Hype, there is nothing quite like it. It is a superstition that hype is evil and that is obviously a crock of sh-t.
Star Trek and X-Men have been pretty hyped up. Luckily these movies are good so they live up to the hype (however X-Men let me down a little). These movies will continue to generate massive amounts of money on screen and in DVD.
In the case of these blockbusters the hype was a planned and thought out endeavor. Hype usually starts at the source. Sure we have a rare instance like The Blaire Witch Project, but that is not very often. The Blaire Witch Project generated hype from the audience (customers). Star Trek and X-Men started from millions of dollars, then by the audience.
What does this have to do with you? Likely you do not have or do not want to spend a relative version of millions of dollars on advertising. For some of you $500 is like a million dollars.
You are likely focused on postcards, flyers and web presence. You do have the ability to utilize your own subsidized version of hype- Testimonials
Just like The Blaire Witch Project where they had next to no advertising dollars, you can create some hype from what customers you have. A bad movie with big advertising will have one good weekend and be dead by bad hype the next.
Let's say you have 10 testimonials on your website telling how great you are. People read these and feel very secure hiring you, it is subconscious. Then you show up and leave streaks, water on the floor and you were gassy. What do you think happens then? A spark over a haystack that's what. Enough sparks and the haystack is ablaze... along with your rep.
I have seen angry customers start blogs about bad service! How would you like to find a blog about your company and you can't do a thing about it? I have seen people rant on craigslist MANY times about bad service.
The key is to have continuity with your service. Find what works and do it exactly the same for every customer. Mcdonalds became the juggernaut they are from continuity.
Now let's say your company does a great job all the time. It is possible you will not get many testimonials even if the customers are happy. You need to ask for them. Whether it be in an email after the service (for me this works incredibly), or sending them a response card.
Response cards will not work as well, so if you happen to have their email I advise that.
Testimonials a lot of the time get screwed up. Companies love to not use the full name of the customer. They feel the customer will get pissed. Why do you think they gave you a testimonial, to tuck under your pillow? Use their first and last name or do nothing at all.
Right now I have testimonials on EVERYTHING. I have 5 on my flyers, 5 or 6 on my site... I put them everywhere I can. I have received enough comments about "I seen what others said about you're service..."
Testimonials are free. All you need to do is supply a great service and then ASK for their hype. Never and I mean never stop asking for more. Ideally you want a variety of comments. You do not want them all to sound the same.
I have testimonials where people commented on how I put things back after moving them. I have people that commented on how careful and clean I was. I like to mix up the testimonials to cover as much ground as possible.
Likely you will get testimonials that have multiple accolades, I like to whittle them down if they hit on something I do not have yet:
"Thanks for the great job! My windows are so shiny they look like brand new. I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back"
The first 2 sentences will be on many of my testimonials so they are useless, but I do not have that last comment so this is how I would shrink it down-
"Thanks for the great job! I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back"
If you have a lot of "thanks for the great job" type of openers, I do this-
".... I especially appreciate you putting my nick-knacks back!"
Of course all have the first and last name attached.
Long testimonials are not your friend if you have too many. Do not have 5 huge blocks of text that say the same thing as it may cause boredom. You could cause a disconnect with them and they subconsciously lose interest and leave.
I always hear about how everyone loves word of mouth advertising, I do too! The problem is that it is uncontrollable and even if we do a great job it may not happen. Be proactive and take what you have and spread it around rather then wait and see.
Those who wait end up old with regrets wishing they did more...
Go get some
Paul
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