When it comes to achieving business success, there is no carefully guarded “secret” formula hidden away from view in a vault. As a matter of fact, the recipe for building a successful business is as easy as 1- 2- 3..with steps 1 and 2 falling into the “marketing” category while the third falls squarely under the heading of “customer service”.
- Find a problem that your target market is willing to pay money for you to solve. (This falls under marketing strategy.)
- Let your target audience know you offer a solution to their problem (This falls under marketing tactics.)
- Delight your customers as you solve their problem. (This falls under customer service.)
(Pick up a copy of my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results for over 280 pages of down to earth, easy to understand instruction on how to execute steps #1 and #2.)
When you delight your customers as you solve their problems – two things happen. First, and most importantly – those customers you delighted with your product and service will continue to do business with you. Second, yet equally important- those customers will actually help you in the promotion of your business via “word of mouth marketing” and through actual testimonials.
While it appears to be an easy 3- step process – the execution of those three steps is where the magic happens.
Like most things in life – the deceptively simple 3 step business success secret formula is harder to implement than it looks.
Because following the three step process outline above is easier said than done, one of the most ridiculous “shortcuts” you can take is to create phony testimonials and product reviews.
The practice of creating phony customer testimonials probably originated with the first practitioners of the world’s oldest profession and has continued in one form or another throughout human history.
In the last century, traveling salesmen used a version of the phony testimonials as they traveled across the country selling their worthless concoctions. The snake oil salesman’s business model was to roll into town and put on a show which included carefully placed “shills” who would provide false testimonials. The salesman would sell the products to the clamouring crowd and then quickly flee before the locals had time to boil the tar and pluck the chickens.
Communication was difficult in those days – which was essential to the success of this dubious marketing tactic.
These days, technology has advanced to the point where “average” people are able to participate in a phenomena known as “social media”.
Unfortunately, collecting testimonials, even authentic ones, can not take the place of a well executed cohesive marketing strategy. Authentic glowing testimonials won’t find new customers for your product or service, but they will help to convert a higher percentage of potential customers into concrete paying customers.