Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools for reaching audiences and offers huge benefits for savvy businesses β but how do you make sure youβre giving your customers the right things to talk about?
What is Word-of-mouth Marketing and How to Use It
Discover the secrets of successful word-of-mouth campaigns
According to theΒ Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising 2015 report,Β 83% of consumers put their highest level of trust in word-of-mouth recommendations.Β
Before attempting to spread your message this way, itβs importantΒ to ensure you have a solid offering in place and a good relationship with your current customers.Β
Core components of service delivery
The areas you must be getting right to start a word-of-mouth campaign include:
- Stellar customer service
- Open channels for customer feedback
- Well-maintained complaint system
- Responsive social media presence
- Willingness to listen and learn
- Robust frameworks for delivery
- A good, reliable product
Having a solid product and/or service to offer is the first stepΒ for anyone hoping to create goodwill among consumers. The second is a genuine willingness to listen to your customers, engage with their problems and provide them with the kind of service they want to talk about.
How to start a word-of-mouth marketing campaign
Once you know you have the right infrastructure and attitude in place, itβs time to start reaching out to your customers.
Here areΒ three ways to start people talking about your business.
1. Offer referral promotions
People love getting a bargain and they also love sharing a good deal with their friends and family. Allow your loyal customers to do both by offering referral bonuses to reward them every time they encourage someone else to sign up to your services or make a purchase.
To encourage engagement, make sure the promotion you choose is straightforward and the immediate benefits are clear. For example, you could give an existing customer $10 off their next purchase when they refer a friend, who also gets a 5% discount.
Use your accounting software, such asΒ QuickBooks Online,Β to identify customers who purchase productsΒ or refer multiple times. TheseΒ customers can be thought of as key influencers for your business, and itβs a good idea to offer them extra rewards in the hope theyβll continue to spread the word.
2. Create talking points
Your excellent service and consistently high-quality products are areas you always want your customers talking about β but itβs also a great idea to introduce attention-grabbing topics into the conversation.
Think about the βShare a Cokeβ campaign, where Coca-Cola created a unique talking point by printing 150 of Australiaβs most popular names on their cans and bottles. Could you do something similar for your business?
Look for ways that might allow customers to connect with their own, personal stories with your products, and offer them a platform to share their experiences on.
3. Get buzz going on socialΒ media platforms and websites
Social networking platforms offer brilliant opportunities to get people talking about your brand or product β you just have to make sure itβs for the right reasons. Monitor your accounts closely and always deal with complaints or queries quickly and politely.
Use social platforms to launch the talking points mentioned above by providing targeted conversation starters with the help of micro-ads. Post funny pictures or questions via Facebook Ads, run polls on Twitter and share snippets about your company that people might not find out about elsewhere.
You can also reward key influencers or people active in your industryβs community for talking about your brand by commissioning paid content. As long as your influencersΒ are transparent about any payment or free products they are offered for their services, itβs a great way to spark new conversations.
Whatever you do, make sure youβre willing to talk back β a one-sided conversation will kill a word-of-mouth marketing campaign in no time!
To read more helpful articles on How to Promote Your Business,Β visit here.
Related Articles
Looking for something else?
Stay up-to-date with the latest small business insights and trends!
Sign up for our quarterly newsletter and receive educational and interesting content straight to your inbox.
Want more? Visit our tools and templates!