Word of mouth can be an easy way to start to build your customer base and email marketing list. Can you rely on it solely? Probably not, only a few lucky ones can say they have. But it should be thought of as part of your marketing mix. There is a reason why retail stores have always printed their logos prominently on their merchandise bags. So here are very very easy ways to start some word of mouth for your business.
1. Include a "signature" in the bottom of every transactional email your company sends out as well as your personal email. Ask your recipients to tell their friends about your goods or services.
For example:
Rocco's Restaurant, for the best in Southern Italian Cooking, tell your friends!
www.roccos.com
123 Any St.
Anytown, CA 11111
(123)-345-4567
This way if they keep your email they'll have an easy way to remember where you are, and if they forward the email for some reason the forwarded recipient will see your message.
2. Include customer testimonials on your site and in any marketing materials. Some customers will want free advertising and ask you if they can participate. More often than not your customers will tell their friends to check out their testimonial driving more traffic to your site. These are your customer "influencers". I can't tell you how many more eyeballs we got at VR by putting our customers in our ad campaigns.
3. Give away a pre-stamped postcard for people to use with your logo, graphic, website and location on it. If a customer uses it, it's a cheap way to get a potential new customer on the receiving end! This is great for destination places like hotels, wineries, retail shops. Theme it with the city you're in!
4. Include a tell-a-friend link on every web page so a user can include a little note when they forward the page.
5. Giveaways - What about giving away an inexpensive logo'd pen or calendar magnet with your information on it? I'm all for giving away useful gadgets so that your information is constantly in a user's face. Plus if they use it around others then your logo gets viewed again and again!
Rocket science? No way, but these are really easy ways to get started at a pretty low cost.
Love to hear any of your own ideas!
Thank you for the word-of-mouth suggestions. Although not rocket science, they are most powerful.
Posted by: Donald L. Vasicek | February 17, 2007 at 11:04 AM