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Essentials of Word of Mouth Marketing
by Marty Foley
What's the least expensive, yet at the same time, the most credible
form of advertising? Yes, it's word of mouth.
Every business, either knowingly or unknowingly, generates word of
mouth that is either positive - which helps build their business, or
negative - which hurts it. There are even some fortunate
(but relatively few) businesses that rely entirely on word of mouth
to generate more business than they can handle.
How many times have you made a decision to do business with (or avoid
doing business with) a certain company based on what someone else told
you? Probably more than you realize or can even count.
When someone says good things about your business to someone else, it
serves as a real-life testimonial, which is much more believable
than when you toot your own horn by saying good things about it.
Studies have shown that the vast majority of dissatisfied customers
and prospects won't voice complaints to responsible persons in a
business which they've experienced some dissatisfaction with, but
will quietly take their business elsewhere. Wnd since they'll
likely spread negative word of mouth about their experience to others,
not only does the business lose future business from the dissatisfied
customer or propects, but also from others that may be repelled by
hearing such negative word of mouth.
That doesn't have to be true in your case, however. Here are
some tips on generating positive word of mouth advertising for you
and your business:
1) The foundation of generating positive word of mouth is offering
quality products and services. If what you offer is shoddy,
you'll generate word of mouth, but is will be negative, which will
hinder others from doing business with you as word gets around.
You'll be shooting yourself in the foot.
Therefore you should aim to make your products and services the best
they can be. Realize there is almost always room for improvement
and be willing to make such improvements when reasonbly possible.
2) Solicit, yes, actively seek feedback in the form of questions,
comments, and even complaints from customers and prospects.
View these as opportunities to improve your products, services and
customer support.
3) Another key is delivering excellent customer service. So
many business people treat customers and prospects as though they don't
count for anything.
How many times have you been treated rudely by customer service personnel
at a place of business? What about business people that tell
you they will call you right back, or that they will send the information
out to you right away, or that they will do this, that, or another thing,
but consistently don't follow through on their word?
Granted, nobody's perfect. But if they practice such things
consistently, you tend to believe less and less of what they tell you,
like the boy who cried wolf. Will you be eager to continue
doing business with them? Not likely.
Especially since repeat business is crucial to most any business, such
practices - although common everyday practice - are self defeating.
4) Do your best to follow through with what you say you're going to do.
Don't make unreasonable promises you know you can't keep. If
something inforeseen comes up that prevents you from living up to your
word, try to let the other party know about it in advance.
5) Don't just try to meet your customer's expectations. Exceed
them. In other words, under-promise and over-deliver.
6) If a customer is not satisfied, take reasonable steps to try to make
them happy. You might even convert a disgruntled person into
one of your best word of mouth advertisers.
The above things aren't just the right thing to do; they are smart
business practices.
If you (and any employees you may have) act differently that the
run-of-the-mill standard, you'll stand out from the crowd, be a welcome
business associate in a commonly rude and selfish business environment,
and your satisfied, loyal customers will be your best form of advertising.
Marty Foley is the President & CEO of Victory Ventures (an internet marketing
consulting firm), the publisher of the ProfitInfo Newsletter and the author of
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