Every business, regardless of size, is at the mercy of word of mouth advertising. Regardless of whether you pursue word of mouth advertising or not, you will get it. It is perhaps the most volatile of all the various advertising methods for this reason. If you are a small business, then word of mouth advertising becomes even more vital. A bad review for a large company is tough, but it can cripple the small business. How then, do you corral that word of mouth advertising beast?
The first thing to remember is that customer service is paramount. With a small business, one customer that leaves your business unhappy equals a loss of twenty future customers. For this reason, you simply must take excellent care of every customer. This means that even the crankiest, most irritating customers must get top notch service with a smile. Why is this so important to word of mouth advertising?
Simply put, customers are quick to talk about a bad experience and slower to talk about a good one. If you have a bad experience at a store for example, you are likely to tell everyone you come in contact with. Think of how far that reaches. Every person they tell might communicate with a few others, and so on.
Good word of mouth advertising is also capable of spreading, though usually not as fast. It helps to make sure that every customer is satisfied perfectly, and then you are likely to come across that special customer that touts your praises.
Another way to boost word of mouth advertising is to ask for it. After giving great service, and the customer clearly being satisfied, ask for some referrals. Customers usually do not mind spreading the word if you take great care of them. They are much more likely to spread the word, however, if you suggest or ask for it. Do not act as though it is owed to you, but simply ask if they would mind telling a couple of friends about their experience.
Another way to ensure great word of mouth advertising is to give them something to talk about. If you have an overpriced product or service, or your presentation is bad, you are dead before you get started. Take the time to offer some bargains. If the deal is good enough, then the word will get out quickly. If they are not, that will get out as well.
Word of mouth advertising is a vital part of small business success. This form of advertising is cheap, and can be accomplished simply by doing what you should do in the first place. Good business means great word of mouth advertising. Remember that the next time you get those tougher to please customers.
That’s so true, word of mouth advertising has always been the biggest producer of sales, that’s why you have to make your advertising worthy of discussion. Whether you are submitting articles to Ezine articles or videos to Adwido, you have to make it newsworthy if you want people to share it.
Comment by mlgreen8753 — July 16, 2009 @ 2:02 pm