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I am working with a new client on their digital marketing and on their list of marketing strategies was “word of mouth”.
This makes sense for so many things: hey who cuts your hair, which internet hosting provider do you use, which app do you use for navigation, who did your website? While nice to make the list, this isn’t my favorite form of marketing because it’s just too passive. Plus, people may be selling you in a way that misrepresents what you do or the direction you want your business to take.
It is natural to ask your contacts for their contacts. If your friend knows, loves and trusts someone (or something) you probably will also. As a business person a word of mouth referral has plenty in the positive category:
- You don’t have to look for clients.
- You don’t have to pay for advertising or other forms of marketing.
- You don’t really need to do a hard sell, they came to you after all.
All sounds pretty great right? Well, not always. There may be some things that you are missing if you are not using Word Of Mouth Marketing to your best advantage:
- Your new client may be in a category you know nothing or care nothing about and saying no to the job may feel awkward.
- The potential new project may not cost the same as the person who referred you which could cause a bit of an issue.
- You may be letting everyone else steer your business instead of you taking charge.
Market yourself. It makes perfect sense to market yourself to existing clients. As you finish each project with a client be pro-active with the positive parts of the project FOR YOU and let them know:
- I love working with women and their blogs and you were an excellent client. I see the next steps for you as A, B and C. When you are ready please keep me in mind to help you with executing those things.
- I found this project to be very rewarding, your collaborative (or hands off) style of working is right up my alley.
- Local businesses are my jam, it gives me a sense of pride to see the plumbers, dentists and food trucks rank number one in Google for their chosen keywords.
Before you ask them to be your sales person make sure you let them know you are cheering for their business:
- Introduce them to a potential client.
- Share their new website / sale or featured item to your social media followers.
- Ask them – who would be a good referral for you?
My marketing advice to you for finding new clients: take matters into your own hands and don’t rely on others to be your sales people. When a good referral works, it is a thing of beauty, a nice dollop of whipped cream on your hot chocolate – not the main course of your business.
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