Word-of-mouth advertising is an age-old marketing strategy. But with the advent of the internet and social media networks, this conversation has become more public then in the past. Your customers can share their opinions of your brand on their platforms which not only reach their friends but can be shared by their friends to their circle of friends. So, how do you generate beneficial word of mouth?
STEP 1: Create a share-worthy experience
Now, more than ever before, it is easy for a client to share their experience with their circle of influence. So, you need to ensure they have a positive experience. This can be achieved in three ways:
- Exceptional product: Before you can think of marketing, you need to ensure that the product or service you are producing is what the market wants. You can have the best marketing strategy, but if your offering is not up to scratch, you could lose out on positive word-of-mouth marketing. In some extreme cases, you may be excused of false advertising. Therefore, ensure that your product solves a real pain point that your niche has.
- Excellent customer service: When customers come into your store, do they feel welcomed? If they send you an enquiry, do you get back to them in a timely fashion? Do you deliver your product on time? By exceeding your customer’s expectations, you will give them the encouragement to share the great service they received from you.
- Great processes: Take a good look at the various processes which happen in your business. How do you get customers? How do you make a sale? How do you deal with returns or complaints? You need to ensure that these processes work well and adjust them if you have received a complaint in the past about them.
By having excellent processes and customer service, you will ensure that you create a share-worthy experience that your customers want to post on the internet.
STEP 2: Ask for reviews
Has a customer used your product? Are they happy with their purchase? If your customer has bought from you online and they haven’t asked for a refund or an exchange, you can send them an email request for a review. Make sure that you add a link to the review page and make it easy and clear on how to post a review.
STEP 3: Use social media influencers
Do your research and find who are the most prominent social media influencers in your industry. Send them a gift of your product. If they are impressed by your product, they may choose to share this with their network. Just remember not to send a gift with strings attached.
STEP 4: Use hashtags
Create a unique hashtag which your customers can use to share their experiences with your product or service. You can then scroll through the user-generated content and if you see something you would like to share on your social media platforms then you can ask the content creator if you can share it. You can also use this user-generated content to create social proof on your website.
By following these four steps you will be well on your way to creating word-of-mouth marketing which will hopefully turn into more money in the bank.
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