to share

Many times in marketing you need to ask for a referral and ask for the sale.  The same is true with social media.  Ask your followers to bookmark, retweet, and share certain communications and offers.  The more you ask to share the more your followers may consider it as something they can do to support the brands they love.

Social media marketing  is important today but follows many of the same principals that are necessary for effective marketing - period.  Just because a new media has come along in recent years doesn't mean that the core marketing principals that have built the world's largest brands have suddenly disappeared. 

Focus on delivering value to your customers and prospects to grow your business using social media as part of your marketing mix. 

 

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Posted in: facebook,internet marketing,linkedin,marketing,social media marketing,twitter

Good Marketing Gets Better!

Marketing success takes more than chance.  To improve your marketing results, you'll need to be open to the simple process of: strategy, campaign roll out, testing, measurement.  Repeat and rinse.  

Successful marketers know that the best way to drive conversions is through a well refined marketing funnel.  If you begin with the end in mind, measurement, then you're well on your way to developing a marketing program that continually improves over time.

How to Begin

The best place to start is with an idea of your audience, timing, offer, and message.  Once you've determined the particulars of your campaign, its time to choose the medium.  During the process make sure that you are collecting data. This could include visitors, calls, or some other form of conversion.

In the end you'll have information to build on.  Your initial results are called your Control and will serve as a target to improve upon with your next campaign and the campaign after that.

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Posted in: good marketing,marketing,marketing tips

Today's Good Marketing Tip: Get Out Of The House

If you're trying to improve some aspect of your marketing, the best tip I can give you is to get out.  That's right, get out of your house and go to the mall or a local store.  And don't focus on you, focus on consumers.  It's easy to do research when you have a big enough sample size.  By viewing other consumers in action, you'll notice some interesting behaviors.

The other great thing about getting out is that you can learn from promotions that others are running.  From a retail perspective, you'd be amazed at simple marketing tips that go a long way.  Putting the milk in the back of the store, offering a coupon, or a loyalty card.  By visiting retailers you can even learn about integrated marketing promotions as consumers redeem coupons they received through email or online.

To be successful in marketing you need to do more than read case studies of discuss theory.  Behavioral data is what's best for improving your knowledge and learning.  Once you've collected your ideas, keep them in a safe place - write them in a notebook or keep them on you phone/ipod.  It's best to choose which ideas you feel would apply to your business and are relatively easy to implement.  Some of the most powerful marketing ideas I've ever had came from others!

Make it a habit of trying new marketing concepts.  For example, you may have noticed a type of merchandising that might work well for your products or services.  Can you change a display?  Use what you've learned.  The more you do this, the more you'll see results.  Over time, these results can add up significantly.  If you want to improve your marketing, get out, get informed, and get learning!

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Posted in: marketing

Okay, Is Marketing Really All That Complicated?

It seems that every time you look around, you find more complex solutions to the most simple marketing problems.. reaching your audience, effectively communicating, and helping customers advance their business forward.  Quite honestly, I don't see what's so difficult.

Okay, so maybe you need experience across a lot of disciplines to make a real difference with marketing today.  From advertising to direct marketing to PPC, today's marketing professionals need to have a wide knowledgebase and be able to deliver the goods.

From my perspective, the basic principles of "listen to your customer" and "think value" still reign true.  Here are some tips for staying on top of your marketing game:

1.  Always be reading and learning.  Learning can happen in many ways.  Whether you're reading an expert blog post, news, or the latest marketing book to hit the shelves, never assume that you know-it-all.

2.  Listen to your customers.  The have an uncanny ability to tell you how it is.  Are they happy?  What do they like about your products, services, communications, etc.?  Are they unhappy?  Why?  What can you do about it.

3.  It's about message points.  Are you controlling all of the touch points that communicate something about your brand?  When someone calls your office, are they receiving a consistent user experience that embodies your brand and what you stand for?  Think about your key messages and where they are communicated.

4.  Keep it simple.  During my career I've probably thrown out a forest worth of useless collateral.  I'm not someone who has loads of time to read about your product.  Show me how it works, what it does, and how it's going to make my life easier and maybe we'll talk about it:)

5.  Create a dialog.  Whether interacting with your internal marketing team, the salesforce, or your customers remember that communication is a two-way street!

Give consideration to each of these aspects of marketing.  Always be learning, asking yourself questions, and challenging the status quo. Even when things are going great, they can be better!

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Posted in: marketing

Today's Marketing Tip: Do What You Do Best

A solid marketing plan is necessary to increase sales. However, what I have learned is that many people stop doing what they do well specific to marketing when it has and continues to increase sales.

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Several years ago, when Ford had the number one selling car, the Ford Taurus in 1992-1996, and had established thousands of loyal customers, someone in management decided to change the name while changing the overall look of the car. The Ford 500 was born.

Loyal Ford Taurus customers were left out in the cold. Instead of building upon the existing loyal client base, a marketing and sales decision was made to shift the loyal customers into an unknown product. In 2007, the new CEO of Ford saw that the name change was detrimental to the bottom line. recognized how Ford had turned loyal customers away and returned the name of Taurus to the Ford Family for the 2008 model year.

How many times do you as a small business owner, executive or sales professional scrap what you are doing well to try another marketing strategy to increase sales? Possibly, you spoke to a marketing agency that said what you were doing was not effective or too traditional or old-fashioned? For example, you have been doing direct mail campaigns and getting a 2% to 3% response rate. Now you switch to advertising in a radio, television, Internet or print vehicle. You have been sold a bill of goods based upon the impressions, but you now have no way to determine your conversions.

Another example is speaking at local civic organizations to professional associations. You discover that you get one client per delivered speech. Now you decide to abandon that marketing strategy and construct an Internet pay for click marketing campaign or direct mail campaign. The pay for click may take several months before you can determine how many conversions you receive.

When you have an effective marketing campaign that is delivering interested prospects and that you can easily track conversions, then your first action should be to continue that marketing campaign until it is no longer effective. Why in the world would you attempt to switch loyal and established customers in an effort to hope to increase sales? The more logical solution would be to attract more customers using the current product or service. Remember the old adage that success breeds success.

Do you want to increase your sales? Then, you might be interested "Simply Speaking, Increase Sales by..." a truly quality e-book combination workbook that focuses on helping you within the 3 key areas of Marketing, Selling and Planning. Learn more at http://www.processspecialist.com/sales-training-book.htm

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Posted in: marketing

Make Money With The Marketing Funnel

Two of the main concerns I hear over and over is from people telling me they don't have time for marketing, and that they are frustrated because they aren't converting interest into paying business. The good news is, the 'Marketing Funnel' can help you solve both problems.

So what exactly is a 'Marketing Funnel'?

If you picture a funnel, you know it's wide and open at the top, and tiny and narrow at the bottom. As prospects go through the stages from 'I want to know more about you' to 'You're hired' they effectively move through the marketing funnel. Now lots of people make the mistake of offering something free at the top of their marketing funnel, and then having their key product or service such as bespoke training, one-on-one coaching, or consulting package at the bottom of their marketing funnel, but nothing in between. I should know, it's a mistake I made myself for some time.

The trouble with this is, it's asking your prospects to make too big a jump in just one go. When you are selling any form of 'change' that training, coaching, therapy or consulting provide, the risk prospects face in taking us on is not only a financial risk, but an emotional one too. So the marketing funnel is a great business model. It helps you make your core proposition available at different price points, thus lowering the emotional and financial risk for your clients as they move further down the funnel.

The funnel system of marketing says that you offer your prospects and customers ever more elaborate products and services - and ever more intensive access to you - at ever increasing prices. In other words always offering people ways to spend more money with you. And whether you are selling training programmes to corporations, or personalised coaching to individuals, the theory still applies. In a nutshell the funnel system says: attract new clients and prospects into your funnel, then find ways to add more and more value to them - and as the value increases, so does the price!

An example of the Marketing Funnel: ~Top of Funnel~ Free newsletter with valuable and usable content ~Middle of Funnel~ Teleseminar $25 Workbook $69 Home study programme $250-500 Live Workshop $295-$1997 ~Bottom of Funnel~ One-to-one coaching $3000-5000 Business Consulting Programme $10,000 and up.

The ideal marketing funnel should be a win for you and your clients. Many people who would not otherwise be able to afford your services get access to your expertise for a lower fee than hiring you one-on-one. The benefit to you is that the marketing funnel really helps you leverage your time earning much, much more money per hour.

First it radically cuts down your one-to-one selling time. Clients move through the funnel at their own pace. (As long as you have a system in place for encouraging through the funnel. And of course you can automate this. (My upcoming Launch Your Information Empire DVD package shows you how) This way, by the time someone is considering your higher priced programme they have already bought and used several of your products or services.

All that huffing and puffing, convincing and persuading, proving and demonstrating, pleading and begging that currently drains so much of your precious time and energy - gone! There is no selling or persuading to be done. They already recognise the value you have to offer. They are effectively 'pre-sold'. The other advantage of the marketing funnel is that it helps prospects become paying clients much earlier in the process. Your income increases, and this new income comes from largely passive sources such as books, audio programmes or home study courses.

The Marketing Funnel Can Work For You Too

Take a moment or two to draw YOUR marketing funnel. See where the gaps are, and start thinking about what products you can add to make it easier for your prospects to sample your expertise and take a lower risk step to being a paying client. Offering something for free - a newsletter like this, or a free report is the ideal way to get people into your funnel initially. Then you need to create some basic solutions that can help clients start benefiting from your expertise in a low cost/low risk way.

This post provided by Bernadette Doyle. Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help the self-employed attract a steady stream of clients. She has attracted a loyal following who praise her down to earth yet inspiring approach. If you like this article, you'll love Bernadette's marketing and success training products and programmes at http://www.clientmagnets.com/ to help you develop a business that suits YOUR preferred lifestyle.

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Posted in: marketing

The Five Key Marketing Strategies for Web Business Growth

If you expect to achieve sustained growth for your Web business and you don't have a plan in place to get you there, you might as well forget it. Growing a profitable Web Business is a strategic process that requires long range vision, careful planning, precise execution and patience. It's vital that you know exactly what you want to accomplish and that you have a detailed blueprint to follow.

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Of course you need to have a website that is optimized and tested to convert traffic, and then you need to devote time to developing and executing short-term and long-term promotional strategies. These strategies must stand on their own as well as work together to get you the best results.

Here are five key strategies you can use to advance your business and improve your profit margin:

#1. Always Look For Opportunities to Increase Sales

Let's face it, sales drive business and sales come from customers; therefore, the hunt for new customers should be phase one of an ongoing three-phase marketing approach that every online business owner should embrace.

Phase two is to follow up with these new customers from time to time, and introduce them to additional offers. The objective of this second phase is to get them to buy from you more often.
The final phase of this three-pronged strategy is to offer expensive items, or bundle multiple items into higher-priced packages. This will give your customers more opportunities to make larger purchases.

#2. Find the Best Use for Your Marketing Budget

After you have identified your market demographic, fixed your goals and decided on a promotional strategy for reaching potential customers, the next step is to figure out how to maximize your budget and get the job done without over spending. Even though the exact process will vary from business to business, the principle remains the same.

You want to expose your product or service, as often as possible, to consumers who will derive the most benefit from it. Studies show that the average consumer will see a promotion about five to seven times before taking action on the offer.

So instead of blowing your budget on a single opportunity to reach your select group, it is much wiser to get everyone's attention with repeated promotions. Use as many different forms of advertising as you can afford and squeeze the most out of your marketing dollars.

#3. Invest in a Virtual Assistant

This is an opportunity to outsource various redundant tasks to someone who is capable, reliable and trustworthy. The big advantage to you is you'll have more time to devote to activities that generate income and help you grow your business.

A virtual assistant works from his or her office as an independent contractor and is responsible for whatever administrative or operational responsibilities you assign. Compensation can be agreed upon at an hourly rate, per assignment or by retainer.

If you are not yet at the stage where you can afford to pay a virtual assistant, you can consider a suitable barter arrangement with a subscriber or a customer. You can also ask a family member or a friend for help. You can't do it all yourself and you shouldn't even consider that option for the longterm.

#4. Use the Power of Email to Convert Visitors Into Customers

Email marketing is one of the most economical and reliable ways to build a relationship with visitors and eventually convert them into buyers. It is an effective tool for staying in touch and developing the level of comfort and trust that is necessary before they will agree to do business with you.

You can use email to convince your subscribers of your expertise in your niche. The more they come to accept you as an authority, the greater your credibility will become and the easier it will be for you to make sales.

Plus, email is a very handy tool for keeping customers abreast of new products, special promotions and the latest announcements about your business.

#5. Develop a System for Everything You Do

Make sure to design methods and procedures that simplify and expedite important aspects of your business operation. Very often these systems will evolve from trial and error, but when they have been perfected they should become standard procedure.
The most efficient systems are those that get you to your objective as quickly as possible, for as little money as possible and with the least possible effort.

The above strategies are vital to the success of any online business. Together they save you time, money, effort, and provide a pathway to sustained growth and expansion. Just be consistent in the marketing practices you implement and the results will come out in your favor.
About the Author: Hermas Haynes is the founder and webmaster of eBizInfoCenter - a popular resource where you can find many more marketing strategies, tools, articles and ideas for advancing your web business.

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Posted in: marketing

Marketing in Tough Times

Is the current tough market the right time to be slashing your advertising budget? Not if you want your business to survive the economic downturn and lay the groundwork to thrive when the economy improves! Tough times may actually provide us our best opportunity to reach out to our customers with little or no competition because so many of our competitors are doing just the opposite of that in an attempt to save money.

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During good times everyone has the money (and bravery) to seek out clients, creating an atmosphere of extreme competition where reaching the consumer with your message proves to be exceedingly difficult. NOW is the time to have faith in your product or service, to reach out to your customers and to secure your success now and into the future. And there are easy and cost effective ways of doing so.

There are some simple things that you can do. Everyone knows about the internet, but not everyone knows the free ways to get exposure on the internet. You can write an article about your industry, or a product, and submit it to one of the many sites that accept them. At the end of your article, you mention your business and have a link to your website. Each site has it's guidelines on how the articles are to be written, so make sure to follow them. This will help establish you as a leader in your industry as long as the information you share is helpful and not self-promoting.

Guerilla marketing is great in slow time. Have some flyers or postcards made. One of your employees or friends can design it or you can find an affordable place to do it for you. During your slow time, have your employees go to a busy area and hand them out. Now you are putting your message directly into the hands of prospective customers. Make sure you have an attractive offer that will entice people to visit your business. Obviously, this is mainly for businesses with a store front, but you can do guerilla marketing online as well.

Guerilla marketing is done differently online. With blogs and social networking sites, there are opportunities to market your business in a different setting. You can create blogs and check the response you get from each entry which can help you check what the market is interested in at any given time. Or you can find blogs that have an issue that your company can help with. Respond to the blog with your company information. You can set up an account with a social networking site, giving more information about your business and connecting to other businesses to network and exchanges leads.

Cross promote with other businesses, in other ways. If you're feeling the pinch of the economy, most likely other businesses in your area/industry are feeling it as well. Find other businesses that don't compete with yours and see about exchanging some flyers or a banner promoting each other's business. Or if your business is online, do a link exchange with other businesses. Do not over due the link exchange or Google may lower your organic search results. Be selective in who you work with both online and in the brick and mortar world.

Press Releases can be a very effective way to bring attention to your business. If you have something that impacts the community, then you can have someone write a press release for you. If you hire someone to do it for you, make sure they know how to write and distribute it. Again, remember the topic must be something that impacts the community and not just a self-serving piece promoting your business.

These are just some of the ideas that will help your business grow in any economy. There are plenty of marketing options out there. You just need to find the ones that work for you.

About the Author: Rob Bedell is an expert in the media industry and has worked in the industry for over 15 years. He has worked with some of the largest media companies in the world, Tribune and Knight-Ridder, as well as helping restructure and rebuild other companies in the Los Angeles, CA Metropolitan area. He now owns a marketing company that helps small to medium sized business, making sure that their marketing pays them back. www.bedellmediaconsulting.com.

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Posted in: marketing

How To Market Your Business With Little or No Money

Recently, a colleague asked me how he to market his small business with little or no money. Although it sounds like an almost impossible task, it's not. Keep in mind that marketing isn't just about advertising and trade shows... it's about communicating your message - brand, product benefits, etc. - in all you do.

I suggested three things that could be done immediately to being marketing without money.

1. Change your voicemail. Add you company tag line, mention a new product, or let your caller know about a recent offer. This can be done at zero cost and helps to market your company, products and services.

2. Ask for a Referral. The purpose of marketing is to sell. Why not cut to the chase? After each sale, ask for a referral. Your customer usually knows at least one other person who can benefit from your service.

3. Write a letter. Do you have a short list of prospects that you've been trying to reach but no marketing materials? No matter.... generate a handwritten not that specifically addresses your prospect's pain points and how you and your business can alleviate them. For less than 50 cents, you've created a powerful marketing piece that can generate significant results.

Marketing doesn't have to cost a lot, or anything for that matter. Keep it simple and think about those ways in which you're currently communicating with your prospects and customers. Can you turn these communications into marketing opportunities?

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Posted in: marketing

Prospects Love to Buy... Hate to Be Sold!

Today's Marketing Tip: Making them buy.

Increase sales by focusing on helping people buy, something they love to do, rather than sell them something they do not want. Learn how to make it easy for people to buy from you.

I'm buying a new car at the moment and I forgot how much fun it is. Choosing the make and model, test driving - and being a girl, of course the color has a huge influence on my buying criteria.

Think about the last time that you made a purchase that you were really delighted with. Do you remember the pleasure, the anticipation of how the purchase would enhance your life? Do you remember that little thrill you get just at the point of saying 'Yes!' Buying is great fun. Why do you think they call it 'retail therapy'? Yet lots of people forget this and they focus on sales processes. The problem with this is that most selling is not only ineffective, it actually deters people.

Think of what happens when people approach you to try and sell you something, notice how your barriers come up. It's almost like you have an inbuilt skepticism and resistance. That's why selling the old way is such hard work. You're actually having to fight with the customer's resistance and skepticism, most of which has been triggered by the salespersons approach!

Selling this way is expensive and exhausting. It may just about work for corporations who have large sales teams, but as a small business owner, you can't afford to waste your time and your energy in that way. Your time and energy are better spent on work that you get paid for. And the Client Magnets approach can help you to maximize that. So I'd like to invite you to forget about having a 'sales process' and think about designing buying processes that are fun and enjoyable for your prospects and make them feel glad that they have discovered you! Isn't that a paradigm shift?

Instead of thinking, 'Oh no, I have to think about marketing and selling', you can say, 'I'm going to help more people discover me and the results I can deliver today. I'm going to help more people solve their problems today.' An expression that sums this up well is 'Buying Facilitation'. Forget about selling, and think about helping people to buy.

Put your emphasis on helping the other party make an informed decision. You aren't trying to sell to everyone, some people will be a better fit than others, but your buying processes should help prospects determine how well you 'match' each other. Facilitate also means 'make it easy' so you also need to think about how easy it is to buy from you.

If one of your clients referred me to you today, how quickly could I become a client of yours? Do you have a 'package' that I can buy immediately from your website so I can start using your concepts and ideas straight away and get a 'taster' of your full service offering? Or will I have to play telephone tag with you, ask questions about your service, find out when you are available, get you to put together a proposal, before I can become a client?

This week think about creating a buying process that is enjoyable for your prospective clients and adds some value. Take some ideas from my examples. I offer free reports, this newsletter, teleseminars, articles and talks. I aim to provide value BEFORE anyone becomes a client, so you can get to know me and sample my approach before you put your hand in your pocket! Doing this helped me almost triple my business last year, while working less hours, so take it from me - it works!

Post by Bernadette Doyle who publishes her free, weekly Client Magnets newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them then sign up for the Client Magnets newsletter at http://www.ClientMagnets.com today!

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Posted in: marketing

Use Offline Marketing To Grow Your Online Business

Today's Marketing Tip: Off-line Advertising and Marketing

Knowing how to use off-line advertising in internet marketing can give you a significant advantage over your competitors, since many do not use off-line methods to advertise their products.

Off-line advertising is particularly relevant if you are selling a product, or offering a service, that attract customers locally. For example, you could offer a fitness aid at your local leisure center. Many leisure or fitness centers will allow you to put a free poster offering your product, but even if they charge you for it the price is usually small. Perhaps you have a golf training aid that you can advertise at your local golf club.

Local classified ads are also a good means of getting your product some local publicity. The classified ads pages or even adverts placed on selected pages of your local press, frequently provide you with local orders. The beauty of these is that they are very easy to follow up, either with back-end products or new ones. You need not even restrict yourself to the local press. How often have you seen an internet marketing advert on the national press? They are not uncommon, and although expensive, they must produce a good return.

If you have a niche website, it could be worth your while browsing round your local newsagent and checking out the magazines on display. You know the kind - all these racks upon racks of magazines on every topic you can think of. Have a word with the news vendor and find out some of the more popular magazines that cover your niche. These could be good publications for placing your adverts, especially if they are not too expensive and they have a good circulation.

Poster campaigns can also work well. You can advertise with posters in many shopping malls, and some stores also offer you the opportunity place an A5 poster for only pennies a week. Have your own business cards printed with your internet business contact details, such as website address and email address in addition to your phone number. Put your website address on everything, and have a signature that use on all correspondence. Not just emails and forum postings, but also off-line correspondence such as letters, invoices, receipts and anything else you send to other people.

Another form of offline marketing that most people have never heard of, let alone use, is buzz advertising. This type of advertising has been growing in popularity recently, especially by offline businesses. It is used extensively by some auto companies and by cosmetics companies. Buzz advertising involves getting a verbal buzz going about your website or product. Some companies pay people specifically to verbally promote their products by approaching strangers, striking up conversations and bringing up the product in the conversation.

"Say, have you heard about the latest perfume from ----!" While not yet common it is getting more popular. Of course, the buzz need not be started off by someone you have employed to do it, but you can do it yourself. You can get your family and relatives involved as well. Before you know it, everybody might be talking about your product or your great new website. That's how YouTube and MySpace got so popular.

If you have a van or pick-up get your business name and website address painted on the site. It's easier to get a buzz going if people see your website in their face all the time, on vehicles, on posters, in newspapers and magazines, and even chalked on walls! Well, perhaps not the last one, but that would sure get people noticing your website! Do you get the idea? Get your website name known in every way that you can.

How about a local radio slot, with you explaining the virtues and benefits of your product, service or website? Stress the benefits, and you need not restrict it to local radio. Try for a national radio slot or even TV if your business is sizable enough. There are no restrictions to the advertising methods you can use. Hire a loudspeaker and shout it from the rooftops!

Online advertising methods are very effective in internet marketing, since they can be visible to people all round the world, but if you know how to use off-line advertising it can also work very nicely for you, and bring you a lot of business you would not otherwise have.

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About the Author: Andre Sanchez - How to Use Offline Advertising in Internet Marketing was originally published at http://www.affiliatemarketinglife.com.

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Posted in: advertising,marketing

Today's Marketing Tip: Testimonials

Today's marketing tip is about testimonials, a powerful marketing tool. If you're not using testimonials to promote your products or services, then you're missing out. Adding testimonials to your marketing materials or website is easy to do and can result in a significant lift in sales.

When providing testimonials for your product or service, there are a number of fundamental practices you should consider. Presenting your testimonials in the correct manner can optimize your results. Follow these helpful tips when applying testimonials on your website or in your communications.

1. The medium is the message. Depending on your target audience, the medium you choose to display your testimonials can make or break their effectiveness. For example, if you’re trying to reach today’s generation, video may be the most popular technique. With the advent of YouTube and sites that allow users to upload video, the medium has taken on a life of its own.

If you’re promoting your products to teenagers or those in their early twenties, consider testimonials from peers in video format. Hearing key messages from someone in their own cohort using the correct medium, is much more powerful than a generic message from a so called expert.

2. Provide detailed information of the individual leaving the testimonial. Not only do individuals like to hear from others, but they want to know that the testimonial is from a real person who’s just like them. When posting or providing a testimonial, make sure to include the individuals name and some demographic information. This adds to the legitimacy of the testimonial and helps people resonate with their comments.

3. Categorize your testimonials. Having a long list of testimonials that don’t appear to have any particular order is difficult for browsers to navigate. When you are providing your listing, regardless of the format you’re using, make it easy for browsers to select the testimonial that would be most relevant to their needs. Successful websites categorize their testimonials. For example, they can be categorized by type such as ‘customer service’, ‘price’, or ‘quality’. Other classification schemes may include user types such as ‘student’, ‘entry-level’, or ‘professional’. When categorizing your testimonials, consider how your audience is segmented and choose a logical format.

4. Vary your testimonial formats. Experiment with different types of testimonial formats. In addition to basic web posts, you should try adding audio or video and measure the views. By offering multiple formats you are appealing to different styles and therefore maximizing exposure.

5. Update your testimonials on a regular basis. Don’t let your testimonials get stale. Whether you provide a date that the testimonial was submitted, or not, you should strive to add testimonials on a regular basis. Individuals who come back to your website or revisit your promotional materials can benefit from finding new content.

Testimonials are a powerful tool for promoting your products or services. When considering testimonials for your website or marketing materials, be sure to think about your audience and provide a compelling display of customer feedback. Consumers want to hear from others like them. Learn to leverage testimonials and watch your sales start to climb!

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Posted in: marketing,testimonials