Whenever possible, include photographs with your testimonials. Many car dealers, for example, photograph customers taking delivery of their new car. Since this is generally a happy time for customers, displays of these photographs project a positive image.

Even better, create posters for display at point of sale. Simply create a collage of customer comments and photographs professionally typeset and laid out.

Use testimonials as basis for your firms’ advertising. Nothing beats ads written in your customer’s own words. The ads inevitably attract attention and communicate with credibility unavailable in any other way. Create a variety of ads, reflecting different marketing segments your business serves.

Thank your customers for their support and time. However, avoid paying customers. This could detract from credibility of their words. Feel free, however, to show your appreciation with gift certificates or coupons worth savings or discounts.

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Licensing fees are surprisingly reasonable for most business applications. For example, you can license New Yorker cartoons for use in presentations for just $19.95! For other purposes, cost depends on where you’re going to use it and how many people will see it.

There are, of course, other sources of cartoons. If you see a cartoon you like in a newspaper or magazine, write cartoonist in care of publication and ask about availability and pricing. If there is a particular cartoonist whose style you like, contact cartoonist about a custom cartoon.

This has worked very well for me and I owned total rights to use cartoon any way I wanted.

Cartoons are great for home page of your website, newsletters, training materials and presentation visuals.

In each case, unexpectedness of a cartoon immediately captures your audience or reader’s attention and visually reinforces your message.

Here are some suggestions for marketing with cartoons:

1.When in doubt, leave it out. If cartoon does not perfectly support your point, leave it out.

2.Always add copyright information described in licensing agreement.

3.Never run a cartoon without first obtaining a license to reproduce it.

4.Optimization. After downloading, resize and sharpen cartoon in an image-editing program like Photoshop and export it in proper file format.

Using humor in form of cartoons is a powerful way to brand your marketing and drive home important messages to your prospects and clients.