I just finished a teleseminar this afternoon for members of The Publicity Hound Mentor Program.
The topic? How to get and give powerful testimonials.
Giving testimonials can be as powerful as getting them, and even though authors, speakers and others solicit me regularly for testimonials, I’m very careful about offering kind words only for people and products that I strongly endorse.
Why? Because if my name is associated with lousy speakers or crummy products, that reflects poorly on me. And my sterling reputation is my most valuable marketing tool.
Minutes after I ended the teleseminar, I plucked from my mailbox the monthly newsletter of the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN), of which I’m a member.
There on Page 1, was an article by my good friend and business associate, Marcia Yudkin. She mentioned the same thing in her article titled “7 keys to getting book blurbs.”
She writes:
“I find it highly insulting and foolhardy when someone asks me to endorse a book I have not read or on the basis of seeing one-twentieth of the contents. Remember that the other person’s credibility is on the line. For some of us, our credibility is everything.”
Right on, Marcia.
I know of one very famous author who will put his stamp of approval on just about anything—even if he hasn’t read it, seen it, or held it in his hands. The guy has never met a book he didn’t like and hands out testimonials like penny candy. He does it, of course, for the publicity. But in my eyes, his testimonials don’t mean diddly.
I don’t want to be like him. Rather, I want to put my reputation behind every testimonial I give, and be associated only with top-quality people and products that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to endorse to my loyal audience.