Why Testimonials are Number One in Selling your Book or Service

Home
>
Book Marketing
>
Why Testimonials are Number One in Selling your Book or Service

Why Testimonials are Number One in Selling your Book or Service

Even if your book or service is excellent, they won't sell well unless you give your potential customers a reason to buy. Testimonials work harder than other promotional words, so be sure to start early collecting them.

Back Cover Testimonials

Here, you will need three testimonials-- one from a celebrity or leader in your field, and the others the man or woman on the street--thrilled readers. These testimonials are the most important thing to include on your back cover--better than benefits, better than your bio, because your prospective buyers trust your book more when others recommend it.

Collect many more testimonials each time you email or meet someone interested in your topic. Put these in your front pages of your book.

Web and email Sales Letters Testimonials

Once you collect 5 - 10 testimonials loaded with specific benefits, keep them in your Word folder "Book Testimonials" and "Web Testimonials." Organizing your files and folders make it so much faster to retrieve these gems that help your sales grow.

Sprinkle your testimonials throughout your web site and email sales letter. If you don't have a Web site, check out with a good book and marketing coach how to sell via email. Ecommerce succeeds without investing a lot of money--a number one way to market Online.

Without a short or long sales letter, you have little chance of consistent monthly sales.

You Don't Have to Finish your Book to Get Testimonials

Think about the people you ask. Are they busy with their business and personal life? Know that they probably won't want to read the whole book. You need to make it easy for them to "buy."

In your first email or letter, include your chapter titles, your "tell and sell," a page or two from your best chapter. Say you know how busy they are and include a list of benefit words and phrase they can choose from to make it easier. Dan Poynter, self publishing guru, gave this testimonial for "How to Write your Print and eBook at the Same Time."

"This is not a book on how to write. It is a book on how to get it written. It is full of the shortcuts, experiences and tips only an insider could know. Whether you are working on an eBook or a pBook, you will find Judy Cullins' wisdom invaluable."
Dan Poynter, author of The Self Publishing Manual and
Writing Non-Fiction

If you are writing fiction, include a few of your best scenes from a chapter or two

Tip: Offer to email more of the book if your testimonial giver wants.

Write a List of 5-10 Benefits and 5-10 Features.

Know that benefits sell, features describe.

Boost your Book or Product Sales Beyond you Wildest Dreams With Simple Testimonial Steps in the eBook "How to Get Testimonials from the Rich and Famous."

This headline gives the benefit of boosting sales first, and then explains how to. Without letting your audience know the benefits, most will drop interest.

Notes:
Testimonials help ease doubts of first-time buyers, and they're especially useful for credibly conveying subjective strengths that distinguish your company from competitors. Imagine that you're sticklers for quality, for instance, and have a quote from someone describing the devastating flaws they received before switching to you.

You can deliberately collect testimonials with such an impact in mind. Here's how.

First, brainstorm a list of characteristics that separate you from competitors. Also list catastrophes that could occur when someone bought from vendors who fall short in respects where you excel.

Second, institute a routine of surveying new customers after you complete their first project. Besides making sure they were delighted with what you did, ask if they previously bought this sort of thing from someone else. If so, why did they switch?

Stay on the lookout for disaster stories, the more dramatic the better. There's no need to name the competitor involved. Get your customer's permission to encapsulate their tale of woe and rescue in a signed testimonial.

Gradually collect one blurb per distinguishing quality on your list and sprinkle them where shoppers will see them.

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com

In The News:

Real Estate Agent and SEO Consultant Releases New Book on Local Business Marketing
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Memphis real estate agent and Local SEO consultant David Sandy released his new book Webcentric Local Business Marketing: How to Market Your Business on the Web and Beyond. The book outlines what Sandy has learned in marketing for his law practice, ...

and more »

Marketing in the Round Makes You Work
Huffington Post
His first book, published five years ago, is called Tomorrow is Gone. That single concept, and Livingston's manifesto, may be the best adage for what has happened in social media, traditional media, and how to market to an ADD buyer, than any put forth ...
Myth: Quit Advertising Because it Just Doesn't WorkBusiness 2 Community

all 2 news articles »

What Social Media Can Learn From Real Life
Huffington Post (blog)
Finally, a book that shows the full picture of the impact of the word of mouth and marketing done right -- both offline and online. In The Face-to-Face Book, released just days after Facebook's IPO, Ed Keller and Brad Fay celebrate the "social wave ...
Businesses Warned Against Social Media Gold Rush FeverMarketWatch (press release)

all 15 news articles »

Webinar Tomorrow: Take Your Hotel Marketing Mobile
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Toronto, ON (PRWEB) May 22, 2012 Hotel marketers are aware that having a strong web presence is a necessity in the travel market. Many have great websites that tell their hotel's story, let visitors view photos and multi-media, and book their dream ...

and more »

Small Business Trends
Word of Mouth Marketing Book Hits Bestseller List
MarketWatch (press release)
The book focuses on the fundamentals of word of mouth and features tutorials on "3 Reasons People Talk About You," "4 Rules of Word of Mouth," and "5 Ts of Word of Mouth Marketing." The book also features case studies from Dell, IKEA, Intuit, ...
Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People TalkingBusiness Insider

all 8 news articles »

Forbes
New Book from Constant Contact CEO Gail F. Goodman Helps Small Businesses ...
MarketWatch (press release)
WALTHAM, Mass., May 21, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Small business owners now have a new resource to turn to with the release of Gail F. Goodman's book, Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Socially Connected World.
Why You Should Read Engagement MarketingBusiness Insider

all 11 news articles »

Wauconda couple starting kids book business
Chicago Daily Herald
By Mitchell Armentrout A new online children's book business is weeks away from launching, thanks to a strong social media and web marketing campaign by a Wauconda couple. By mid-June, Shawn and Christine Currie expect to begin operating Lookio Books, ...
Startups get KickstartNorthwest Herald

all 3 news articles »

Outskirts Press Reveals Top 10 Best Selling Books in Self-Publishing for April ...
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Outskirts Press, the fastest-growing full-service self-publishing and book marketing company today announced its top ten titles for April. Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 22, 2012 Alphabetically, its ten best performing self-published books for April were: The ...

and more »

Ancient China mined for marketing wisdom in new book
PR NewsChannel (press release)
In “The Market is Chaos: The Tao of Marketing” (ISBN 1470013266), business author Steve Burns ditches spreadsheets and formulas to write a marketing book based on ancient Chinese principles of action. This unlikely marketing book stems from the ...

Forbes
Book Marketing As A Political Campaign
Forbes
By Sarah Milstein Since its release in late January, Baratunde Thurston's book, “How To Be Black,” has sold more than 15000 copies, hitting the New York Time bestseller list out of the gate. Thurston, The Onion's former director of digital, ...

Google News