At a time when there are more marketing tactics available to businesses than ever before, it can be tempting to opt for the latest and greatest ways to engage with prospective customers and ideally win them over in their droves.
However, while you may be distracted by the appeal of the latest social media marketing trends and viral campaign opportunities, it is important to also have an appreciation for the tried and tested strategies that can still make a big difference to how your brand is perceived.
This is where testimonials come into play, as they manage to straddle the latest promotional technologies while relying on good old-fashioned impactfulness to make a difference. Here is a look at why you should definitely not underestimate them today.
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Table of Contents
Generating trust
Trust is one of the most valuable assets that any organization can foster, and yet it is difficult to do this through standard marketing methods alone. Consumers are far more likely to see your company as trustworthy and credible if they have access to customer testimonials which demonstrate your legitimacy based on your past performance.
The simple fact is that people are far more likely to trust the feedback of a genuine customer, rather than the marketing jargon spouted by a paid representative. It is this alone which should help to justify the need for testimonials to any business decision-maker.
Reaching diverse audiences
One thing worth mentioning about the format of testimonials is that you do not just have to rely on dry text; you can also provide video testimonials featuring real customers which will help you connect with even more people.
The other piece of good news is that collecting video testimonials is seriously straightforward, and sharing them with your target audience is also a breeze. And the simple fact is that lots of customers will be far more willing to watch video testimonials, and trust the information they contain, than if they were only able to read about the alleged experiences of past customers on your website.
Appealing to high value customers
Testimonials are unlikely to connect with impulse buyers, but then that is not their primary purpose. Rather they should be designed to make an impression on the customers who will provide you value not only with a single purchase, but by becoming loyal to your business and brand in the long term.
Part of this comes down to the kind of information that can be conveyed in a testimonial. It is not just a broad strokes positive blurb about your business, but should contain specific information which will give would-be customers confidence to go ahead with a purchase.
In turn when customers are converted courtesy of testimonials, they too can be encouraged to leave their own feedback to build momentum behind your brand.
Enabling shareability
As hinted at already, testimonials are eminently shareable, whatever form they take. And since businesses are under increased pressure to churn out content for their websites and social feeds, being able to generate it in this way is obviously a boon.
Whether you share full-blown video testimonials with your followers on Twitter and YouTube, or you create quick compilations of quotes from customers that can be flipped through on Instagram or added to your stories, the positive feedback you collect and curate can be far more than just fodder for your site’s homepage.
Ultimately you need to be eager to embrace the potential that testimonials hold, as well as having an awareness of the surprising flexibility they offer, in order to extract the most value from them.
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