Small Business Marketing Secrets: Your Guide to Getting More Word of Mouth Referrals.
When I speak to small business owners, I always ask where their customers come from. The number one response to my question is:
” Most of our business comes from word of mouth”.
Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe it.
Over 90% of the small business owners that I speak to all say the same thing. It’s consistent across all types of businesses. It doesn’t matter whether they’re a new business or an old business. They could be profitable or struggling.
This leads me to believe that some people are living in “fantasyland” when it comes to their marketing. I think the reason I hear this so much is because it’s what people want to believe. We all want to think our service or reputation or product is so great that people will line up to our door. It’s the old “if you build it they will come” idea.
But it’s not true, in most businesses; no matter how great you “build it” they will not come till they know about you.
That’s where effective marketing comes in.
Sure word of mouth is a desirable way to get business, but it doesn’t just appear out of thin air. You have to create it. There are two ways to create it.
1. You use marketing tools to tell people who you are and what you do.
2. You deliver a “WOW” experience to your customers so they tell others.
Think about your marketing this way:
A. Decide whom you want to reach.
B. Create a message they will respond to.
C. Find multiple, complementary ways to deliver your message to them
D. Plan to deliver the same message multiple times to the same people.
E. Budget for the long-term for best results.
Do your marketing well to create effective word of mouth marketing for your business. Then “WOW” those new customers and you’ll create even more.
No matter how small your business is, you still need forms of marketing.
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