Let’s talk referral marketing for success. Nowadays a business has to sell more than just a product. Today it must sell a full customer experience — an experience that inspires your customer to share your products with friends and family, all of whom are potential customers. According to Entrepreneur, an ever-increasing number of businesses in 2015 and beyond will try to be more open to feedback from their customers. That said, here are a few referral marketing ideas on how you can make the most out of your customer referrals.
IMPROVE YOUR REFERRAL MARKETING STRATEGY
A Nielsen Trust Study from 2013 showed that referrals are the most trusted form of advertising. This information should be good motivation to establish a strong referral strategy based on solid referral marketing ideas.
Research is the foundation of any marketing strategy. To craft a top tier referral marketing strategy, your initial research should include the basics such as understanding the desires and needs of your customers.
From there, conduct research on potential referral channels such as news publications, social media influencers, and bloggers. Find and explore all possibilities to produce more online customer reviews and opinions.
Once your research is done, use the data to craft a referral marketing strategy which includes:
* Exceptional customer service. Give customers, or potential buyers, a
reason to engage, care about and tell others about your brand.
Satisfied clients are great referrals that are invaluable to small
businesses; and
* Shareable product experiences. A simple Facebook post, Twitter tweet
or Instagram selfie can reach hundreds, if not thousands of potential
customers in a few seconds.
* Referral marketing incentives. Customers are more likely to refer
friends and family when there is a valuable incentive involved. If the
incentives are worthless or undesirable to the company’s existing
customer base, the customers will not be interested enough to
participate in the referral program. Make the program more visible by
placing signs in stores and using internet marketing tools.
* Influencer. Find a person who is sufficiently influential in your niche. It
could be a popular blogger, YouTuber or Instagramer.
* References. Use references as referrals because people consider other
people’s opinions before determining whether they should purchase a
product or not.
FOCUS ON ONLINE REFERRALS
Referral marketing can be highly effective in an online environment due to the popularity of social media and sharing sites. Internet referral marketing can potentially spread information faster, and to a wider audience, than most offline marketing strategies.
These days the average customer reach is much larger than ever before, and for people with strong social followings it can be enormous. Customers now have the power to make or break a business by what they say about it online.
According to research carried out by social media experts, 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, whereas only 14% trust advertisements. Perhaps that is why online communities are so good at generating business referrals. Follow the research and take advantage of the variety of social media approaches to increasing your referrals. Brainstorm on various referral marketing ideas and try them out.
USE CONTENT AS A REFERRAL TOOL TO FORGE STRONG REFERRAL RELATIONSHIPS
Most often, even though they are satisfied with the product or service, customers are too busy to leave referrals. In situations like this, valuable content can generate referral introductions in ways that are constructive and valuable as opposed to shallow and fruitless.
Valuable content is an effective tool for attract
ing strategic partnerships as well. While many business owners focus most of their referral efforts on customers, non-competing businesses that serve your target market can be one of the most potent sources of referrals.
CONNECT WITH RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
The old premise “It’s not what you know but who you know” is still very popular in the business world. Even though you may be skilled and dedicated to your new business, your chances of success will rise exponentially when you connect with the right people.
Many companies collaborate with complementary businesses and cross-promote to each other’s customer bases. Remember that networking is the key to obtaining more customers and earning brand trust. For this reason, view every moment as a potential networking opportunity and watch your business grow.
SEEK CREATIVITY IN REFERRAL MARKETING IDEAS
Having a variety of electronic devices available to you and your customers, you have infinite possibilities of creating inspirational referral marketing ideas. If your client is willing, try to capture a testimonial on video. This can be a really powerful asset.
For further effective referral marketing ideas, or for exemplary referral marketing assistance for your business or company, go to Recamp at https://www.recamp.com. The Recamp experts will make building effective digital marketing campaigns easy – driving leads, online traffic, customers and revenue.
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