Making the Most of Endorsements

To continue yesterday's musings on endorsements...

The endorsements people give you have many uses. But just because you have a testimonial doesn't mean that you must use it.

No Such Thing as a Bad Endorsement

I once worked on marketing a book. It's a good book -- worthwhile, well written, full of information, and written by an expert in the field. The author, however, had neglected to talk to friends and colleagues to obtain endorsements for the work. So I made it a priority to get some.

Don't allow personal reservations to
interfere with endorsements.

One of the first people I spoke to looked at the book and loved it. This person is also an expert in the field, with connections to several related professional organizations. Not only did he agree to give the book a glowing testimonial, but he enthusiastically recommended the book to his professional colleagues, who also liked it.

I thought this was a good thing. I still do. My take on it is -- anytime anyone says anything good about anything, it's cause for celebration. Ah, but the author had differing views.

The author expressed grave doubts about the belief system, the possible political agenda, and the overall weight that the various professional organizations in question carried. "We wouldn't want to mention an endorsement by one entity that could send the wrong message to potential buyers," was the rationale.

I, respectfully, fail to understand this train of thought. To illustrate, consider a work that focuses on solutions to social problems. If a conservative Christian group decides to adopt the project and offer an official endorsement -- great! That doesn't mean that the project wouldn't appeal equally to a left-leaning, ultra-liberal organization pushing for sweeping social change. It just means that perhaps you wouldn't use the conservatives' vote of confidence when marketing the project to the liberals.

The point is, collect endorsements. Get all the raves you can. If a group loves your work and wants to buy a ton of copies to distribute to its members, that's brilliant! It doesn't matter if you disagree with the group's politics, policies, or philosophy. It's an equal opportunity market. If people love your work, encourage them to give you an endorsement. Remember -- you don't have to use it. But it never hurts to have it.

The Endorsement At Work

When using endorsements and citing their sources, whenever possible, write in the present tense. That way, the project in question remains current, rather than historical.

You don't need a lot of testimonials to make endorsements work for you. All it takes to start out is one. Places where rave reviews are appropriate include:

* Your electronic signature. Add the best portions of the best endorsements to a short sentence about your latest work, and include it as part of your e-mail signature. Something like, Be sure to read My Latest Book, which the National Board of Book Readers deems "heartbreakingly good," and Bookworms Anonymous calls "an instant classic."

* Your website. If you have anything to offer, you should have a website. On the site, it is perfectly reasonable to include testimonials about you and your work.

* Your bio. Add a short section to your official bio for "What Others Have to Say." Include excerpts from your most ardent endorsements, and be sure to cite their sources. A short sentence that includes two- or three-word raves, like the one used on your electronic signature, can also be added to online bios and profiles.

* Marketing information. Liberally sprinkling excerpts from testimonials throughout your marketing materials can create powerful purchasing motivation to prospective clients. Endorsements show that you have a cache of people who are on board with you. They can help nearly any marketing campaign come alive.

* The project itself. By all means, include rave reviews directly on the product packaging whenever possible.

* On-line review boards. If an endorsement is particularly good, you might want to ask the person who gave it to you to post it online. Such reviews are often subject to a certain degree of suspicion, however. In most online forums, including Amazon.com, it's easy to write bad reviews that trash your competitors' work. It's also easy to write what you wish someone would say about your own, and then ask friends or employees to post them as if they were bona-fide reviews. Still, if someone has something good to say about you, posting it as a review can be an effective way to generate online interest.

* Business cards. A sampling of the brightest and best excerpts can add instant credibility.

You get the picture. Pick and choose the testimonials that pack the biggest punch for a particular audience. As better and better reviews come in, don't hesitate to use them in lieu of earlier endorsements.

A Word About Restraint

Though endorsements are a great way to tell people that others like your work, one place I see them overused is on Twitter. You may be tempted to tweet: "Another 5* review about #MyFabulousBook. Buy it here: http://bit.ly.SELFPROMO. #ebook #99cents #IHaveNoShame."

If you must tweet ads like this, please do so sparingly. No more than once a week. Really, once a lifetime is quite enough, IMO. Twitter is a place for you to engage your readers, to develop relationships with them, and to be so brilliant that they want to read more of your stuff. It's not a venue for the hard-sell or the shameless self-promotion.

The Final Word:

The over-arching purpose of endorsements is to let people know that others value your work. Whenever people are willing to say they believe a project of yours has merit, you owe it to them to help get the word out!

What ways have you used endorsements to get the word out about your projects? I encourage you to share them below.

Eliciting Enviable Endorsements

The endorsement is one of the best marketing strategies available. It's free. It's heartfelt. It's persuasive. It's believable. It lends itself to a multitude of uses. And all too often, it's overlooked or underused.

An Endorsement by Any Other Name

Endorsements... Testimonials... Praise... Rave reviews... All mean the same thing: someone other than a family member or an employee said something nice about you or your work.

A strong endorsement can do amazing things:

* It can introduce complete strangers to your work and make them feel like they know you.
* It can say things that you can't. (If you say you're great, you appear egotistical. If someone else says you're great, that just means you're competent and noteworthy.)
* It can be the "little voice" that encourages someone to open up your book instead of putting it back on the shelf.

Testimonials appeal to our mob mentality. A few raves on the back of a book mean that more than one person liked it enough to put his name on it. We read them and think, "Look at all those recommendations. I'll give it a shot." We're always looking for a good read. And the human psyche hates to stand alone -- prefering instead to jump on a good bandwagon.

Another reason for endorsements' effectiveness is the fact that they're voluntary. They aren't paid advertisements, so they often seem more credible than a straightforward ad for a product or service.

Just Say "Please"

So how does one go about getting an endorsement for a book, product, or service?

It's easy: Ask.

[CAVEAT: Before asking, first make sure that the thing you want endorsed is good. You are asking people to put their name, their seal of approval, and their reputation on the line for you. Many, if not most, people are happy to do so -- provided that the thing they're endorsing is worthy of their praise.]

Once you have something that you are proud of, however, don't hesitate to ask for testimonials. Your reviewers don't have to be famous or even experts.

Want proof? Look at the reviews on Amazon, IMDb, or Goodreads. Good, bad, or indifferent, the comments from the "Average Joes" carry at least as much weight as the official editorial reviews. (Unfortunately, this isn't always a good thing. More on that tomorrow...)

3 Steps to Getting Great Endorsements

1.) Talk to people you know, people whose opinions you value, and people who are leaders in your field. Ask them if they would be willing to review your work and provide a testimonial if they like it.

2.) Send complimentary copies to those who agree to offer an opinion. Include a thank-you note with your e-mail address and a reminder -- something like,

Thank you so much for your interest in this project. Please accept this copy with my compliments. If you like it, would you take a moment to jot down a short testimonial at your earliest opportunity? I would love to hear your thoughts on the work.

3.) If someone does not respond, a follow-up reminder a month or so later is appropriate. After that, if you still receive no response, stop. Don't nag. Instead, move on and ask for others' opinions.

Some people advocate writing up a sample endorsement and offering it as a suggestion. The rationale for doing so, they say, is that people are pressed for time and will often just sign off on a pre-written testimonial.

The best endorsements are free.

This may be true, but I'm not very good at bragging. In my experience, any testimonial I might think of writing about myself or my work pales in comparison to what someone else says.

Collecting Kudos

When someone gives you an endorsement, immediately send a warm and sincere Thank You. Be willing to return the favor at some point -- and say so.

Collect as many endorsements as possible. You don't have to use them all. But it will never hurt to have them.

As the testimonials for your work begin to accrue, start using them in your promotions. Tune in tomorrow for suggestions of making the most of your reviews.

Do you have other suggestions for getting great endorsements? Share them below!

Forewords vs. Testimonials

I have been corresponding via e-mail with an author who read the article on forewords on my writer's website. He liked the article, but had this question:

Would you say people offering testimonials enjoy some of the same benefits of people writing forewords?

To which I responded:

I'd answer with a qualified "yes." The operative words are "some of the same benefits." To my mind, writing a foreword can benefit both the foreword-writer and the book's author, whereas giving a testimonial primarily benefits the person receiving it. (I'm not negating the goodwill fostered from saying nice things about people who have helped you. I'm merely saying that I consider giving testimonials more as networking, while a good case could be made for considering a foreword as marketing.)

In my opinion, the best personal result one can hope for from offering a testimonial is keeping one's name and reason for fame in front of the public without actually producing something new. In the world of fiction, for instance, Stephen King is brilliant at giving testimonials. He puts his seal of approval on an emerging author while simultaneously reminding the world who the true writing master is.

I believe that forewords hold more value than testimonials, however. I would argue that forewords hold more innate credibility than a testimonial. Anyone can write a few lines of glowing review. Not everyone is asked to pen a foreword. If done correctly, providing a foreword can bring the writer's work to the attention of a whole new audience while still introducing the larger work.

That's my two cents' worth, at any rate.

I spent most of the afternoon working with a writer friend and helping her polish a sample chapter for her non-fiction book proposal. The project she's working on involves telling part of her very remarkable life story. I find it utterly fascinating. I'm honored to be included in some small way to help make this project happen.

Tonight, I'll finish up a rough draft of a chapter for Ryan Gingerich's book. Then, tomorrow begins with a phone consult with a potential client and concludes with a drafting of a section for my Very Important Major Client.

It's good to be busy. And I must say that it's interesting work keeping all these projects afloat at once.

I generally like to work on only one Major Project at a time, but events have conspired against me. Due to reasons beyond my control (and the fact that I have difficulty saying "No" to valued long-term clients who come perilously close to begging for my help...), I've got several irons in the fire. Right now, all is copacetic. I just pray that I don't get burned...