The power of a great testimonial can be hard to judge, sometimes you think the best ones will ring in the referrals and sometimes just a simple one-liner will. As a photographer you have probably been told, even had drummed into you from your peers or maybe a mentor that you should have as many testimonials as you can get. We have, from many! We do subscribe to the notion that testimonials are good for your business, and of course your ego! 😉
But do Testimonials actually get read? Its a great question and one we’ve pondered for some time, we even searched on the interwebs to find out, Google didn’t really help much! What we have found and its been through asking friends, family and peers, so its by no means a scientific answer, the answer was yes, yes they do, however we found that if there are anymore than 3-5 of them they read the first 3, maybe jump a few read another then go on to make a decision (if there is a decision to be made).
Can you “Build your Reputation” on testimonials? Its a great place to start for sure, as they say there is no better way to advertise than through word of mouth from your happy clients!
You see a testimonial comes in varying shape and form. Word of mouth is one, email thanks from a client, Facebook post comments and Facebook’s Star rating, a letter (yes a snail mail, it still happens, just rarely), other social media platforms, and of course in face to face conversations with you, its in these cases we ask our clients if we can quote them on that. I also send the client the written version before I might use it, just to ensure they are happy.
On the odd occasion you’ll have a client so happy with your work they just say write it and I’ll sign it 🙂 We call them VIPS!!
How should you use them? Another damn good question, we update our website from time to time with them, we use them in Blog Posts like this:
Alicia Abbott (Testimonial on Facebook) – Hey! Things have changed a lot since I did my very first course with you guys a few years ago! I always knew what I wanted to do but had no idea how to even use my camera! Lol so doing the first beginners course in the city then the weekend retreat helped me get off to a good start & get to where I am now! So thank you! (https://www.facebook.com/aliciaabbottphotography/)
You may also use them on Facebook, either in a special post or even just by sharing the post on your page with a thanks to the person, ensuring you tag them in that post, people love seeing feedback from you when they have thanked you.
So why use them? – It’s no secret: people tend to follow others like them – Marketers call it social proof: when we see lots of others doing something, we assume that that’s the correct behaviour. It makes what you are doing real, it can give you credibility on a subject.
So what makes a good testimonial? At Digital Realism Photography we’ve found a simple formula. A great testimonial needs a few key elements, firstly succinct words on the subject or service (short and to the point), the persons first and last name and a date of either the project or the date of the testimonial.
Finally – so do you or don’t you Testimonial? We do and we recommend to all our Photography Training clients to do so too. Lastly (I promise) we’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject, drop us a line below in the comments section.
Thanks, Darin and Linda.
