Communiqué August 2010

How a trip with ‘Van Halen’ reminded me of marketing basics.

Where have you been on your summer holidays? I went to St. Ives with ‘Van Halen’, a vintage VW camper van! Setting aside the idiosyncrasies of a 30-year-old vehicle with its hit-and-miss second gear and slightly Heath Robinson cooking facilities, I had a ball.

What gets your customers talking?

I discovered that an old dub (and a cute dog) is a magnet for people. I met loads of fascinating folk, whose interest in the bright green machine overcame their usual British reserve. We had people poking their heads round the door for a closer look, and one day I returned from the toilet block on our campsite to find a VW owners club assembled in the van, deeply engrossed in an exchange of technical info with my husband, on air-cooled engines and pop-up sleeping options!

And out on the open road we received endless waves, smiles and hoots on horns as we chugged by.

A missed opportunity

Several people stopped us and asked where they could hire a van from and we said we’d send them a link to the website – you see the hire company had left no cards or leaflets for us to pass on. And when we reluctantly returned ‘Van Halen’ to its rightful owners there was no feedback requested or mention of whether we would recommend their company to friends and family.

Work at word-of-mouth

We all know word of mouth is top of the list for generating leads in the majority of businesses but we tend to think that it will just happen. Sadly it won’t. You have to encourage it to happen. Make it easy for people to refer and recommend you.

I don’t mean become a business bore and shove your business down people’s throats at every verse end – just harness people’s interest and desire to talk about what excites them.

And if you want to hire a vintage camper van that gives you a real trip back in time follow the link to Camper 4 Hire. Be warned, if you can’t double declutch it’s not for you!

Happy Days!

Carolyn Page

My top tips on word-of-mouth marketing:

1. Give people you meet two business cards – not just one. Ask them to pass one on.

2. Have a ‘send to a friend’ option on your e-mail newsletter so that you can win new readers and identify who passed it on.

3. Ensure you’re talking to influencers on social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn. These online tools make it possible to reach a much bigger audience of influencers than you would ever be able to connect with using conventional communications and networking.

4. Offer an incentive to people who give you quality referrals that turn into new business. Your influencers will identify themselves to claim their rewards. If you don’t offer a reward at least send a thank you.

5. Don’t forget to measure where your leads come from. Always ask enquirers how they heard about you.

6. Check which referrals lead to business – your influencers may be sending you lots of the wrong sort of enquirers. If so, you need to change the message and ensure your influencers really know what you’re looking for.

7. Find out what people want to talk about – this is more important than what you want to say. Create talking points. For example, I’ve noticed that we get more people re-tweeting our tweets on how consumers behave than any other marketing tips we give at www.twitter.com/SMEMarketingTip.

‘Van Halen’

www.camper4hire.co.uk

Join the Conversation

If you’re not yet using online social networking to talk to the key influencers in your market and making the most of word-of-mouth marketing, our interactive social networking workshop for beginners will put you on the right track.

From the horse’s mouth

Read the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s guide to word-of-mouth marketing at:

www.womma.org/wom101

Have you told them yet?

Our clients Renaissance don’t sit on their laurels when it comes to referrals.

Renaissance pay their clients £30 if they refer a friend or family member, who commissions them to claim back Payment Protection Insurance they were sold but didn’t need.

www.easyclaim.co.uk

Pass it on

You can send this newsletter to a friend simply by clicking here.

Past Communiqué

If you’d like to review what was in previous issues of Communiqué, because this is the first one you’ve read and you’d like to see what else we’ve covered, or because you’ve lost your old copies, here they are:

May 2010

Your very own secret millionaire!

June 2010

How to cure writer’s block with an eyebrow pencil

Earlier issues

Send Communiqué to someone else | Update your contact details | Unsubscribe

We wanted this newsletter to go to the person it is addressed to, so if that isn’t you please don’t read, copy, save or redirect any part of it. If you’ve received it by mistake please delete it and let us know straight away. We’ve tried our best to make sure it is free of viruses but it is up to the person receiving it to be sure before opening and using it.