Not long ago I was reading a short interview AWAI did with master copywriter Jim Rutz.

And in that interview he said something extremely interesting about testimonials.

He said while it’s great to have testimonials, the reality is almost nobody reads every testimonial in your ads word-for-word.

Which means, if you have really great performance and “celebrity” testimonials… the kind that do wonders for your credibility and make it easier for people to believe what you’re saying…then you’re probably not getting the best “bang for your buck” out of them.

Take, for example, this ad I wrote for a martial arts home study course.

There are testimonials from a bouncer, a security guard, a policeman, soldiers in Iraq and the chief self defense instructor of the New York City Police Department.

All of them extremely powerful credibility boosters.

Yet all of them practically useless if nobody reads them.

So what did we do about that?

We simply worked the fact these people use the product in the copy itself.

Like this:

That’s why people who deal with violent criminals and other “whack jobs” on a daily basis — like bouncers, security guards, inner-city cops and military soldiers in Iraq — use this exact same system I’m sending you.

Even the chief self-defense instructor of the New York City Police Department — who’s a life-long student of dozens of different martial arts styles — says he uses this system.

See how that works?

You simply reference those great testimonials in the ad itself.

That way, even if someone skips reading your testimonials word-for-word, you still harness the credibility from having those people endorse your product.

And you can do the same thing with any “celebrity” or “authority” testimonials you have.

Don’t just let them linger in a sea of other testimonials where they will, at best, get glanced at.

Reference and even expand those suckers right in your copy.

Tell your readers how the mayor of your town eats at your restaurant… Or that your local high-school’s star athlete takes your vitamins every day… Or about how that world champion cat breeder feeds his own cats your cat food, etc.

If you don’t tell them these things in your copy then they’ll never see them if they ignore or don’t feel like reading your testimonials.

For the ultimate impact, do this right before or after the most outrageous claim in your ad.

That way you will add a big fat layer of credibility to that claim and make it 100% believable.

Anyway, give it a shot and see what happens.

I think you’ll find your copy becomes more believable, more effective and more profitable.