Hey John
How did you get such fantastic testimonials, wow? I cannot remember where exactly I saw them but I recall Elton John and Maroon 5 , I think.
For those who are not well known or plugged do you have any suggestions for how to get great testimonials?
Thanks!
Dawn
Dawn,
Even at the most humble beginnings, anything that anyone of your friend's or fans says about your music is a testimonial.
Sure, having stars, big industry people and publications certainly holds a lot of weight, but don't underestimate, or discredit the things that your fans have had to say.
One thing you can do is submit your cd for review from some local and national publications. Also you can submit it for review from bloggers in your genre. Who knows, not only might you get a really great review, but you might find yourself a cheerleader with a built in audience.
All of these things can help you get a couple of testimonials to start out with... until Elton John sends you his
-Steve
Hey Dawn, Steve is right....a good way to get testimonials and reviews is to just ask. I recently asked on twitter and facebook for people to give a short review of my CD on CD Baby. It worked, I got a really nice review!
And refering to your post in the video string.......thanks! I did have a safe road trip, and a fantastic gig to boot! I just got home a few minutes ago, and I am winding down by checking my email, the insiders circle, and having a cocktail! A really cool bonus was getting booked for two more gigs next year as well as returning to the festival I just performed at. Yeah....life is good!
Another good way to get testimonials that I just discovered at this last gig.....the lady that hired me asked me if I would like her to email me all the comments she got from other people at the festival about my music. Of course, I said yes, along with a very sincere thank you. I'm not sure how you could tactfully ask for something like this, but I am going to keep that in mind for future gigs. The promoter is certainly going to hear all the comments, both good and bad, so they could be a wealth of info if you could get them to pass all that info on to you
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
Steve Rodgers said:
Dawn,
Even at the most humble beginnings, anything that anyone of your friend's or fans says about your music is a testimonial.
Sure, having stars, big industry people and publications certainly holds a lot of weight, but don't underestimate, or discredit the things that your fans have had to say.
One thing you can do is submit your cd for review from some local and national publications. Also you can submit it for review from bloggers in your genre. Who knows, not only might you get a really great review, but you might find yourself a cheerleader with a built in audience.
All of these things can help you get a couple of testimonials to start out with... until Elton John sends you his
-Steve
Very cool thank you for the reminder and the simplicity of the power of the fans! Thanks Steve!
Hey Dawn,
The ones that I sue on my squeeze page I got either by chance or as a bi-product of a publicity campaign.
I got the Elton John testimonial by freak chance. He was interviewed in Interview magazine and someone asked him what new music he was listening to and liked and he mentioned me. Blew my mind and is one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. Totally out of nowhere and no machine was behind it.
The Howard Stern quote came as a result of his show getting my single as part of Interscope's radio push. He played the track on his show and said a few nice things. I was dating a celebrity at the time so I think it was intended to be a bit where he trashed me, but I guess it turned out he didn't hate the music as much as he expected.
The Robert Hillburn quote in the LA times came as a result of a feature I got in the paper. Also part of Interscope's push.
But ultimately Steve is right. A celebrity testimonial carries weight but so can any testimonial. The goal of a testimonial is to install consumer confidence to the point where someone takes action. You can absolutely do that with testimonials that are much easier to obtain.
By comparison, I have video testimonials for my course, Music Marketing Manifesto:http://www.musicmarketingmanif.....stimonials
Those are just from customers. I sent out an email and simply asked people to send me a testimonial if they liked the course. A number of people did. I personally think they are very powerful and I think they accomplish the same job that the Elton John testimonial does.
There is no reason you can't just ask your fans for testimonials. The methods Steve mentioned are also great. Going after bloggers is a great way to go.
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