Have you wondered about the benefits of referral marketing to your business? It is not about shooting two birds and hitting one–you hit three. For example, let’s assume that a customer has shared good feedback about your products and services.
The friend will get a strong recommendation from a trusted person, and you will get more online sales from new customers. However, it is not easy, and many complexities are involved in the referral marketing process.
Business owners who like to grasp the slightest of opportunities understand their company's best referral marketing strategies. You can’t expect miracles to happen every day for your organization.
To understand how referral marketing functions, you must ensure that two or more things are executed to get positive results organically. When we say “organic,” it doesn’t mean you have to leave things as they are.
What is Referral Marketing?
Referral marketing is when your customers tell their friends about your brand, products, or services. Also known as word-of-mouth marketing, referral marketing usually happens organically. It occurs regardless of whether marketing people get involved in the process or not. The role of the marketing person is to influence the process so that more people will share your content on their social media timelines.
Image taken from Facebook
As human beings, we usually share different experiences with our friends. This is a common theme because we want to enjoy the great things we have experienced. According to Nielsen, 92% of customers trust recommendations from those they know.
Why is Referral Marketing Powerful?
The reason why referral marketing is so powerful is that it is built-in within us. It is biological and happens naturally. As you cannot do anything to stop it, you must do something about it deliberately. Most importantly, you must ensure they spread a positive image about you.
If you are hesitant about a particular data-oriented person, you don’t need to worry because statistics back up a referral marketing strategy. According to McKinsey, referrals play a part in 50% of overall buying decisions. It also says that referrals generate more than twice the sales through paid advertisements.
According to another study published by the AMA Journal of Marketing, referred customers show more loyalty and have a profit margin as high as 25%. The biggest benefit of referral marketing is that you don't have to spend money on it. Referral marketing is essentially your customers spreading the word of your brand to other customers without costing you a penny.
Of course, you have to spend some assets upfront to gain from the initial referrals, but there is no ending point when it starts. Your customers will refer to their friends, who will refer to their relatives, and the cycle will continue.
Benefits of Referral Marketing
Although referral marketing requires a lot of promotional efforts to mobilize customers, it also brings many benefits to the table. Referral marketing allows you to have a precise audience. Besides knowing about your products and services, your customers will also see the kind of customers you want to attract. Therefore, they will refer your products to the people they think will benefit from them. As a result, you need a segmented target audience who understands the benefits of your products without spending big on advertisement campaigns.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
In the marketing world, the most significant objective for any individual is to build trust in your brand. Personal recommendations can be influential in building trust and are usually considered more reliable than advertisements. If a friend or a relative refers new customers, they will show more loyalty toward your website, making them highly-valued customers.
You can also use a referral marketing program to measure customer satisfaction. High-performing referral programs with numerous referrals can result in high customer satisfaction scores. If you are unable to get referrals, there is a chance that you need vital feedback to improve your customer experience.
Referral marketing can increase your market reach in a short period. With the right incentives, customers will reach out to different people either directly or through social media. If an influencer recommends your products or services, it will give you exquisite coverage.
Customers are usually selective about the type of products that they choose. It is very rare that they buy a business product that they see on a website without doing any research. If they realize the brand's authenticity, they don’t hesitate to trust it. Moreover, they return to the website to make more purchases. When your customers promote your brands and products, it shows that your brand is authentic.
Tips for Implementing a Referral Marketing Strategy
1) Social Media Experience
As a business owner, you must build a solid online presence to show your business's stability and reliability. Firstly, you must rely on a quality website builder to build a business website and establish a referral marketing strategy. You can add a simple blog or gallery section to promote on your social media platforms.
Image taken from Facebook
Strikingly is a website builder that allows you to link your website with social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Social media is the most effective tool for individuals who want to watch movies or play video games. Moreover, it has grown to be where people talk about their business plans.
Image taken from Strikingly
People shares positive reviews about a particular place they visit or a product they have tried. Therefore, you must have solid evidence about the online presence of your business website. It will allow new potential customers to find you easily on the Internet.
2) Create the Best Referral Marketing Strategy
There is a possibility that you may have participated in a referral marketing program recently. As a customer, you would know that you would only refer a product to your friends if you are 100% sure about it. When you look at a business product from a marketing point of view, you may ask yourself the following questions:
- What is in it for you?
- Will you get some kind of voucher if you hit a specific target of referrals?
You must get answers to these questions for referral marketing to work correctly. You have to identify the best referral marketing strategy to bear fruit in the end. For example, you can organize a giveaway promo or coupons for each referral you generate from your customers. As a business owner, it is essential to note that customer engagement is pivotal to success.
3) Show Consistency
As a business owner, you must maintain the efforts you are making at the start of your referral marketing program. Make sure that you are not hesitant in dealing with your customers. Don’t give them unwanted expectations or frustrate them for something you initially promised but never came to fruition. The only way you can stay in the hearts of your customers is through consistency.
You must show consistency with product quality and customer care. Sustain what you have started so that people will buy into your brand and talk positively about your products and services. If customers land on a website for the first time, likely, they won’t remember the experience they had after leaving it. However, they may fancy returning to your platform if you are consistent enough to ensure they are well-accommodated.
Sometimes, all you need to do is to communicate to make things work perfectly. You know how critical customer engagement is to your referral marketing strategy. Creating a high-quality brand and excellent customer service is pivotal in giving your business the edge over your competitors. If you make your customers feel special, they will rave about your products in front of their friends and relatives.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
As an entrepreneur, you cannot question the benefits of referral marketing. There is a reason why small business owners and large corporations have started using it as part of their overall company marketing strategy. It is one thing to attract different customers to your business, but to make them spread your word to other customers is entirely different.
If the customers are talking positively about your business and brand, it is the best reward for hard work. It is like a cycle that results in you making more customers happy. Although there will be some customers that won’t put in the same effort, it is better that you don’t degrade them and use other customers to spread the word about your business.
Conclusion
Referral marketing programs can be a pivotal component of your marketing mix. As a business owner, you mustn’t leave these strategies to happen organically. You can look into some of the abovementioned strategies to increase your brand influence and customer base.
You can also rely on a quality website builder like Strikingly, which has all the web services and tools to engage with your customers adequately. You can reach out to your customers through an email newsletter or promote your content on social media. You can also collaborate with influencers to write about your products and services. You will learn more about all these features once you sign up for a free account on Strikingly. You can also look at the established websites on our platform and see how others have managed to maintain a strong brand.
