The Power of Word of Mouth Referrals

Perhaps no other type of marketing is more powerful than word of mouth. When your clients tell other potential clients about you, more information is passed than simply who you are. In fact, they are likely to tell of your dedication, your effectiveness and overall how beneficial their experience with you is.

This provides the potential client with a simple, straightforward and very promising impression of you.

Word of mouth can also be one of the most difficult types of marketing as well. With the wrong information, a past client can do harm to your business. Or, if you do not give 100 percent the best results to that person, word of mouth can be rather troublesome. For this reason, work to make sure that every client that leaves you is satisfied with the service and knows that you will handle any possible problem that arises. Then, even in a negative situation, chances are good that they will remember you as fair and honest, which translates into more positive word of mouth advertising for you.

Initiating Word Of Mouth Yourself

While the best type of word of mouth marketing is when it is done by your current clients, without any type of incentive to do so, this doesn't always happen in a world full of possibilities. Therefore, sometimes it is important to help to encourage it.

For example, many professionals offer their clients a discount or another incentive to tell their friends about them. If their friend comes in to do business with you, they end up getting some benefit whether it's something trivial or even a monetary incentive. The end result then, is that they are much more likely to talk about you and your business.

What type of incentive you offer is up to you, your budget and what would work in your line of business. But, it doesn't have to make you feel like you are giving away the bank. The goal is to encourage them to talk about their experience with you, which in turn will deliver rewards on your end and the new clients they refer. In these cases, you are actually encouraging and promoting word of mouth yourself.