Marketing a business is hard work. How much simpler it would be if you could sit back a bit and relax, while your customers did the work for you? Such pipe dreams do happen, in part when your customers are fully engaged and sharing your work. Those customer recommendations matter a great deal. So how can you get customers to help you with your business marketing?
Encourage Recommendations
Word-of-mouth recommendations are the most effective type of passive marketing. If a customer loves your product, and tells others who then become your customers, you have saved both time and money. But, as only about 15% of your customers will likely become influencers, you need to make the most of those recommendations. Encouraging repeat customers to speak of you to others, whether by offering discounts, bonuses for repeat business, or other offerings, can help cause them to speak favorably of your brand.
Ask for Reviews
Asking for reviews, especially on social media, can be influential as well. Social media sites tend to link reviews by individuals to their pages, which means that when a review goes up, their friends see it as well. You, of course, want that review to be positive, or, if there is an issue, for it to be resolved quickly and easily. About 77% of customers will leave a review if you ask them to do so. That’s a massive return for a tiny request.
Be Funny
Everybody loves a bit of a clown, especially online. But it is important to use humor appropriately. You don’t need massive email campaigns to annoy customers into responses. What you want, instead, is a personality for your brand itself, which matches your corporate ideals and outlook. Think of it as a characterization for your brand, and joke accordingly. A skydiving company and a corporate retreat will not use the same style of humor, nor would a grocery and a lawyer’s office. However, being memorable, smart, and clever are overall bonuses regardless of your brand.
You want the gossip on the street to be that your company is the best one to go to for excellent, reliable service. Finding someone who can write for your social media as such a characterization for your brand is wonderful and can get customers following your marketing voluntarily. Getting that to happen is up to what strategies you use, both to get eyes on your advertisements, and to get ongoing engagement.
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