13 Tips For Your Word Of Mouth Marketing Strategy

With the ability to offer your business a sense of credibility alongside free publicity; word of mouth is a powerful tool that cannot be underestimated. However as the digital world continues to grow and expand, the basic benefits associated with a word of mouth marketing strategy can often fade into the background.

The evident advantages that arrive hand in hand with word of mouth marketing suggest that it’s about time we get our follower’s chatting about all the elements that make our brands amazing. After all, word of mouth is going to happen regardless. Why not get ahead of it and ensure it’s positive with the help of a word of mouth strategy?

So, if you’re wondering how to increase word of mouth marketing for your business, here 13 simple ways you can enhance your word of mouth marketing strategy .

Deliver Flawless Customer Service

This point is much easier said than done, although customer service should be a critical aspect of your word of mouth marketing strategy. A customer’s experience with your business often dictates whether they spread positive or negative feedback with their friends and family, therefore ensuring the entire process is effortless should be a priority.

So, what are the first steps to take toward enhancing your customer service experience? Ensure that your customers are being treated with respect. For example, when they make a purchase through your site, be sure to send them a confirmation email and thank them for their business. If you receive any complaints or queries, strive for quick and friendly replies. If you’re straightforward and courteous to your customers, positive word of mouth is likely to follow.

Portray Yourself Positively

As a business owner, it’s crucial that you’re projecting yourself positively in public, especially when you’re representing your small business. For example, if your logo is slathered across your shirt or on the back of your car, it might not be the best idea to start arguments in public or cut people off in traffic. Sure, doing so will likely generate some word of mouth for your business, although not in the form you want.

Negative comments have a habit of spreading like wildfire. Above all else, aim to exude kindness, patience, and generosity - the personal and professional benefits are far superior.

Remain Aware Of Your Online Reputation

As your word of mouth marketing strategy gets more and more people talking about your business, it’s important that you regularly take the time to check in and see what your customers are saying.

Regardless of whether they’re spreading positive or negative messages, viewing these comments can help you to understand the aspects of your business that are working and the aspects aren’t, all from the perspective of your audience.

One of the best ways to do this is through external reputation monitoring applications. Otherwise, some social media platforms offer tools to help in these circumstances.

Share Attention Grabbing Content

One of the best ways to get people talking about your business is to start sharing eye-catching content. Give them something to talk about! Whether it’s through engaging videos, appealing images, or captivating articles, sharing a regular stream of content across your social media channels can go a long way toward improving your brand’s discoverability, overall encouraging more word of mouth referrals for your business.

Although, consistently telling your followers that your products or services are great isn’t enough to improve word of mouth. Instead, take the time to create a social media plan that aims to engage your audience on a deeper level. It’ll understandably take some time to reach this milestone, although the reward is worth the time.

Acknowledge Mistakes

Mistakes happen and they’re often out of our control. That’s life. And although we can often feel helpless in these circumstances, there are some aspects we are in control of - owning up and fixing our errors promptly and respectfully. Ignoring problems when they arise will only further exacerbate the situation, often frustrating the customer/s. This can be a large contributor to negative word of mouth. Instead, strive to be honest and upfront.

Acknowledge your mistake, explain how it occurred, apologise to the customer, fix the mistake, and use the experience as a learning platform to prevent the same error from happening again. Rather than copping poor comments or reviews online, you can open your brand up to the possibility of receiving praise for your customer service skills.

Share User Generated Content

With the ability to boost online engagement for your business; regularly sharing user-generated content can deliver a handful of worthy benefits. Customers that post photos or videos of your product on their own pages show a deeper connection with your business.

By re-posting this content on your own page (with permission) you can portray a positive image for yourself through acknowledging and rewarding your customers with exposure. This can result in more online word of mouth for your brand. If that’s not enough incentive, you’ll also be receiving free content.

Another effective way to boost user-generated content is to actively post shareable content yourself. This can take many forms, including quizzes, polls, or even social media giveaways. Just be sure to include a unique hashtag that your audience can include when they share the post. This can help friends or family members to find their way back to your page.

Seek Positive Publicity

Allocating a portion of your time or income towards supporting the community can be a great way of enhancing your brand’s public image. By sponsoring a local charity or upcoming event, you can reflect the core beliefs of your business while simultaneously improving your brand’s exposure.

Alternatively, you can always donate your time by volunteering for an organisation. This can spark the interest of various community members while offering something valuable to share with your audience on social media.

Whether you’re donating your money or time, acts of kindness can do wonders for your word of mouth marketing strategy.

Ask For Testimonials

Customer testimonials can be a powerful tool of your word of mouth marketing strategy, helping to create a positive image for your brand. By actively incorporating them onto your website or social media pages, you can offer your audience an insight into your business from a customer’s perspective. This can deliver an array of notable advantages, ranging from increased sales to improved credibility and brand recognition.

If you can find the time, it may be wise to break into the habit of asking customers for testimonials or reviews every once and awhile. Once you receive a collection of customer testimonial, maximise this asset to reap its full rewards. Post them on your website, social media accounts, or even in-store where they can be seen.

Encourage Customers To Leave Reviews

It’s clear how valuable testimonials and reviews are in a word of mouth strategy, although it can be disheartening when customers aren’t taking the time to give you their thoughts. Luckily, there’s a simple way to persuade your audience.

As well as asking for testimonials, you should also strive to make the reviewing process as easy as possible. This could be as simple as creating a designated spot for your customers to leave reviews on your social media page or website. This makes the reviewing process a whole lot simpler, which may be enough to grab a handful of meaningful comments. However, if asking your customers to leave you a testimonial isn’t working out, there’s always plan B…

Implement Incentives

Customers are much more likely to leave a review if there’s something in it for them, so implementing an incentive program could be the next best step.

Incentives can be as simple as offering customers a discount at your store if they positively post about your business or refer a few friends. These programs can take many different shapes and sizes, so take some time and think about what you believe will persuade your audience to leave reviews and boost your brand’s word of mouth.

Spark Up Conversations On Social Media

From time to time, It’s important to reflect on the purpose of your word of mouth marketing strategy - to get your audience spreading positive messages about your business. And where is this likely to take place? Social media.

If you haven’t done this already, set up a social media page for your business, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or anything in-between. From here, rather than consistently battering your audience with posts about why your business is the best, begin to develop a plan.

This social media plan and word of mouth strategy should aim to engage your audience and encourage them to spread the word of your business. It’ll likely take some time for your social media page to reach this point, although anything worth having requires a bit of patience.

Connect With Influencers

Social media influencers are ever growing in popularity, offering a collection of benefits to your word of mouth strategy. Whether it’s through a video-review, blog post, or a single shout out, influencers have the capacity to enhance brand awareness and breath a sense of credibility into your business through the online presence they’ve created.

If you’re hoping to boost word of mouth among the younger generation, consider reaching out to an influencer in your niche and collaborating on a social media campaign.

Host A Giveaway

Giveaways and online contests can be extremely helpful when it comes to enhancing a brand’s online presence and boosting word of mouth. By offering an enticing prize, whether it’s in the form of a product or service, your audience can earn their eligibility by sharing your posts, tagging friends, using a unique hashtag, and following your account. This proves to be an ideal method of organically enhancing your social media pages, ultimately growing the potential for word of mouth referrals.

How valuable is word of mouth for your business? Do you have any other ways of how to increase word of mouth marketing? Or maybe there are a few on here you don’t quite agree with? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts!