Isn’t it great when someone takes the time to tell you what they think of your work? I recently compiled an editorial content calendar for Emma Dandy of online British cheese store www.lacremerie.co.uk and she was kind enough to send me the following testimonial:
“Philippa, many thanks for your excellent work creating an editorial calendar for La Cremerie’s PR activity. You really got to grips with my business and have come up with some very helpful ideas for me to use to promote La Cremerie, particularly focusing on the use of social media. I was very impressed with your hands-on approach and specialist knowledge of the food industry. Great value for money! Emma Dandy”
So how many times have you done some great work but never received a testimonial? If your suppliers or clients haven’t thought about sending you one, why not send them a testimonial or ask for one? This approach generally results in some lovely words winging their way to you which you can then use to refresh your website and social media channels as well as your newsletter. Everyone likes to buy from a company which other people have rated highly and this type of genuine endorsement is worth its weight in gold.
Why not use a quote as part of your email sign off or on your business cards? Or as the starting point for a blog post or newsletter article? Including testimonials in your media material, sales pitches and customer correspondence is a simple way to let other people know what purchasers of your products and services think of them.
Of course, you can’t just keep posting testimonials on your website and social media channels and hope to keep a conversation going with your customers. If you suffer from writer’s block when it comes to thinking of ideas for content, try drafting an editorial content calendar for the next six months or more. Use an Excel spreadsheet to list key dates such as markets, product launches and events and start fleshing out how you can use these calendar highlights as content.
Think about how you can rework existing material into a tips feature or an infographic or an e-book; post pictures on Pinterest; run a competition on Facebook; blog about an event; tweet on trends in your business area; or send a newsletter with your expert view on a subject.
If you’d like some help with generating effective content, we’d be delighted to help.
