Here’s a great (and easy way) to fix that:

Solicit testomonials

Asking people for a few sentences about how satisfied they are with you, or why they continue to do business with you is a great way to get people thinking (thus talking) about what makes your company so great.

“But I already solicit testimonials”

If you’re already soliciting testimonials, we’ll share a secret to solicit testimonials that will turn a happy customer into a raving fan:

Time your solicitation right.

Every customer has a moment where they couldn’t possibly be any happier with your product or service. Marketing-types call this the “moment of maximum satisfaction”. It may be the first time they used your cleaning product and mopping the kitchen took half as long as it used to. It may be that someone used your tax software and saved $1,000 this year over last year.

Whatever that moment is, you need to identify it, and then ask for a testimonial immediately. This has two benefits:

First, you’ll have some great marketing material to use on your website, blog, radio ads, or other mediums. Countless studies show that testimonials from real, live, actual people are some of the most effective marketing tools available.

Second, you’re literally having people come up with a sales-pitch for your company in their own words! Then, you’re having them put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and actually write it down! Your customers will be thinking long and hard about why you’re awesome, and then articulating it! From that moment on, they’ll have an “elevator speech” in the back of their mind.

Now imagine that a mom is talking to a friend, who is complaining about how long kitchen cleanup takes- or, an exasperated, overworked employee is complaining to a coworker about how much he owes in taxes this year. The mom and the coworker will have sales pitches ready to go when they are made aware that someone else needs your product or service.

It’s hard to imagine a more effective sales situation than this – and it’s as simple as paying attention to your customers and asking for a testimonial!

*Did we mention this method is FREE?!

Here are 3 strategies you can start using today to get more listening to what you have to say.

1. Give away information – If there’s one thing everyone loves, it’s free stuff. While you can’t give your product or service away for free (or can you?), you can give some information away for free.

Dan Miller is a successful career coach and author. Having multiple nationally published books, Dan isn’t afraid to give information away on his blog, website, or podcast. In fact if you listen and read his content long enough, you can basically figure out the content of his books before ever turning a page.

He’s very open about this and routinely mentions it to his audience. But that hasn’t stopped his success. In fact, he’ll be the first to tell you it has actually fueled his success.

2. Be controversial – This may not be for everyone, but if your goal is to get people talking there’s no better way than to say something controversial.

John C. Dvorak is a tech-journalist who makes his career out of being controversial. Whether he’s raising doubts about the aptitude of the U.S. CIO, or claiming Apple should’ve pulled the plug on the iPhone before it was released, John will say anything to get people talking… And it works. Millions read his blog every month and he’s a highly sought-after author and news-correspondent.

If you’re brave, get out there and speak your mind. Whether good or bad, people will be talking about you.

3. Make Mistakes – There’s a widely-held misconception that you have to be perfect in the eyes of your audience. While true in some arenas,in the arena of digital marketing this simply isn’t the case. The goal is to create dialogue. If you’re providing all of the answers, what is left for your audience to say?

ProBlogger has a great take on this subject:

Play dumb or make mistakes. If you write a fabulous, seamless post, you will likely get comments like “great post.” If you demonstrate that your knowledge is slightly lacking or ask a question of your readers directly or fumble around a bit, you will have people (women especially) clambering to help a poor soul out. There’s a reason women talk a lot… we like to give advice. Open yourself up to be the receiver of some advice, and you’ll get more comments.

Your audience won’t view your humility as a sign of ineptitude or weakness, but rather will see it as a strength that you’re willing to listen to what your customers have to save.

Keep these tips in mind and you’ll have more eyeballs viewing your marketing. Keep in mind, these strategies aren’t the end of your marketing, but only the beginning. Attracting an audience means nothing if you can’t turn them into happy customers. Stick with us and we’ll explore the rest of the marketing process in the coming months!