Beware of Testimonial Thieves

You already know testimonials are like gold dust.

They give potential clients a glimpse at what you’re like to work with and an idea of how you’ve helped other companies.

You also know they have to be attributed to a specific person because there are so many bogus ones out there.

Well, did you also know there are some very dubious companies out there who think it’s OK to cut and paste testimonials from one company and claim them as their own?

I would never have believed someone could stoop so low had I not had first hand experience of such people.

To cut a very long story short, my company website is about to have a makeover. As a result, a number of social media sites that I am on will have to be updated, so in a rare moment of spare time I set about doing a search to make sure I found all the sites. Can you imagine my horror when the search turned up a copywriting website that had stolen three of my testimonials and claimed them as their own!

How could I tell?

They weren’t bright enough to remove the reference to my name or company in one of them.

I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The problem is the company in question is in America.

An email has been sent asking them to remove the testimonials and, at the time of writing this, I am waiting for a response. If nothing happens further action will be taken.

I am staggered that there are people out there who:

1. Think this is OK
2. Are too bone idle to work hard for their own testimonials
3. Has such little regard for copyright laws

The moral of this short tale?

Do a Google search on your company and check out any of the URLs that come up that look a bit odd.

Author: Sally Ormond, Briar Copywriting Ltd