How to Make the Most of a Testimonial

It's one thing to know how to get testimonials. But don't you love it when people freely send them to you?

It makes you feel good, of course, but there's no real marketing benefit unless you know how to get it in front of your best prospects at the right moment -- when they are ready to make a decision.

Here are 4 places I put a testimonial I got recently. You can use this as a blueprint:

1. Testimonials page on your web site: If you don't have one, you should. People want to hear what others have to say about you and you should be collecting those all in one place for prospects who are ready to convert. A good testimonial can be the deciding factor. I posted this one on our testimonials page. See it here.
2. In a blog post: I wrote a post on a related topic -- how to know if a target market is viable -- and excerpted 2 sentences from the testimonial that were relevant to the post. Read that here.
3. On your LinkedIn profile: I couldn't do this myself but I asked if my client would mind taking a minute to post it also on my LinkedIn profile in the Recommendations section. She probably wouldn't think of it unless I asked. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ilisebenun
4. In your email marketing: I chopped it up and made it do double duty in my latest email newsletter, Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor. I highlighted the language of my client to address similar needs others like her certainly have. See how I did that here.

Facebook? I'm not sure about Facebook. It can be tricky. Does it cross the line to post it on my personal page? What about the fan page for my business? I haven't done that yet and would love to hear your opinion in the comments.

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