Whether you’re looking for gigs or an in-house position, knowing how to ask for and get the right testimonials about your work will be a game changer for your career.

Does your website have glowing referrals, case studies, and testimonials from people you’ve worked with?

Even if you’re not in sales, having references like these can help you network into the full-time job or freelance gigs you’re chasing.

The trick is learning how to snag blurbs for your website or social media promotion at the right time — and from the right people.

Why Testimonials and Reviews Matter So Much

Could you land the job of your dreams without client testimonials on your site and an outstanding design portfolio alone?

Absolutely.

But endorsements and case studies will help you:

Establish your niche market. When visitors of your site see what you’ve done for businesses with similar problems, they’ll know you have the expertise to handle their specific issues too.

Highlight your diverse range of skills. You flex different muscles tackling every project you take on; let visitors see what an awesome job you did via the words of your happy customers. This will definitely help you stand out in a crowded design market.

Establish trust with future clients. A testimonial from a customer shows you deliver what you promise and says you’re trustworthy.

These case studies and testimonials will become your ultimate sales machine, selling your skills and convincing visitors of your site to contact you with work opportunities.

Where Should Your Testimonials Come From?

You should ask for a review or recommendation from anyone who can sing your praises relative to the type of job you want.

Asking for this is hard, and even those in sales get this step wrong. In one survey, only 11% of salespeople asked for a referral when 91% of customers said they would have given one[*].

Chances are you’ve worked with all types of people, paying or not, who can vouch for your professionalism and creativity while you’ve been leveling up your marketing skills to this point.

So try starting with your:

• Friends and family members
• Former and present coworkers
• Past and current clients
• Social media followers and people within your network or industry

Create a list of contacts and follow this plan to get the website blurbs you need without the stress.

How to Ask for Testimonials (and Actually Get Them)

Asking for references doesn’t have to be complicated. Follow these tips and you’ll have a foolproof follow-up plan:

Create a Testimonial Template

Make your life easier by automating the testimonial process with a template. This productivity hack will streamline the process and help you get more accomplished.

Whenever you’re considering asking for a case study or review:

1. Time your ask right
2. Keep in touch until you receive your testimonial
3. Thank your contact
4. Fine-tune the process and repeat for the next client

Email is often the most preferred way to ask for a reference.

It’s unobtrusive, gives you the time to write a personalized message, and lets your contact reply on their time.

Here’s a general gist of what to include in your ask email:

• First, thank your contact for the chance to work together.
• Then, lead with the positives of your collaboration and highlight key goals you accomplished together as a team to jog their happy memories.
• Ask for the reference and mention how you appreciate testimonials because they’re how you’re able to grow your business and help people like them.
• End with a strong call to action so your contact feels compelled to write something back ASAP.

Craft a few versions of an email containing all this information and save it as a template. Then you can quickly send a personalized message to each client every time you want a referral.

When should you ask for a reference?

Timing is Everything

Experts say the best time to ask for a testimonial from a client happens during what’s known as the “honeymoon phase.”

In this glorious time after a big project wraps or a deal is made, your client will be most pleased with your work and you’ll feel super confident with your accomplishment.

So stick to this schedule to time your ask right:

• When the project ends, send a thank-you email to your client praising the positive collaboration and what you were able to accomplish together. Let them know how appreciative you’d be of a testimonial for your website.
• One week later, send a follow-up email to either thank your client for their review or gently nudge them to make one with a testimonial cheat sheet (more on this next).
• Continue to stay in touch with your client to remain top-of-mind when upcoming projects or potential leads for you cross their path. Ask if you can add them to your email list.

If your contacts don’t immediately jump on board with a testimonial in the first phase, you may want to give them a cheatsheet to speed up the process.

Give Out Testimonial Cheat Sheets

Besides not having the time, many people simply don’t think they have the right words to leave a testimonial on your website for all your visitors to read forever.

So create a few sample reviews, blurbs, testimonials, or case study outlines to send to your contacts for inspiration. You can even attach actual screenshots as examples.

When you give your clients exactly what you’re looking for using these templates, they’ll be less overwhelmed by your ask and more likely to do it.

Properly Thank All Who Follow Through

You should always go the extra mile to thank someone who takes the time to write something wonderful about you. This means sending a handwritten note, or a small gift, to show your appreciation.

To sweeten the pot and encourage more repeat business, you can also offer a piece of free, exclusive content or a discount for their next project with you.

Now Get Ready for All Your New Job Offers

Having a website that converts visitors into paying gigs is just as important for your career as knowing how to use your social media to land jobs.

So check out the skills hiring managers are looking for by browsing job postings on Fresh Gigs, Canada’s top destination for design, marketing, and tech jobs. Then make sure all your testimonials hit those keywords and demonstrate those abilities.

Keep applying for positions and when decision makers check out your site, they’ll see all your glowing endorsements and move your resume to the top of the pile.

Find out what makes each role different and see which skills you’ll need to highlight for hiring managers to snag these in-demand positions now.

What’s the difference between a marketing coordinator, marketing manager, and director?

They each share similar goals like creating campaigns and promoting products and services in a company’s marketing department.

But their roles, salary, job qualifications, and day-to-day duties are totally different.

You’ll want to know where your skills and experience fit in this marketing hierarchy before you apply for an open position.

Let’s start with the first rung on the ladder.

Level One: Marketing Coordinator

Most marketing coordinator jobs are entry-level positions requiring between one and three years of industry experience and a Bachelor’s degree in marketing or business.

A marketing coordinator is responsible for completing all the work necessary for the department to reach its goals, such as:

• Creating content for the website
• Publishing content to social media
• Email marketing
• Promotional material (i.e., flyers or brochures)

Marketing coordinators can work in teams or on their own and usually report to the marketing manager without any subordinates.

They must also have these necessary skills.

Skills a Marketing Coordinator Needs

To be successful as a marketing coordinator, and show hiring managers you have what it takes to crush it, highlight your:

Creativity. Since you’ll need to create memorable promotions and engaging content regularly, you can’t be the type to wait for inspiration to strike; you must be able to think imaginatively all the time.

This creativity is what will help you create a dynamic portfolio that stands out.

Amazing written and verbal skills. Being responsible for all the written and promotional copy your company sends out means you should be confident in your ability to write and proofread words your audience connects with.

You’ll also want to understand SEO best practices for copywriting as well.

Familiarity with social media promotion. You’ll need to know the basics of posting on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. and have experience with tools to scale your duties on a mega level, such as Buffer, MailChimp, and more.

Here’s where using your social media channels the smart way can really impress clients and hiring managers.

And if you have the skills and persistence to surpass your campaigns’ goals and objectives, you may set yourself up for a promotion from marketing coordinator to marketing manager.

The Marketing Manager: Liaison and Overseer

The marketing manager oversees all the marketing coordinators and reports to the marketing director.

As the direct liaison between upper management and the marketing staff, managers must know how to translate high level goals into actionable plans of attack using the resources within the department’s budget.

Marketing managers generally hold between two and five years of experience and a Bachelor’s degree in marketing or business, in addition to these skills:

Skills a Marketing Manager Needs

A marketing manager should boast all the skills a marketing coordinator possesses and:

Excellent people and communication skills. You’ll be a team leader for all the marketing coordinators and the voice relaying the marketing director’s goals and desires.

Project management. Being a manager means watching over both your staff and the projects they’re working on.

You’ll not only need to organize tasks, but you’ll need to assign them, facilitate communication between coordinators, and make sure milestones are hit on time to avoid missing deadlines.

As a manager you’ll also want to help your staff troubleshoot issues and teach them time-saving productivity hacks to accomplish more together.

Critical thinking. Managers set key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyze all the data generated by the marketing coordinators.

Marketing managers are problem solves who like understanding their data so they can predict where improvements should be made to capitalize on what’s working and tweak aspects which may be underperforming.

Measuring website traffic, the success of your paid ads, social promotions, etc. all fall under the manager’s jurisdiction — and you’ll need to answer to the director if they’re less than stellar.

Experience with all these daily tasks for a few years will help you level up your marketing skills and qualify for a new position as a marketing director.

Marketing Director: The Final Boss

When you’ve proven to be a successful marketing machine, you’ll be in line for a marketing director job.

Most marketing directors have between 10 and 20 years of industry experience before landing this high level executive or senior partner role.

Skills a Marketing Director Needs

To get to the top of the marketing ladder, you’ll need these traits and skills:

Budgeting. Marketing directors oversee the marketing budget, which includes figures for salaries, bonuses, campaign needs, department spending, etc.

Fresh marketing insight. The marketing director creates the goals and strategies the manager puts in place for the coordinators to follow.

They must balance the needs of their customers with the goals of their business.

Outdated best practices will drive the department in the dirt so the director must be on the cutting edge of what’s new and trending in the industry.

Accountability. Though the marketing director banks the highest salary of all three positions, this extra cash also comes with the added weight of responsibility.

Marketing directors have the first say and the final decision when it comes to everything that goes on in the department. It’s their strategizing about campaigns which will cause the department to sink or swim.

Yearly marketing goals will be defined within the larger needs of the company and the director will be held accountable for meeting, failing to, or exceeding them.

Since they’re ultimately in charge of the company’s entire marketing strategy, they’re on the chopping block if the department doesn’t do well.

Promotions on the horizon for a successful marketing director include vice president of marketing and even executive director.

How to Land the Right Marketing Job for You

Now that you know the difference between a marketing coordinator, marketing manager, and marketing director, you’ll know which jobs to apply for with your experience.

You’ll also know exactly which skills to highlight on your resume and cover letter as you talk up your achievements.

No matter which role you’re searching for, you’ll find thousands of marketing and design jobs across Canada on Fresh Gigs every day.

One of them could be the first step you take — or the next rung you climb.

If you want to be successful in a creative field like design or marketing, you need to know how to set goals and find the discipline to reach them all on your own.

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Wish you could find the motivation and discipline to tackle all your career goals?

If you want to stand out in a crowded design market, it takes a lot of hard work off the clock to show clients and hiring managers what makes you extra.

And that can mean everything from creating an online portfolio to attract more gigs to using your social media accounts to land jobs.

So how do you complete these tasks when you don’t have an immediate paycheck or your boss’s wrath as motivation to get them done?

You learn how to find more discipline and hold yourself accountable.

What Does It Mean to Hold Yourself Accountable?

It may be easy for you to excuse your less-than-stellar work ethic if you convince yourself you’re too busy or too tired to tackle your career goals on top of a full-time job.

But the only one to blame for not reaching your career goals is you.

And that’s why only you can hold yourself accountable.

Accountability Implies a Sense of Ownership for Both Positive and Negative Outcomes

When you hold yourself accountable, it means you take responsibility for your failures and achievements.

Having accountability keeps you in control of the tasks that matter most.

You’ll set goals with specific intentions and consistently work on achieving those goals without excuses getting in your way.

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The more goals you accomplish, the more you’ll want to stack additional goals to build momentum.

As one win leads to a shift in your behavior, you’ll eventually be able to totally transform your professional life for the better.

But if you don’t always have discipline to manage your goals, that ends today.

How to Find More Discipline and Hold Yourself Accountable

These tips will help you become a more successful version of yourself:

First, Distinguish Between Goals and Expectations

Did 10-year-old you think you’d be a millionaire or famous by your age now?

While you’ve probably always had an expectation of success, expectations are not the same as goals.

Expectations aren’t grounded in reality; they’re just a very strong belief you may have for yourself.

Goals are desired results.

And you’ll only score those results when you keep your stick on the ice.

Why does this distinction matter?

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Because when you don’t meet an arbitrary expectation, like becoming Instagram famous, you may see yourself as a failure, lose motivation, and abandon your goal of success.

But when you set a realistic goal, you can focus on the progress you’re making towards your end result.

This forward momentum will help you dominate your goals instead of giving up.

Speaking of which, it’s also crucial to set goals the right way.

Set Personalized SMART Goals

SMART goals give you more direction and make it easier to hold yourself accountable.

A SMART goal is:

• Specific. So you’ll need to zero in on exactly what you want to accomplish by being as detailed as possible. Example: I want to create a design portfolio to show off all my work and link to my social media accounts.
• Measurable. This is how you’ll know when you’ve made progress or achieved your goal. Example: I want to grow my email list by 500 new subscribers.
• Attainable. Goals have to be realistic. If you only have 25 Twitter followers and you want 100k by next week, you may be setting yourself up for failure instead of setting yourself up for a win.
• Relevant. You can set as many goals as you want, but they should be tied to your larger career aspirations and work well with other goals in your long-term plan.
• Timely. How long should it take to complete your goal? A concrete deadline not only gives you a sense of urgency, it also gives you a way to hold yourself accountable if you meet or fail to meet the due date.

After you set your SMART goals, you’ll need to prioritize the order in which you knock them out.

Prioritize Your Goals and Only Focus On One at a Time

You probably have a lot of career goals for yourself. And there are numerous tasks associated with completing those endeavors.

So rather than simply writing a to-do list, create a list of to-dos ranked by priority.

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When you know which tasks need to be accomplished first, you can:

• Create a game plan. With a clear start and end in sight, you’ll know what to do every step of the way, won’t let distractions creep in, and be able to hold yourself accountable.
• Focus on one specific task/goal at a time. This helps you stay on track and prevents you from taking on too much work at once.
• Minimize multitasking, which science says is terrible for your brain and productivity[*].

This approach helps you organize your tasks so you don’t work haphazardly and instead maintain steady progress.

Improving your design and marketing skills doesn’t happen overnight; it takes hours of hard work, dedication, and a consistent routine to follow.

Get Into a Consistent Routine

Even though you may be able to set your own work hours, a routine will make sure you’re in the zone during a specific time most productive for you.

Having too much freedom with your hours allows for distractions to derail the work needed to complete your goals.

So try to wake up at the same time everyday (or set a specific window of work time later) and then create a ritual designed to get your brain into work mode (i.e., making coffee, stretching, checking emails, etc.).

Along with a consistent schedule, you’ll also want a dedicated space where you won’t be distracted from completing your tasks.

Establish a Distraction-Free Workspace

One of the greatest productivity hacks for remote workers is roping off a designated workspace where goals are accomplished and distractions are few and far between.

So think of your work space as an office with other people in it.

While you may be able to shop in a new tab when you’re alone, you’d never do this if eight other coworkers could peep over at your screen and see what you were up to during work hours.

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But if you find yourself more excited by distractions than your actual work, you may have another problem on your hands.

Find Real Excitement for Your Work

Still can’t find motivation to complete your career goals?

Maybe you’re just not that into them.

A lack of discipline can also stem from a lack of enthusiasm and passion.

So see what else is out there on Fresh Gigs, Canada’s best place for marketing and design professionals to find jobs all across the country.

If you stumble upon a gig you can’t wait to update your cover letter and resume for, make that the first of your new career goals to accomplish now that you have the discipline and accountability to do so.