The best word-of-mouth marketing strategies to use in 2021

Word-of-mouth marketing is such an important marketing tool, as this kind of recommendation usually comes from friends, family or colleagues. Because of this, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most trustworthy sources of marketing for any business.

Rather than just hoping that customers might recommend your business to people they know, it’s time to start taking a proactive approach to word-of-mouth marketing and employ techniques that actively encourage people to refer others to your business.

Here we’ll set out some of the best strategies for word-of-mouth marketing in 2021.

1. Give away promotional merchandise

Customers will always appreciate anything that you gift to them, as they’ll feel they’re getting something extra from your service. Promotional items such as personalised pencils are always useful for people to have around the house or in the office for making notes. By sending your customers personalised merch, they will be organically displaying your brand in more places and to more people than you’ll probably ever realise.

There’s plenty of promotional items that you can add your company branding and messaging to which could work for you. For example, if you’re a health and fitness business, you could get branded water bottles or gym bags. There’s plenty of inspiration for you at Igo Promo.

2. Collaborate with social media influencers

A social media influencer could be a celebrity or someone who has a substantial and engaged social media following. These people have the potential to influence their followers to support your brand, which ultimately leads to sales for your business.

Influencer marketing is a great way to build your brand online because influencers have built relationships, trust, and credibility with their followers already. People respect their content and recommendations, so they take away some of that hard work for you in an instant. Typically, you’ll have a transactional relationship with the influencer, so you’ll either pay them or gift your products or services to them so that they will promote your brand.

3. Create a team of brand ambassadors

Brand ambassadors work in a similar way to social media influencers, and it’s an excellent strategy for getting your business in front of more potential customers. Brand ambassadors should be people who are passionate about your products or services who will promote you through their social media accounts.

Making your customers brand ambassadors is a great way for you to build relationships with people who already love your brand. It also helps you connect with an audience in a genuine way. Usually, brand ambassadors are incentivised and rewarded by receiving free products or services or discounts on purchases from your business.

4. Implement a referral campaign

A referral campaign seeks to encourage existing customers to recommend your brand to their friends, family and colleagues. But you can’t just rely on your loyal customers to refer you out of the goodness of their own hearts. The best referral campaigns offer an incentive to both the customer and the person being referred. By providing both your customer and their friend an incentive such as a free product, a free month’s subscription to your service or a gift voucher, they will both be gaining something while you’ll be acquiring new business.

5. Create something that compels your customers to share

Look for an angle to your business that will make your customers feel compelled to show off their purchases to others. For example, you could include a business card with all your product deliveries asking customers to share their purchases online with a unique hashtag that brings attention to your business. Make sure you re-share their content to make them feel valued as a consumer, as well as showing potential customers that people love your product or service enough to share it.

Word-of-mouth marketing is such an essential aspect of your overall marketing plan. Including these strategies in your 2021 campaigns will help you to make the most of your marketing campaigns and encourage plenty of organic business growth.