by Charles Pobee-Mensah, Director of Digital Marketing
The online revolution changed business forever. But more than that, it changed the way we operate in society. As a result, businesses have flocked to the new ways of doing business. If you ran traditional ads, now you run online ads. If you sent physical mail, now you send email. But there’s one thing about online that affects business more than almost anything else that we often think of last. Or sadly, not at all.
Word of Mouth On Steroids
The internet is like word of mouth on steroids. Think about it. Companies like Facebook and Twitter are some of the biggest ones out there and they exist exclusively to let people talk to each other quickly, easily, and at any time. That means that people are talking about everything (including you) at a faster rate than was ever before possible. And now those topics have the possibility of going viral and reaching insane numbers of people at lightning speed. Having a word of mouth strategy is more important than it has ever been.
A Word of Mouth Strategy
Jewelers know that word of mouth and referrals are an important part of business. They see it in action every day. But too many assume that it’s something that’s largely out of their control or that it just happens. Instead, why not plan for it?
Author and marketer, Jay Baer, suggests a strategy he calls “talk triggers”. You create a scenario that is both remarkable to customers and repeatable within your business. Make it part of your regular operation and implement it as a strategy.
Jay gives the example of a diner called Skip’s Kitchen. When you go to pay, you get to draw from a deck of cards and if it’s a joker, your meal is free. That’s an experience that is both remarkable for customers and easily repeatable for the business.
Creating a remarkable and repeatable experience like this for your store would give customers what they need to brag about you. Come up with an idea that works for your budget, but make sure it’s something that is worth sharing about.
Online Word of Mouth
Not everyone who gets a free meal will talk about it online. But if you do something like this for 6 months to a year, getting praise and attention is inevitable. For this strategy to work, you don’t have to buy ads or learn about any new fancy marketing platform. Your customers will take the message online themselves because that’s where they go when they want to tell people about something.
Your work online can be to simply have a social media presence and website for your customers to mention or link to when they brag about you.
Don’t Undermine Your Strategy
Online sharing is a double-edged sword. It can cut against you just as easily as it can greatly help you. If you take on this strategy but have known issues with customer service or satisfaction, you will undermine your efforts quickly.
Talk triggers won't make a bad experience good, but they can turn an average experience into an extraordinary one. Address existing customer service issues to ensure that the new experiences you create feel in line with how customers perceive your store.
Do you want to work with an agency that knows how to get the word out? Contact suits@fruchtman.com.
