Every year Nielsen’s global survey reports on which channels consumers trust and act upon when they’re looking to make a purchase. Every year word-of-mouth friend recommendations come out on top, by a mile, and the advertising channels businesses turn to most often end up at the bottom of the pile.
So how can you ensure your business is recommended between friends?
- 1 Use your size to your advantage: SME’s have a huge advantage over the big brands due to their ability to deliver a personalised service and easily adapt to customer needs. Talk to your customers! Every conversation is an opportunity to learn how your business can be better – or potentially avoid being disrupted by a competitor. It’s not often they feel listened to so it will go a long way to helping you grow your advocates.
- 2 Customer service beats advertising: No ad can compare to your own customers recommending you to their friends, they are your most effective marketing channel. And the best way to get them recommending is to find a way to wow them. Go above the basics and delight them with some simple low cost surprise and delight activities. Ask yourself, ‘what is your equivalent of the “chocolate mint on the pillow” you receive after a hotel turndown?’ People love personalisation and they love to share unique experiences with their friends. Here are some ideas to get the creative juices going.
- 3 Develop an employee advocacy program: Your greatest advocates are your employees and they should be your business’ biggest fans. Empower your employees to sing your praises in an authentic way, especially over social media to help amplify the message. Tools like Hootsuite make it super simple to post on everyone’s channels with no extra effort.
- 4 Ask for a recommendation!: The most common issue I see from SME’s is that they don’t ask their customers to recommend them. Did you know that 83% of customers are willing to recommend your business but only 29% actually do? You already know that word-of-mouth drives sales for your business so imagine how many more sales you could receive if you were asking for recommendations.
Marc Cowper, CEO, Recomazing
