2. Introduction
▪ Referral marketing is a method of promoting
products or services to new customers through
referrals, usually word of mouth.
▪ Such referral soften happen spontaneously but
businesses can influence this through appropriate
strategies.
▪ A referral promotion entices Fans to earn a reward
in exchange for referring their friends.
3. Types of Referral Marketing
▪ Online Referral Marketing:
Online referral marketing for
professionals uses various forms of internet marketing to gain third
party endorsements from people you may or may not have met yet.
Examples: Social media, referral direct through websites, e-mails.
▪ Offline Referral Marketing:
Offline referral marketing refers to ways
you can increase your client base or patient load by getting third party
endorsements without the use of the internet.
Examples: Colleague's newsletters, public speaking engagements,
postcards and letters, as well as direct verbal recommendations.
4. Benefits of a referral program
▪ Reducing your sales budget by focusing on customers who are
satisfied with your products and services.
▪ Increasing your sales cycle by generating leads within the scope of
your satisfied customers’ circles of influence, a better way to spend
marketing dollars than cold calling.
▪ Quickly generating more satisfied customers, ensuring a
continuous cycle of repeat customers and referrals. Have some
humanity.
▪ Improving sales revenue, offering a higher conversion rate than
unqualified sales leads.
▪ Generate a better overall ROI from your marketing strategy.
5. Referral Marketing Strategies
1. Asking for referrals:
This simple and effective strategy involves mentioning a
referral program to as many customers as possible. A computer repair company
used this strategy effectively by stamping “We Crave Referrals” on every paper
customers received—including newsletters, marketing material, and invoices.
2. Employee training:
In conjunction with asking for referrals, many companies
have a training process that equips employees with the knowledge to effectively
market the referral program to each and every customer.
3. Joint venture referrals:
Some companies partner with complementary
businesses to cross-promote to each other's customer bases. This strategy involves
each business offering discounts or other incentives to customers from the
referring company, typically in exchange for a percentage of sales from referred
business.
6. Conclusion
▪ With the rise of social media, every consumer
has become a publisher capable of reaching a
targeted audience. Companies have a
tremendous opportunity to use referral
marketing to drive sales and awareness while
gathering new customer insights, and
increasing engagement with current
customers.
▪ By powering referral programs across
multiple verticals, Buzz Referrals is in a
unique position to offer expertise and
technology that help companies maximize
their referral marketing efforts.