The Marketing Maven List: Better Testimonials, Entrepreneurial Flourishing, and a Fabulous Image Creation Tool

Every couple of weeks, I publish a list of three of my favorite recommendations from the world of online marketing and entrepreneurship. If you’d like to read more about this list got started, click here.

On today’s Marketing Maven list, we’ve got a wonderful tool for creating compelling social media images, an inspiring ebook from the world of positive psychology, and a simple way to get better testimonials from your clients and customers.

Let’s dig in!

TOOL: Stencil

I am CRAZY about Stencil right now. I’ve been using Stencil to create fun visual badges for blog posts and social media, similar to the one in this post. If you’ve used Canva or PicMonkey before, it’s similar to that – but in some ways, it’s BETTER.

One of the things that takes me a long time when I’m creating badges using PicMonkey is that I have to search through a separate stock photo image site to look for the right photo to use as the background for my badges. Then I have to buy that image, download it, resize it, and add it to PicMonkey. It’s a pain, and it takes a long time.

When you use Stencil, the stock photo images are built in – you can search for (and add) images right in the tool, and there’s no extra charge for the images. Then you can add shapes, text, icons, and all sorts of other cool things to your badge, all quickly and easily.

There is a free version of Stencil, but if you want all the background photos and graphics, it’s $9 a month.

And here’s the best part – resizing your images for different social platforms (and your blog posts) is a snap in Stencil. All the ideal social sizes are built right into the tool – meaning if you want to create a badge that is the perfect size for Pinterest, you just click a button and it resizes your image to 735 x 1102 pixels. If you want a correctly-sized image for a Facebook page (851 x 315) you just click the “Facebook Cover” button. It’s so slick! Note: The link to Stencil above is an affiliate link.

EBOOK: Michelle McQuaid, Author and Positive Psychology Expert

I recently discovered Michelle McQuaid, an Australian woman who is an expert in the field of positive psychology and human flourishing. I am absolutely FASCINATED by her work.

The reason I recommend looking into Michelle’s content (and positive psychology in general) is because entrepreneurs often have trouble taking care of themselves. We often work too hard, exercise too little, and we’re exhausted much of the time. That’s true for me, too!

Michelle’s work offer’s some lovely and inspiring ways to inject a little joy into your life – and you’d be amazed at what a difference that can make.

I highly recommend her free ebook, How to Move from Functioning to Flourishing.

This ebook is a wonderful introduction to Michelle’s approach, and it gives you some fast and easy ways to give your wellbeing a boost. And when I say “fast,” I really mean it! Some of her suggestions take just a few minutes to implement, and they’re FUN.

When you sign up for her ebook, you also get access to a wonderful and rich library of free content on her site.

ARTICLE: Getting Persuasive Testimonials from Your Clients

In online marketing, nothing is more persuasive than a great testimonial. Testimonials offer solid proof – in your sales copy, emails, social media updates and other online content – that your services help people and your methods work.

But the problem is, there’s a huge difference between a great testimonial and a ho-hum one. And mediocre testimonials don’t do much for you when you’re trying to sell products and services.

And it’s more difficult that one might think to get a powerful testimonial you can use in your marketing materials — so I was pleased to see Sean D’Souza’s highly useful article, 6 Questions to Ask for Powerful Testimonials.

The art of getting a great testimonial all starts with asking better questions – and Sean gives you six great questions to start with.

Got ideas for the Marketing Maven List?

If you have a tool, blog post, podcast or other idea you’d like me to consider adding to future Marketing Maven Lists, feel free to submit it to me using this page. Just tell me a little about your submission and why you recommend it, and make sure you include a link.