The most effective advertising strategy ever is to put testimonials all over your marketing. The good comments customers give you are worth their weight in gold.

All of us see so much advertising that we tend not to believe much of it. If I say my press releases are great, not many people are going to be impressed about it. However, if a customer says Fox News showed up at her building and did a full report on their products after receiving my release, a lot of people will take note and remember what the customer said.

But how do you get testimonials when you're first starting out and don't yet have any customers? Get comments from friends and people in your business. Very few customers (if any) will notice the difference. In fact, a comment on your pristine autoresponders from a known expert at autoresponders.com might do more than anything to convince prospects you've got quality goods.

Very few people will turn you down when you ask if you can put their words on your marketing materials. Most are flattered.

You can sweeten the offer by including their name, city, and web site address along with the testimonial. Not only does this help promote your customer, but people are more likely to believe a testimonial is genuine if it carries the name and location of the person who said it.