In his first year of blogging, Alan Brymer, president of The Investor Library in Provo, Utah, landed more than 6,000 subscribers by providing high-quality content, soliciting reader feedback and responding to their requests, and touting free reports. The reports spread like wildfire via a “tell-a-friend” script and were promoted by other bloggers and speakers to their databases. That’s the power of word of mouth, an important part of a guerilla marketing strategy. To improve your word-of-mouth marketing efforts, consider these five tips:

Learn the secrets of online advertising from the editors of FuelNet Monthly by downloading your free copy of Internet Marketing: Online Advertising Tips for Business Growth without cost or obligation.

1. Give a “warm handoff.” Ask some of your most loyal customers to recommend your business to potential prospects. But instead of a “cool” introduction like an email, ask them to set up a live meeting or a conference call. “We’ve found that it’s not enough just to be recommended,” says Matthew Modleski, vice president of Stovall Grainger Modleski, a strategic consulting firm in Centreville, Va. “It’s much more effective to be handed off to the new point of contact.”
2. Create some intrigue. Jonathan Copulsky, a principal in Deloitte Consulting’s Chicago office, advocates creating topical advertising campaigns that are bold, edgy, fun, and leave consumers yearning for more information. “Ads that don’t give it all away and leave viewers hanging work well,” he says. “Have them go to your Web site to get the full story or to see the full ad.”
3. Join Twitter. The free micro-blogging service, which allows users to post messages (aka tweets) of 140 characters or fewer, has proven to be a key word-of-mouth driver. Recently, Dave Nelson, president of Cranberry Township, Pa.–based Dialog Consulting Group, became a Twitter follower of a winter sports supply company. “One Wednesday, their ‘Wacky Wednesday Special’ was tweeted to my iPhone,” he recalls. “I went to their site and spent $127. Twitter allowed them to stay connected with me.”
4. Have a heart. When Northridge, Calif.–based tax expert Eva Rosenberg took her practice from part-time to full-time, she placed a red, heart-shaped “We Love Referrals” sticker on all invoices and correspondence to clients. “From that alone, my business nearly doubled in a year,” she says. “Your satisfied customers are your best source of new customers.”
5. Ask for help. Lisa Tener, an author and book coach, believes the more you reach out to key contacts, the more likely they’ll help build buzz for your business. “The publisher of Aspire Magazine, for example, regularly lets me know what she’s looking for, whether it’s vendors who sell environmentally conscious wares for an event or places she can send free copies of the magazine,” Tener says.

Permalink: http://www.fuelnet.com/?p=4242