Marketers spend endless time inquiring, pondering and strategizing to help improve business for their consumers, thus increasing their own. Having a few referral marketing ideas to bounce around in meetings or just in your mind, may help to increase your businesses opportunities, marketing strengths, and ultimately, customer base.
Helpful Referral Marketing Ideas
1. Mull over some of these tips to see what you can do to grow your business through referral marketing.
2. Offer a free service to your customers from time to time that directly relates to your business. If you are running a car wash, throw in a free buffing towel or a car freshener for all of your visitors.
3. Figure out why your customers come to you as opposed to others. Expand on that, give them more than what they expect and you may find yourself with a willing referral marketing work force.
4. An easy way to stimulate some passive referrals is to create rebates that follow large purchases or costly services. Make sure your customers understand that the volume discounts you receive are being passed down to them.
5. Pick an obscure or unconventional holiday to celebrate annually. Give discounts, gifts or credits to your customers. If the first year doesn’t generate enough interest, the second year probably will. Understand that each year the event is celebrated is also branding your business to that event. This is a more non-competitive marketing approach.
6. Brand a helpful item or frequently used tool and give them away to your customers. This type of passive referral works because friends or family see the item and your businesses logo. Remember, the more useful the item, the more often it will be seen. T-shirts, key chains or even items relative to your business are great passive referral marketing ideas.
7. Package an extra item with some of your products with the gentle suggestion that it can be shared with a friend or family member. On a more aggressive marketing campaign, give your consumers a free gift, with a free gift certificate with a friend or family member to come and get for themselves.
8. Cyber mail or snail mail a coupon to your customer to thank them for their business. Include another coupon, or coupon code that a friend or associate can use.
9. Customer appreciation days are always appreciated. Offer sales, discounts and gifts to your current consumers and utilize some of the passive referral marketing ideas such as gifts or coupons for friends and family members who attend the appreciation day as well.
10. Does your business offer a required, timely service or maintenance agreement? Give your customers free planning books or calendars that remind them not to forget your services.
Referrals will not generate themselves. Spend enough time developing a solid referral marketing plan that will likely begin a simple, brainstormed idea.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture and Referral Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture and Referral relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
Click here for more Referral Program Strategies to help you increase your profits.