Posted on Monday 12 February 2007
As the Internet has grown dramatically over the past 10 years, many people in the online business sector have adopted the view that they no longer need to worry about marketing strategies that were successful in the not so distant past. They seem to think that since they can have their sales sites displayed all over the Internet, nothing else matters. Unfortunately, that is a somewhat short-sighted view.
The mere fact that sites are displayed all over the Internet, not just their’s but their competitors as well, goes directly to that point. With so many options to choose from, a potential customer often looks for some other reason to purchase from a particular business above and beyond the product itself.
Word-of-mouth has been, and still is, an effective marketing strategy that many people overlook. I ran a computer hardware/software business in the early 90’s. A large part of my business resulted through one person talking to another person. Nothing has really changed over the past 15 years. My own recent experience bears this out.
About a year ago, I developed a small site for my former bass fishing club. There is nothing particularity fancy about the site but the club members love it. Several months after the site launched, I received a request from the President of another fishing club asking if I would consider developing a site for his members. He had heard “word of mouth” from members of the first club that I did good work, delivered what I promised, and responded in a timely manner. As a result, I had another customer.
Several months later, I received another email from a person who had heard from one of the members of the second fishing club that they were very happy with the work I did. As a result, I received a request to develop a site for a Homeowners Association.
Two weeks ago, I was contacted by the Pastor of a small church asking if I would do a site for them. One of the homeowners in the above mentioned Association just happened to be a member of that church. He told the Pastor that the Association was very happy with the work I had done. So yet again, I obtained a new customer.
I use a variety of means to market my site(s) and services: email lists, traffic exchanges, article submission, forum postings, blogs, and so forth. None of these new customers had seen any of that. They had become aware of what I offered through, you got it, word of mouth.
If you think word of mouth isn’t effective, think again. It is viral marketing at it’s very best. But the trick, of course, is to make sure you have happy customers who are willing to spread the word.