This quote states a fundamental marketing concept so simply and illustrates the importance of word-of-mouth advertising. Happy customers, who are satisfied with the quality of your work, can be the best source of advertising for your business.
With the growth of social media, word-of-mouth advertising plays an even bigger role in your marketing strategy. We’ve all seen examples of how negative feedback and complaints affect big brands on social media (and it’s important to have a “social media” customer service policy ready ahead of time).
But what does it take to get effective word-of-mouth advertising? We can set up all the social media sites we want and spend hours each day connecting with new people, but if the products or services we sell are of poor quality…none of our social media efforts are going to make a difference.
I can tell you from our own experience with the computer support side of our business, that word-of-mouth advertising has always been one of our biggest sources of new customers. Since my husband, Dave, does on-site computer support (in our local area), customers have to feel a certain level of trust when they allow him into their homes or businesses.
Customers who have been with us since we started the business have referred us to many of their friends and colleagues over the years, without us asking them to, because of the quality of his work and the trust they have in him. We didn’t plan a formal word-of-mouth advertising campaign: Dave simply gives our customers the same service he’d give a family member with computer problems.
Social media gives business owners an even greater opportunity to take advantage of word-of-mouth advertising: communication is easier and faster, with the chance to reach many more people in a short amount of time. And it also keeps us more accountable to consistently producing the best quality work we can. Which is a good thing for customers and business owners.
About Terry League