One of the quickest and easiest ways to build trust with prospective clients (before even interacting with them!) is through positive reviews.
Reviews communicate reliability and satisfaction and lead to future bookings. While they typically speak for themselves, reviews can be amplified and leveraged to get your business more bookings. In this article, we're sharing 5 ways you can utilize reviews to enhance your marketing and grow your business.
How to Use Your Reviews to Connect With More Clients
1. Quote Snippets
Pulling a short sentence or snippet from a full client review and adding it to a caption, image, gif, or video is a simple way to share testimonials across your online platforms (social media pages, personal website, your other online profiles, marketing collateral, etc.). It's also an easy way for party planners to quickly learn about past client experiences without having to search for your reviews.
A valuable snippet should touch on any of these review aspects: details about the services you provided, satisfaction with the overall business and individual business members, or a recommendation to book your business. They should always be positive and include minimal to no edits when compared with the original review. Here are some examples of full reviews and their snippets:
- Full client review (B.D. Lenz, Jazz Band): “Working with B.D. was a true pleasure! He and the band were absolutely perfect for my son's Bar Mitzvah party with their feel, sound, attitude and deep repertoire of tunes that appealed to everyone. Rock, R&B, covers, jazz—everything, and all of the musicians were incredibly talented. B.D. was also very responsive and accommodating during our planning. I would definitely call B.D. for another future event—no question!”
Review snippet: “B.D. was very responsive and accommodating during our planning. I would definitely call B.D. for another future event—no question!” - Full client review (K.Chris Knight, Saxophonist): “Absolutely amazing job!! He added a very special touch to our wedding. Very professional, on time, & he honored all requests. My guest really enjoyed his sound. He definitely exceeded our expectations!”
Review snippet: “Very professional, on time, & he honored all requests.” - Full client review (Lori's DJ Service, DJ): “Lori was a pleasure to work with! She helped out with all aspects of our entertainment, from coordinating with our dancers to announcing the live band we had, to welcoming our guests and more. She is a great DJ and everyone loved her at our event. We had many folks ask for her contact info for referrals and upcoming events.”
Review snippet: “She is a great DJ and everyone loved her at our event. We had many folks ask for her contact info for referrals and upcoming events.”
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2. Identify Trends
When looking through reviews from clients, you'll find similarities or common themes—whether in a description of your provided services, notes about you or your team, the satisfaction of the party host and guests, or another aspect of a client experience. Identifying these trends can help you learn more about your business's strengths and areas you want to build on.
3. Learn From Negative Reviews
On the other hand, there are bound to be a few reviews that contain constructive criticism or suggestions. Not everyone will always be satisfied, but negative reviews should be seen as helpful tools rather than discouragement! They give you the opportunity to see from the planner perspective and find areas for improvement. Use them to brainstorm goals or identify new growth areas.
4. Update Your Business Description
Reviews typically include descriptive words about your business or team members, like professional, reliable, flexible, etc. Leverage these words to give your business description a boost! Add them to any bios on your business, whether on your personal site or social media platforms, and integrate them into other marketing collateral. When a prospective client sees the same words being used to describe your business in your reviews, they'll be even more convinced to book your business!
5. Enhance Your Business Offerings
Through reviews, you will learn which services your clients enjoy best or what aspect of working with you is most helpful and impactful to them. Use this feedback to enhance your offerings or customer service! There could be other areas to focus efforts that are more worthwhile and will drive more customers that would otherwise be a lost opportunity. Shifting focus to what makes clients most happy and what you can do from their perspective to make their event special is what will help your event business thrive.
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How do you utilize reviews? Comment below!
