You might be spending a lot on advertisements. Why not consider a referral marketing? Referrals are the best leads. It is a pre-sold lead to you by a third party who has nothing to gain from recommending to you.
Those who have been referred will believe and most likely buy from you as they are recommended by a neutral third party. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool. So how to kick start a referral program?
First of all, make sure you are worthy to be referred or introduced. Are your products of quality? Are your services good? Are you meeting or exceeding your customers’ expectations? If yes, it is good to start your referral program.
The primary method is not rocket science. Just ask. Ask your friends and family, everyone you know and your existing customers to refer you. Come up with a schedule. Example, asking every 3 or 6 months. Do not ask too often. However, do not worry too much about this as most of the time you are not asking enough.
Your happy customers will mostly be glad to provide you few names. Ask them more about the people they are introducing, i.e. who they are, what business or industry they are in, what are they selling or plan to sell etc. and call these referees up.
Besides asking verbally, instill your referral marketing program into your best customers mind by using newsletter. Educate them about the program and how much you would appreciate if they could refer someone to you.
You may also send them text messages about your program alike what Uber is doing. People bring their phones everywhere they go even when they are dining. Text messages is good to reach out to your happy clients. Ask them to refer their family and friends and be rewarded.
Make full use of your website. Have a referral tab in your website. It can be linked to a simple form so that you know who referred who. You may also include the referral rewards in that page to encourage more customers recommend you.
Upon referring, send a nice gift to all who has referred you as a token of appreciation. It does not have to be something expensive. A customised T-shirt, a nice pen or flower arrangement is good enough.
If your thank you gift is beautiful or creative enough, people might share on social media like Facebook or instagram. Indirectly, it is promoting your referral marketing program again. So, put some thoughts in it.
In a nutshell, do not just advertise. Come up with a referral marketing program which will give you quality leads. Promote your program. Do not be afraid to ask.
