Word of mouth advertising is the backbone of any fledgling enterprise. In fact, recommendations from other customers are the most trusted source of advertising according to research from Nielsen Associates. It very well may be the most powerful way to grow your business – all without any financial outlay whatsoever according to premier web marketer Lisa Banks.
Many companies already know the power of this tactic – perhaps you’ve gotten some new clients through introductions by previous clients or you have a friend who has a friend.
Besides these kinds of introductions though, you can get much more exposure if satisfied customers like these and others discuss their experience publicly. And considering the fact that online reviews help strengthen relationships with existing customers, you’ve got two great reasons to take advantage of online review sites.
To get started, create an account or claim your listing on the following:
- Google Places and Yahoo! Local
- Yelp
- Kudzu
- LinkedIn (checkout this helpful tutorial on setting up a LinkedIn business account)
- Facebook (type “review” in the search box and the app for business reviews will come up)
Once you’ve got your listings set up on these sites, let your customers know you would love for them to add a review of your business. You can notify them via email, status updates on social networks and when you’re talking to them on the phone.
Offer a special discount or giveaway for the first 20 reviewers to boost interest.
Positive reviews help weary prospects confirm that your business is legitimate and will work hard to satisfy their needs.
Of course, you need to be on the lookout for negative reviews as well.
While we all try to satisfy all of our customers, sometimes it’s just not meant to be. If you see a negative review, contact the customer right away and see what needs to be done to right the wrong. If it can’t be corrected, try and get some more positive reviews to counteract the negative one.
If you think a negative review is just outright false, you can contact the review site and contest the review…they may remove it but it’s really at their discretion.
Keep in mind though that an occasional negative review is a normal thing. Most prospects won’t be bothered by a poor review here and there… most realize it’s just a normal part of doing business.
So there you have it – word of mouth advertising and customer reviews are perhaps one of the best ways to market your business – for free!
Tell us about your experiences and how you’ve used customer reviews to grow your business.