Small businesses don’t have the resources to spend on mass media advertising. That’s why they get most of their business through referrals, friends families and colleagues. But very seldom if ever, do they do anything proactive to give people a reason to talk about them in a positive way or even ask for referrals.
This was confirmed yesterday when I attended Day 1 of Andrew Morrison’s Small Business Boot Camp. There had to be at least 100 small business owners in attendance. If you are a small business and this Boot Camp is offered in your town, by all means go. It’s well worth it. It’s a day and a half of intense focus on ways to make your business and your life more successful and productive.
This Boot Camp plug is an example of positive word of mouth.
As I was saying, once I shared with my fellow attendees that I was a self-proclaimed Word of Mouth guru, I received quite a few requests for my business card and website. Small businesses are constantly looking for ways to promote their businesses at a reasonable cost. Yet while most will say they get the bulk of their business from referrals, they are not really going after referrals in any sort of planned or strategic way.
With this blog, I’ll be posting some of my insights on ways to increase business referrals by taking a structured approach to building positive word of mouth. Let’s face it, people will talk about your product, business, brand or service. The challenge is to make sure that what they’re saying is accurate and most of all positive.
If you have any ideas you’d like to share, please do and if you are a small business owner, tell your colleagues about this blog.
Word of Mouth Guru 