Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best ways to achieve organic growth for your business. Having people advocate for your services can help you attract new customers and increase loyalty among your existing customer base.
However, it isn’t always easy to generate referrals naturally, especially as a service provider. That’s why we asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council how a service-based business can use digital marketing to drive more positive word-of-mouth. Their recommendations are below.
Young Entrepreneur Council members suggest using these digital marketing tactics to earn positive word-of-mouth.
1. Offer An Incentive
One way I like to generate word-of-mouth is to use a “refer a friend, get a free gift” strategy. I use a unique hashtag on our social media, which helps spread the word about our company quickly and to our relevant audiences. I also showcase user-generated content on our company website and main profiles to create a sense of community and sharing. It’s also important to measure the results of the campaign to see where you can improve next time. – Shu Saito, SpiroPure
2. Give Away High-Quality Content On Social Media
Offer high-quality content for free on all social media platforms, as often as possible. Customers know how to find you; you no longer have to tell them your URL or phone number. What consumers don’t know is who you are, why you’re an expert, what you know and how you can help them. Think of the top 10 questions you get from your customers. Make a video answering each of them. Spin that video on all media types (written blogs, Instagram Stories, etc) and share as many posts across all platforms as you can. Here’s how one video can make 30 posts: the video itself posted on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube; then five shorter snippet quotes can be posted on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter; finally, you have your blog, which should also be cross-posted on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. – Jonathan Sparks, Sparks Law
3. Leverage Thought Leadership
As someone who grew a successful digital marketing agency and didn’t spend a dollar on paid advertising, I can confirm that positive word-of-mouth is not just important for service-based businesses—it’s critical. There are many ways that a service-based business can generate this. The first is walking your walk online. People don’t want you to tell them what you can do; they want you to show them. As a result, being transparent with past projects, clients you’ve worked with, social proof, testimonials and reviews will be a powerful asset for you. Another important facet is working on your brand, both personal and business. Leverage thought leadership, provide a ton of value based on your knowledge, and build a community around what you do. – Erin Blaskie, Fellow.app
4. Ask Customers Directly
Interview customers or ask for referrals. I don’t need to stress that service has to be excellent before you can hope to drive positive word-of-mouth on the internet. But once you’ve gone above and beyond to satisfy and delight your customer, you can ask for a referral directly or indirectly. A direct ask could come through emails or social media direct messages. An indirect way of broadcasting your services through your customers would be interviewing them in YouTube videos or podcasts. As I stated earlier, this will only work because you’ve pleasantly surprised your client. It’s always easier to ask after you’ve given disproportionate value. Interviewing works even better because it’s a natural conversion devoid of pressure on the client. – Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS
5. Develop An Ambassador Program
We buy and sell service-based businesses. The lowest-hanging fruit for them is usually digital marketing. I love using ambassador programs where we have a tiered campaign that pairs email campaigns with viral shareability. For example, after a person engages with three of our newsletters, we send them an invite to our ambassador program. In that email, we lay out how our most valued consumers get invited to this program with a custom code just for them. If they share with five people, they get a free e-giveaway. If they share with 10 they get a funny sticker, and if they share with 20 they get a shirt, etc. It’s a way to create a win-win. – Codie Sanchez, Contrarian Thinking & Entourage Effect Capital
6. Respond To Customer Feedback
Responding to customer feedback is essential to build good word-of-mouth marketing. There’s nothing like sending a comment to a brand and not hearing back from them. That’s why social customer care has taken off so dramatically. People expect immediate responses on social, so if you’re not able to do it efficiently, you’ll negatively impact your brand. Ensure you’re answering all calls, emails and social media messages regularly. Give them appropriate responses too—not just a “thank you for your message” type of response. Answer the question and send them a link to a helpful video or training session. Offer value in your feedback response. – Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
7. Be Active In Industry-Specific Facebook Groups
I’m a big believer in the power of industry-specific Facebook groups. I have several of my own and moderate others. The key to marketing your services in Facebook groups is to not market yourself, at least not explicitly. People come to these groups because they’re looking for a solution to a business problem they’re experiencing. Answer queries relevant to the services you offer, but make sure you deliver real value. Not only will the original poster take notice, but so will the many other group members experiencing similar issues. I’ve acquired thousands of customers this way. In your own group, avoid anything that might be construed as advertising. Use it to share short-form content as well as recent successes and milestones. The more active you are, the more engagement you’ll see. – Matt Diggity, Diggity Marketing
8. Request Video Testimonials
Request video testimonials and then use them on social media. When an interested prospect comes along and reads about your company, they expect to hear all good things from the company itself. However, when they see video testimonials about your company being shared and tagged, it builds trust in the customer’s eyes. Ask your most loyal clients to share their stories and then streamline your client experience to automatically request video testimonials after working together. Make this process easy by providing an outline of questions and keeping them under one minute long. – Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors
9. Implement A System For Capturing Feedback
Unlike product-based companies that rely on customer reviews, service-based companies have to get a little more creative when sharing positive customer experiences. The first step in doing this is having some kind of system in place to track and capture positive feedback. For us, the majority of this feedback comes to us via email, so we have a Google Doc that any employee can add to. We then have a database we can pull quotes and stories from to use on our website and social media channels. We create graphics using quotes and accolades that are easily shared on our social channels and websites where prospective clients are reading and following. We’ve also found it incentivizes other clients to submit their positive feedback so they can also be posted and shared. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR
10. Launch An Influencer Marketing Campaign
Using influencer marketing can be an appropriate strategy to increase the reach of more positive word-of-mouth. Seeing other people use the service, especially if they are celebrities, will make more people want to access it and thus increase word-of-mouth promotion. It is important to consider influencer marketing as an appropriate tool, as long as you give proper consideration to the people you want to work with in the affiliate process. These should be people who will maintain an influence on the audience beyond the number of followers they have on their accounts. – Kevin Leyes, Leyes Media & Team Leyes, by Leyes Enterprises
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