In his Adweek copywriting book, marketing genius Joe Sugarman described an interesting technique.
He called it the “reverse testimonial.”
Let me illustrate it by talking about myself. Or more specifically, about my persona on my aromatherapy website, Unusual Health.
You see, in the aromatherapy world, the man at the top of the pile is a guy called Robert Tisserand.
Robert is extremely knowledgeable about essential oils.
For several decades, he’s lectured around the world about the science behind EOs and about how to use them safely.
He’s co-authored a massive book on the topic, filled with literally thousands of scientific citations. He has a huge following online, and he’s routinely considered to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, expert on essential oils.
So how does this apply to me?
Well, several people have recently asked me what my qualifications are to write about essential oils.
So I wrote an email to my aromatherapy list to answer exactly this question. And I started by talking about Robert Tisserand, and how great he is.
I then said how I don’t claim to be an essential oil expert, and how I never expect to have the kind of EO knowledge that Robert has. But then comes the twist, where I explain why this is actually a good thing for my readers.
You’ll have to be on my aromatherapy list to know exactly how I pull this off.
But how I pull off the twist is not the point. The point is that I used Robert Tisserand and his status as “one of the world’s leading experts in aromatherapy” to work for me.
That, in a nutshell, is Joe Sugarman’s reverse testimonial.
You start off by talking about the unbeatable advantages a competitor has over you — including testimonials and social proof — and then you turn that around to actually work in your favor.
Anyways, this might work for you as well, if you are not yet the man at the top of the pile in your market.
By the way, if you need help with sales emails, you might like my upcoming book on the topic. It distills what I’ve learned by writing for clients in the health space (and for my own aromatherapy list).
For more info, or to sign up for a free copy, here’s where to go: