Some of the most powerful marketing tools you have at your disposal are testimonials from your own satisfied customers. Testimonials establish instant credibility with your prospects and endorse you in a way you simply cannot do yourself.

Its one thing to toot your own horn in your marketing collateral. But its another thing altogether to have someone else toot it for you. And thats just what powerful testimonials can do for you.

Prospects will put their guard down a little easier if they are hearing great things about your product from an outside, unbiased source. They feel more secure about their buying decisions if they know someone else has experienced positive results from the same product.

And the best thing about testimonials? They dont cost you a thing. If you have satisfied customers or clients, you should be able to get testimonials from them quite easily.

So how do you go about getting strong testimonials? Lets take a look at five easy ways right now.

1. Ask for them.

It seems so simple, but most of us have a hard time asking our customers and clients for glowing testimonials. We dont want to burden them. We dont want to seem assuming. We dont want to deal with possible rejection.

How silly! The truth is that most people would be delighted to rave about you and your product. If youve helped them succeed, theyll be more than happy to return the favor.

To make the process easier on their busy schedules, give them a brief outline of what youd like to have covered. Just dont write the entire testimonial for them. People can usually see through that.

2. Review previous emails and letters from clients.

Often times, there will be compliments in there you hadnt noticed the first time around. When this is the case, go back and ask your clients if you can use what they wrote as a testimonial. Most of them will say yes. And if they want to spruce it up a little, by all means let them!

3. Talk to your customers.

Ask them how their experience is going and if they have any suggestions to improve your product or service. If you hear a compliment, ask if you can write it down and use it in your marketing materials. This is also an excellent way to involve your customers and create more loyalty.

4. Conduct a survey or product evaluation.

If you have your own mailing list, email and online surveys are a very effective way to get testimonials. They let you reach a large audience all at once and see the results right away. Be sure to have a place where people can write comments and then use the strongest ones as testimonials -- with permission, of course.

5. Hire someone to conduct interviews.

Your clients are more likely to be honest and rave about you to a stranger than they are to you directly. So hire an outside source to interview them about everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask. The results might surprise you. In a good way.

Location, location, location

Once you have a series of testimonials in place, apply them liberally in all of your marketing materials. While a full page devoted to testimonials is great on your web site or in a direct marketing package, dont stop there.

Sprinkle them strategically throughout your copy, and on as many pages as possible. Place them in sidebars, call-out boxes, or weave them directly into your sales copy.

However you do it, make sure they stand out so that readers dont miss them. Because in many cases, powerful testimonials are exactly what they need to read before theyll accept your offer.

(c) 2006 by Cory Fossum. All rights reserved.