How to use reviews to improve your marketing messages
Reviews are a fantastic marketing tool. After all, you can tell the world how great you are, but if other people are doing it too, you’ll come across as more credible.
But client reviews and feedback aren’t just great for demonstrating credibility. They can also help you figure out what type of marketing to do more of, how to create messages that resonate and what words to use.
I’m going to show you how to do this using genuine reviews or messages from my clients (you'll find most of them on my LinkedIn profile).
How did the client hear about you?
Find out how clients discovered you. It can be really useful for understanding which of your marketing activities are working.
I reached out to Lisa after seeing her brilliant podcast with Mike Winnet. I just knew Lisa would be supportive but straight-talking in helping me get clear with my positioning and marketing message.
Lisa did not disappoint.
Lisa is very generous in sharing her knowledge and insights and was able to help me explain the transformation I can offer my clients in a very clear authentic fashion.
Why did they choose you?
What made them choose you over their competitors? What was it they liked about your marketing or the way you positioned yourself?
Having read Lisa's book, I knew she was someone I needed to talk to to get a few elements of my business sorted out, so I booked a 90-minute 1:1 with her. Lisa provided such practical advice which I've already been able to put into action, and she was also full of ideas. Lots of lightbulb moments, as well as facepalms (from me at my own nonsense).
I was seeking a training course for my marketing team to establish core copywriting fundamentals and help them expand on their skillset. After a brief introduction with Lisa, I was confident in her approach and curriculum.
Now that the training is complete, I can say that I could not be more pleased with the training and the feedback I've gathered from my team. Her lessons were easy to understand and she helped the team apply them to real world examples in their roles. She also made the training engaging and interactive.
What problems did you solve?
Knowing what problems you are solving can help you tailor your marketing to other people who are also experiencing those same problems.
I booked in a call with Lisa as I needed some direction with marketing my business. We spent a couple of hours chatting about the business, walking through what's working, and not working, and coming up with a clear plan for next steps and how to achieve them.
Working with Lisa is the best business decision I've made.
I've run a writing business for 35 years, and I was at a point where I was going around in circles trying to decide 'what's next' for my business.
As soon as I finished my initial call with Lisa, I knew I'd found the right person to help.
What were the unexpected benefits?
Sometimes clients come to you for one thing, but end up benefiting in other ways too - the unexpected consequences. You can use these in your marketing as examples of how you could help other clients:
When I started working with Lisa, I was burned out, no longer enjoying work, and often dreading another day of running a business.
Running a business is hard work, and it's even more difficult when you've stopped enjoying what you're doing.
In the past few weeks, that has changed.
Several people have commented on how much happier and content I am, and that's because of Lisa's help, advice and encouragement.
And that's why I highly recommend working with Lisa.
I’ve been using my notes from our talks to help me get my business working for me.
Because of this I’ll be going on holiday for the first time in six years in June.
I was thinking the other day that the work we did together has started a sort of ripple effect. It has changed the way I work, the way I run my business and that in turn is having a positive effect on everything else.
Lisa advised me, that while it might feel counter-intuitive to niche my blog, that this would net me greater engagement. I followed Lisa's advice and I have to say this has worked really well for me! As a result of focusing on my specific audience, I've been invited to contribute a monthly blog post to a professional group.
What were the outcomes?
What were the specific outcomes or results of working with you? Other people might also be looking for similar results, so use these in your marketing.
The biggest value for me was how much it made me think about what I actually want from my business and how I want it to work day to day. Lisa was incredibly generous with her time too, I could email her my messy notes and thoughts, and she’d reply with practical advice and ideas. The same on the calls: loads of support, nothing complicated or fluffy, just down to earth, achievable suggestions that genuinely made a difference.
She helped me to sharpen up (and get rid of the fluff!) the way I write and communicate with both clients and prospects and my marketing. But the coaching was more than just about writing. She provided sound business and sales coaching, helped me to value my time more and gave me the confidence (and push) to start charging for consultations, which has been a game changer for my business.
She is very down to earth and tells it how it is, which is just what you need at times. In the 12 weeks that I worked with her, I got more done on growing my business than I did in the last 12 months!
I would highly recommend Lisa to anyone who is struggling to articulate their marketing message. As Lisa didn't just give me a bit of training she gave me a new purpose and direction to my business as she really made me think about who my client is, their problems, and the solutions I have to offer.
What words do they use to describe you/your products?
Look at the words your clients use to describe working with you. What do they like about your products or the way you deliver your services? How can you incorporate these themes in your marketing messages?
Unlike all other guides on this topic, Lisa's book talks to you like a human being (and one who's full of hesitancy, curiosity, and not knowing what the right questions are we should be asking about email communities and lists).
It's refreshingly straightforward, and focussed not on the techy wizz bangs (that you can find anywhere) but on helping make sure that the reader is most confident and certain about the email adventures they're about to embark on.
What's also brilliant is Lisa' honest sharing of her own email experiments (to help us avoid the time and cost we might otherwise forfeit) - another sign of her genuine interest and commitment to supporting people, rather than just helping us become another name on someone else's' email list...
What did they particularly like about working with you?
What do your clients like about working with you? Is there anything about your style, your approach, or your process that stands out? Look for common themes.
A couple of years ago, I received the following message from someone who had just left me a review:
It's funny. I didn't read your other recommendations in detail before leaving my own, but read them afterwards. How wonderful that many of the recommendations say similar, that your direct approach it what we loved. You tell it as it is and give such actionable advice. That's exactly what someone needs from a mentor.
It’s probably not a coincidence that so many of my clients like that about me because I often talk about my direct approach in my marketing. I use it as a selling point to attract people who feel comfortable with that approach.
It wouldn’t make sense for me to market myself as a soft, touchy-feely type coach who will gently guide you to the answers, because that’s not what I am. There’s nothing wrong with that approach - it’s just you wouldn’t get it from me, so I wouldn’t want to attract clients who are looking for that.
Words that often come up in my reviews are practical, straightforward, honest, generous, down-to-earth, and invested. And I definitely use a few of those phrases in my marketing.
Look for common threads in your client feedback. How can you incorporate them into your marketing messages?
3 quick and easy ways to use client feedback in your social media posts
You can tell people how good your products and services are, but they're more likely to believe you if other people are saying it too. That’s why you should be proactive in asking clients to leave reviews.
But once you have those reviews, don’t just let them sit there. Use them in your marketing. Share them on socials, on your website, in your emails, and anywhere else you can think of.
To get you started, here are three super simple ways you can share them on socials.
Repost or share a screenshot
The quickest and easiest way to share a review is to repost it or share a screenshot of the review. This is especially useful if a review was posted on one platform and you want to share it on multiple platforms.
Turn it into an image or carousel
If you're good at design (which I’m not), you can turn your feedback into images.
Or you can collate a few quotes and add them to a carousel to be shared on socials (like I have in this post on LinkedIn).
Include feedback quotes within a post
As well as sharing reviews as standalone posts, you can include a client quote in your promo posts, as I've done with this one:
And there are loads more ways you can use reviews in your marketing to show the world just how good you are.
Write a case study and include the review
Add reviews to the relevant web pages on your site
Include recent reviews at the bottom of your emails
Turn reviews into a mini video
Write an entire email about reviews and include loads of your favourites 😉
Don't be scared of resharing your best reviews. You worked hard for them, so use them.
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