[By:  Kaitlyn C Miller]

Who can you really trust?

When an advertisement is placed in front of you with a proclamation that this is the greatest company in whatever particular industry it happens to be in, are you going to immediately believe it? Will the word of the company patting itself on the back be enough to convince you that they are indeed that wonderful?

I can't speak for others, but I have this odd desire to be skeptical when I hear someone talking about how great they are. Now, if I have a friend of mine tell me a company is good, I'm much more likely to believe them. The reason is because my friend doesn't have anything personally invested in the company. The opinion they give is based on nothing but a satisfaction with the services.

They have the strength of the testimonial.

A company that really knows what it's doing in the realm of marketing should know that any booklet printing they do, along with any catalog printing, or any other kind of advertising, they should be sure to include a testimonial or two on it. Are you planning to use some postcard marketing? Just ask yourself how good it will look to have a customer's picture on that postcard with a quote about what a wonderful company you have.

Hearing someone else praise a company will always be stronger than hearing companies praise themselves. But if you are going to use testimonials, there are a few things you should be aware of beforehand.

The first is to get a testimonial as quickly after the service is rendered as possible. If you know that a particular customer was pleased, ask them immediately if they'd be willing to give you one. They'll be in a good state of mind and much more likely to hand out the praise. A week later they might not care nearly as much, so don't wait too long.

The second thing is the amount of information you give about them. Getting a picture of them is a great first step. The combination of a customer's picture with booklet printing lends itself to a great testimonial. But with the picture should be additional information, such as the job they do and the place they live.

By including this additional information a person is able to form a stronger mental picture when they read the testimonial. It simply makes it feel more real and makes it easier to connect on a more personal level.

If you have a tagline or particular service you excel at, try to get testimonials that mention this. If you have your tagline underneath your company name on your postcard marketing along with a testimonial mentioning that you excel at that very same thing, it greatly improves your company image.

So next time you use catalog printing or decide to send out some flyers, try to get a great testimonial to put on it. Nothing looks better than hearing an outside source validate a company's claims. It's certainly stronger than just listening to a company talk about how great they are.