The Art of Endorsement

Remember the old time circus announcer who would shout at all oncomers, "Step Right Up. . ."? Well things haven't changed a whole lot since then. Today, every time you open your email, someone is telling you the very same thing. . .

"Step Right Up and See the Miraculous, Awe-Inspiring, Dynamic, Never-Before-Seen, Guaranteed-to-Save-You-Thousands-and-Make-You-Twice-as-Much-as-Anything-You've-Ever-Seen-Before, Super-Deluxe, All-Powerful, Amazingly-Simple-to-Use, User-Friendly, The One-the-Only, The Most Versitle, Stupendous, Fire-the-Boss, Crazy-to-Pass-Up, Can't-Live-Without, Handy-Dandy (insert product name here)!!!!!!

You see, the old time circus announcer had something on the ball. His entire purpose was to lure people into the Big Top by way of a highly motivational endorsement of the product. And it worked like a charm!

People would stream into that Big Top tent even though there was an enormous chance that it was a huge scam. Chances are they'd go in there and find a man in a gorilla suit or something as obviously fake. But in spite of that, the people loved it, because they were pre-sold on the possiblities due to the enthusiasm of the announcer. He sold them on the concept that "maybe this time it's real".

It became worth the two bits to find out. If he did it right, it was nearly irresistible!!

Now I'm not trying to encourage anyone to scam people. There's certainly enough of that going around and we don't need any more of it. But I am endorsing you learn the Art Of Endorsement!

An endorsement is simply a statement, usually just a couple of lines, that express YOUR feelings about something. If you've ever gone to a particular restaurant and then told your friends how much you liked the food, you were giving the place an endorsement. Or maybe you went to see a movie and told others how much you enjoyed it. . .same thing! You can do likewise for your own products, or the ones you're selling for someone else.

It's really not all that hard to learn. If you already write ad copy, you can easily tweak your campaign just a bit and add an endorsement into your ad. Your website can also become a glowing endorsement for the products you sell. It's just a matter of changing the view from which you're writing.

Many ads and websites feature all the great things the product or program promises to provide. Nothing wrong with that, and I would recommend you add all that in too. However, if you tell the people how you FEEL about the product or service, then you're giving them your endorsement.

For example, your site might feature an ebook you've produced and it tells all about the highlights and chapters your ebook has in it. It should stress the benefits of owning it, the results that can happen by using the information, and so on. But now you want to endorse your product. So, you could add a few lines like:

"I have to admit, this is the best ebook I've ever written. It took years of research to come up with all the tried and true solutions to internet marketing. I use this plan myself and I've never seen results like this before!"

You can write anything you want to, as long as it tells people how you feel about the product. If they see the pride you have in your work, it'll encourage people to look into it further. It'll add some personal worth to your sales copy that will make people take pause.

Now let's flip this thing over and look at the other side of the Endorsement scenario. If you've noticed on many marketing websites, the webmaster includes a section or two called, "Here's what others say. . ." Those little sections are actually endorsements from other people about the product. Sometimes those endorsements are solicited by the product's creator, other times they're given freely and spontaneously by the person who's used the product and loved it.

Either way, it's a win/win situation for both of them.

I'll tell you why. . .

Nine times out of ten, an endorsement is followed by the endorsee's signature and website link. I don't know about you, but I consider that free, traffic getting advertisement! A lot of people are prone to researching the validity of a product by checking out the people endorsing it. So guess what they'll do? That's right, they click on the link!

So submitting your endorsement of other people's products can be considered a Joint Venture that's rewarding and profitable for both parties. The product creator gets your glowing recommendation to encourage others to buy, and you get a free link on his site!

Likewise, there's nothing wrong with seeking out other internet marketers or business people to give your site an endorsement. Sometimes they'll want a free copy of your product to look over, but that's a small price to pay for a "high level" endorsement! Most times all you have to do is write and ask.

Now I'd like to add just one more point to show the importance of learning the Art of Endorsement and using it as a Joint Venture. At this particular time, the major search engines are listing sites according to web popularity. That is, they spider your site and then check to see how many other sites have links back to yours, and what their ranking is. The more links they find, the higher your site's ranking will be.

Consider the benefits of having your endorsement with your signature line with a link back to your site on every affiliate program's site you belong to, every website for product you've bought, every newsgroup or ezine you subscribe to. The possibilities are enormous!

Yes, the Art of Endorsement can be extremely powerful in the right hands. Be sure, if you use it, you do so responsibly.

No gorrila suits please?

by K.R. Nadreau
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K.R. Nadreau is the author of "Up Front Marketing ~ Selling Without Selling Yourself Short." He's a motivational speaker/writer who has spoken to upwards of 2,500 at a time, and has been instrumental in the creation of countless successful businesses both for profit and non-profit. His articles about business and culture are read by thousands.

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