If there is one area of their marketing that every
business big or small strives to improve, it is word of mouth
marketing. How do we get "the buzz?" In other words how we do we get
mass amounts of our target audience spreading the great news about us
and our business?
Well first let's make some assumptions. Are you
referrable? You have heard me say this before, and it is even more true
in today's economy. We must be constantly aiming for EXCEPTIONAL! How
do you know you are referrable? Quite simply you should ALREADY be
receiving a healthy amount of new business from word of mouth referrals.
But
beyond the normal strategies to enhance your word of mouth, like asking
for referrals, working with strategic partners and possibly even
setting up affiliation programs (psst - if you want to learn ways to do
these activities better, check out our Referral Marketing Workshops),
there is one activity that you can and should be doing everyday to have
the biggest impact and control over your word of mouth marketing.
It's a simple yet effective activity. Quite simply:
GIVE
Call
it Karma or call it the RECIPROCITY PRINCIPLE, but nothing can do more
for your reputation and your company than giving to others. There is a
human need and tendency to give something back when something is
received.
One of my clients - Dexteritiy Consulting
(http://www.dexterityconsulting.ca) works in the area of charitable
giving and wrote a great article on Recession Proofing Your Business
Through Community Investment
(http://dexterityconsulting.ca/Recession_Proofing_Business)
But
you can also give to your clients, peers and network on a regular
basis. While it sounds simple, there is one little caveat to doing this
correctly:
You need to give without expecting to receive.
When
I was a little girl I remember lending money to a friend and never
being repaid. When I told my father my plight, he said, you are never
LENDING to a friend. You are simply GIVING. Repayment is an option and
should not be expected. It saved a very good friendship that gave me so
much more than that initial monetary investment. The same goes in your
business.
You need to genuinely want to help others.
ACTION STEP
Make
a list of your customers, peers and connections and keep in on your
desk or on a nearby wall. Everyday, look at that list and see if there
is two - five people you can:
• Connect with someone else in your network
• Forward a helpful article to
• Refer business to
• Pay a compliment to
• Congratulate for something they have done
Cidnee Stephen is a high energy and accomplished marketing professional. Born to market, she showed her creative side at a very young ago when she started marketing greeting cards and good ol’ lemonade in elementary school. To anyone that knew her, it was no surprise then that she chose marketing as her focus at University over 20 years ago. Of course most of the marketing principles she learned way back then suited large corporations. So when she was thrown into small business marketing years later, she found she needed to come up with some new approaches. Her techniques served her well and she continuously has been a top producer for the companies she has worked with. Having worked in Canada and Europe, Cidnee has called Calgary her home since the late 1990’s. 
