Testimonial Advertising

In the law, testimony is a form of evidence that is obtained from a witness who makes a solemn statement or declaration of fact. Testimony in the form of opinions or inferences is generally limited to those opinions or inferences that are rationally based on the perceptions of the witness and are helpful to a clear understanding of the witness’ testimony.

Testimonial Advertisement is promotional method in which one or more testimonials from satisfied customers are used. Advertising copy approach using an individual who has tried a product and been satisfied with it to favorably endorse the product. The endorsement may be in the form of a statement or a letter, and the individual may be a well-known personality, such as an actor or athlete, or a satisfied customer appearing as an impartial “person in the street.” The idea behind testimonial advertising is that a prospective customer may be favorably influenced to try a product when it has been praised by another impartial consumer, or by a known personality whom the consumer may wish to emulate.

Many companies using Testimonial Advertisement to introduce their products. Testimony was really popular for the people who active in business with the network base business. Nevertheless, the products that using the conventional distribution also exploit this method. For example, a smiling upper-middle class mother may demonstrate her excitement about a laundry soap and describe the benefits that she receives from using it. Marketers feel that the use of testimonials adds a personal touch to their appeal and also portrays a populist image.

The condition for using Testimonial Advertising when the content of the endorsement relevant to the product that promoted. Honest and spontaneous. The true way to make an testimonial ads is not using the script, but using the spontaneous sentence from the consumer. Because when the endorsement using the script that was memorized, the element of spontaneity and honesty could be disappear. It will affect on the product credibility.

For maximum effectiveness, the non-celebrity testimony should come from a person with a similar demographic profile to the people in the target market. In the case of celebrity endorsements advertisers aim to use the recognition-factor to draw on the halo effect. In theory, this source credibility transfers from the celebrity to the advertised product, brand, and manufacturer. A problem with using celebrity endorsements involves any negative publicity that the celebrity might get: it will also transfer back to the product, thereby reducing brand equity.