I wanted to go into more detail about copywriting in these threads, so here's a continuation on that. Last week we talked about writing good headlines, offers and calls to action. Now we need to talk about testimonials.
While it's true that you need to talk yourself up instead of being too humble, what you say about yourself will be taken with a grain of salt by the reader. But if someone else says it, then it suddenly becomes ten times more credible. This is the power of testimonials. In the beginning, they'll be a little thin on the ground. Matter of fact, you're unlikely to have even one when you start out unless you're well-connected and have someone willing to vouch for you.
Early on you can scrape up a couple if you make yourself a regular at open-mic nights at the local coffee shops and eateries. Try to get yourself on a first-name basis with some of the higher-ups at these places and make sure they see your act. The best way to get a testimonial? Ask for one. Tell them you'd like a short blurb about how they like your act because you're setting up a website/mailing campaign/something and would appreciate a testimonial.
This logic carries over the higher you climb in your career, by the way. Get testimonials by asking for them. Make it easy for people to give them to you as well. They can either write them down then and there or email them to you. Don't be afraid to tell them you want them to highlight specific things. Ask them to talk about their favorite parts of the act. Talk about how the regulars enjoy seeing you come in. That sort of thing.
When displaying testimonials, what you want is to put them in a descending order from most recognizable to least. A testimonial from a local celebrity should be more visible in the copy than a testimonial from the GM at a restaurant for example.
Furthermore, good testimonials should get specific about how good the show is or what it did for the venue. A testimonial saying, "This guy is the king!" is good. But a testimonial saying, "I run a noisy bar, but when (Name) took the stage, you could hear a pin drop," is even better. Make sure you ask the person giving you the testimonial to be specific and don't be afraid to write a paragraph worth of detail. You can always use snippets if you're just looking to fill a little negative space.
On that note, good copy should not have negative space because it's not selling anything. Some copywriters have taken this so far that they print an entire page's worth of testimonials on the back of each page of each sales letter they write. Hey, if you have enough, it's not a bad idea because it makes it look like you have an armada of fanboys. By the way, already calling dibs on "Armada of Fanboys" as the name of my chap-hop band.
To make testimonials more eye-catching, try different techniques such as putting headlines over them, using different fonts (not for beginners, mind), different colors, or just italicizing or bolding select words or phrases in them. The key is to draw enough attention to them that it raises your credibility. In psychology they call this "social proof." Other people like it, therefore it must have something going for it. While this can easily descend into the appeal to popularity fallacy, you should be reasonably safe as long as you don't say out loud that you must be hot stuff because of the number of followers you have on Twitter.
To wrap it up, testimonials are one of the most powerful tools in your copywriting arsenal. Collect them like they're pokemon going out of style. Just make sure not to send a repeat client his own testimonial as proof of how cool you are. That's just... kind of dumb. Probably should have gone without saying too... Whatever.
Next week, one of the advanced techniques. We'll be talking about... the double readership path.
While it's true that you need to talk yourself up instead of being too humble, what you say about yourself will be taken with a grain of salt by the reader. But if someone else says it, then it suddenly becomes ten times more credible. This is the power of testimonials. In the beginning, they'll be a little thin on the ground. Matter of fact, you're unlikely to have even one when you start out unless you're well-connected and have someone willing to vouch for you.
Early on you can scrape up a couple if you make yourself a regular at open-mic nights at the local coffee shops and eateries. Try to get yourself on a first-name basis with some of the higher-ups at these places and make sure they see your act. The best way to get a testimonial? Ask for one. Tell them you'd like a short blurb about how they like your act because you're setting up a website/mailing campaign/something and would appreciate a testimonial.
This logic carries over the higher you climb in your career, by the way. Get testimonials by asking for them. Make it easy for people to give them to you as well. They can either write them down then and there or email them to you. Don't be afraid to tell them you want them to highlight specific things. Ask them to talk about their favorite parts of the act. Talk about how the regulars enjoy seeing you come in. That sort of thing.
When displaying testimonials, what you want is to put them in a descending order from most recognizable to least. A testimonial from a local celebrity should be more visible in the copy than a testimonial from the GM at a restaurant for example.
Furthermore, good testimonials should get specific about how good the show is or what it did for the venue. A testimonial saying, "This guy is the king!" is good. But a testimonial saying, "I run a noisy bar, but when (Name) took the stage, you could hear a pin drop," is even better. Make sure you ask the person giving you the testimonial to be specific and don't be afraid to write a paragraph worth of detail. You can always use snippets if you're just looking to fill a little negative space.
On that note, good copy should not have negative space because it's not selling anything. Some copywriters have taken this so far that they print an entire page's worth of testimonials on the back of each page of each sales letter they write. Hey, if you have enough, it's not a bad idea because it makes it look like you have an armada of fanboys. By the way, already calling dibs on "Armada of Fanboys" as the name of my chap-hop band.
To make testimonials more eye-catching, try different techniques such as putting headlines over them, using different fonts (not for beginners, mind), different colors, or just italicizing or bolding select words or phrases in them. The key is to draw enough attention to them that it raises your credibility. In psychology they call this "social proof." Other people like it, therefore it must have something going for it. While this can easily descend into the appeal to popularity fallacy, you should be reasonably safe as long as you don't say out loud that you must be hot stuff because of the number of followers you have on Twitter.
To wrap it up, testimonials are one of the most powerful tools in your copywriting arsenal. Collect them like they're pokemon going out of style. Just make sure not to send a repeat client his own testimonial as proof of how cool you are. That's just... kind of dumb. Probably should have gone without saying too... Whatever.
Next week, one of the advanced techniques. We'll be talking about... the double readership path.