ChristianThere are endless suggestions for creating marketing referrals for your business. Unfortunately, not all referral strategies will work for every business or industry out there. The best method for creating the perfect marketing referrals program for your product or services is to tailor them to your businesses size, growth and bottom line specifically.
Marketing Referrals Ideas:
- Offer Unique Products and Rewards – Offer products or services that are unique, and possibly unavailable for purchase. This is a great way to bring in new referrals. The same goes for your rewards. If your reward is a worthwhile and interesting one, it will create its own referring workforce.
- Be Easy to Contact – People love social networking. It allows them to speak from a comfortable place and receive replies in real-time. In this day and age, a phone number or contact form although still great forms of communication, may discourage many opportunities for referrals in those who prefer to use, and regularly use, social networks for their consumer needs. Get a Facebook fan page or Twitter account. Use them to listen to your possible consumers and to bring in marketing referrals to your business.
- Personalize Customer’s Experience – Treat each and every possible referral as an individual. If needed, keep personalized notes on their accounts so that when other employees greet or serve them, they too can provide your customers with uniquely personalized sales experiences. Always be approachable to any possible consumers.
- Reach Out to Unsolicited Referrers – If you gain a new customer from someone who you know does not frequent your business, reach out to them and grant them some type of reward from your company. Make sure anyone who refers your business is rewarded with the appreciation deserved for doing so.
- Evaluate and Analyze – Find out why your customers choose you over the competition. Be sure to supply them with their expectations and go well beyond them every chance you get.
- Get Interactive – Interact with your referrers. Whether they are employees or customers, give them a chance to get their voice into the mix. In the age of technology, investments in huge events have fallen to the wayside in the face of free online meeting platforms. Utilize your opportunity to throw your own ‘town hall’ meeting when it comes to those who care enough to refer you to others. Ask them what you can do to improve your marketing referrals or rewards programs.
- Consider a Joint Venture with a Relevant Business – While no one wants to join in a venture with their competition, working with a business that compliments your own can be invaluable as a marketing referral tool. Give away free gifts at another local business. Always provide a discount to those who come from that business’s customer list.
Tailoring a marketing referrals program to your business may take a bit of hit-and-miss. Side with caution when it comes to investments into referral marketing that sound a bit too complex compared to the level of your business.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture and Referral Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture and Referral relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
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