Saturday, April 26, 2014

Every marketer knows there is no stronger marketing tool than word of mouth. Someone who shares the same interests as you recommends a product and boom! You become a dedicated user of that product. At times word of mouth is not verbal and the non-verbal has an even stronger effect than verbal. For instance, your favorite sports personality walks in wearing some great shoes and immediately you associate those shoes with that star’s performance. As a business owner, this type of marketing is invaluable to your bottom line. But how do you get your existing customers to talk positively about your products to other potential clients? How do you get role models to use your products and present them well to others and increase your sales? Any marketer who can do this successfully will never have to worry about sales figures or budget deficits. There are a few important ways one can do this.


Using Your Customer to Spread the Word

Buzz Marketing

It may feel pleasant hearing your customers describing your products as being the best kept secret, but that will not drive sales. You need to get the word out that you have a great product to offer that satisfies your target market’s needs. Buzz marketing relies on your happy customers telling the world about their satisfaction with your products. In effect, your existing customers become your products’ goodwill ambassadors. This works in two ways. First, it entices new customers to try out your product. Secondly, it gives your existing customers a reason to justify their choosing your product and of course this encourages them to be repeat customers. When done online, it can be equated to viral marketing where genuine customers post positive reviews about your product. Testimonials posted on your website and other websites or blogs serve the same purpose.

Viral Marketing

Consumers generate hype about good products almost as much as they do about poor products. If you are satisfying your customer’s needs and meeting their expectations, they will tell others. This leverages your marketing campaigns and empowers your customers’ buying experience. The overall effect is that you will gain a loyal customer base which will keep growing despite mounting competition. A perfect example of how this works can be seen by the rapid growth of Facebook during its first years. Facebook was not the first social media site, but most people joined it once they heard from friends, relatives, and colleagues all the raves about how it kept them connected. With such a loyal fan base, you do not even need to advertize. Your goodwill ambassadors are doing the work for you.

Endorsements

How would you feel if a famous and popular personality spoke favorably in public about your product? And what would that do to your sales? Wouldn’t they just sky-rocket and make your products the hottest thing in town? But sometimes this comes off as a paid star making an advert for professional fees. It speaks more about your products if the star would be spotted using your products. For instance, if you own a restaurant and part of your frequent clientele and notable people, everyone else will want to be your regular customers. Being publicly endorsed by popular and famous individuals will get you noticed faster and grow your customer base rapidly. If you can get some of your star customers to take a few pictures with regular customers and use the images in your banner ads from http://www.webbanner24.com/ that would speak very well for you. Just make sure not to harass the stars and ruin their experience.

Customized Branding

Check out this scenario, the highest performing salesmen in your company walks in with a sleek, high-end computer and makes his reports and presentations faster and better than everyone else. The end result, every other salesman walks in the next day with a brand new laptop with the same capabilities. This does not only apply to work tools and high end products. Something as simple as having coffee mugs or Styrofoam cups branded with company logos will get you noticed by the right kind of audience. If you own a coffee stand then your customer walking away with your branded paper hot cups will get her colleagues and friends in the know on where to get the best coffee to go. A company such as Custom Takeout can easily get you noticed with their paper hot cups whatever the type of business you are in.

Your regular customers and even superstar customers if you have any can be the greatest ambassadors for your product. And the best thing about it is that these people will reach your target market better than any other marketing gimmick you might employ. When your customers spread the word for you, they bring you new clients who will buy repeatedly and stay loyal.
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