How to Use Client Testimonials

You've completed the Candid Brand Discovery exercise and now have pages of amazing client testimonials. You have both in-depth observations and priceless one-sentence gems at your disposal. Now it's time to put these testimonials and brief quotes to work in your A/E/C marketing strategy.

Before I came on as the Marketing Director at Rhodes Architecture + Light, I performed a Brand Discovery for the firm as a consultant. After only a few interviews, a consensus began to form that pointed to the brand idea. This is the simple, distilled version of what your brand stands for in people's minds. With that, I knew how to anchor our branding and marketing strategy. I also found patterns in the responses that pointed to their other stand-out strengths as a firm. I used these patterns to assemble content pillars which formed the framework and guardrails of the overall content strategy.

Before I start calling your clients, I like to learn the internal perspective of your business or organization. What are people saying around the water cooler, or to their accounts, about what your brand stands for? And importantly, is everyone saying the same thing? Positive internal quotes have a variety of applications for your HR department!

Once I joined the team, I found a myriad of ways to purpose the quotes I had collected. So not only did I have a clear objective about what the firm really needed from marketing, I had a head start with content development. What better way to stay on brand than using the voice of your customers?

Here are some application ideas to maximize the impact of your testimonials. If using graphically, I highly recommend including their consistent treatment in your brand styleguide.

• Social media

  

  Use as a graphic element in posts, reels and stories. Combine with an "about us" post on LinkedIn. I would link to this but the firm elected to step away from using Meta platforms.

• RFP, RFQ responses

• Award submissions

• Peppered throughout website

  

  There are lots of creative ways to incorporate quotes on your website. Use them graphically according to your brand standards. Peppering quotes throughout the site (versus dedicating a page or section to this) immerses visitors in a brand experience. A dedicated testimonials page also tends to make the site feel dated.

• Firm resumes

• Proposals

• Email and stationery footers or graphic elements

• Grant applications

• Annual reports

• Elements of your visual identity

• Blog and white paper content

  

  Using quotes as graphic elements can spice up a white paper and help fill those awkward voids.

I hope this was helpful. Please share other ways you've put quotes to work!