But (and it’s a big BUT) you don’t just wake up one day and say I’m going to generate some word-of-mouth.

Word-of-mouth marketing requires work … and there are certain things you can do to ensure it actually happens.

That’s where long-time listener, first time emailer to the show Curtis Crawford from Alert Alarm Company stepped in with his 7 ways to generate word-of-mouth in business:

Hey Tim …

I noticed that the small business owners you interviewed all said ‘word of mouth’ but didn’t really know what or how to cultivate it (the photographer being the exception) I don’t think that this is well known and most business owners are ‘just waiting for rain’ so to speak.

1. Be referable – do good work, show up and smell good (I added the last one from the episode) and be memorable for something (good).
2. Stay in front of your customers – I send out a hard copy newsletter quarterly through the mail.  while i don’t get very good intimidate response, it has really helped me connect with my customers,  become more than just the ‘alarm guy’ but a trusted adviser that stays connected.  I do know that 2 sales are directly because of the newsletter.  The lifetime value of those 2 will pay the cost of the newsletter printing and postage for YEARS…
3. Make sure your customers know what you do and why you are better – the newsletter helps a lot with spreading this message.
4. Send small tokens of appreciation for the referral – I send a thank-you card with a scratch-off lottery ticket in them.  The tickets are available in most states here in the US, cost $1-5 and add a little more to the thank you.
5. Send a thank you for the sale – i send cash or gift certificates (not for my business, but for restaurants or movies, etc, unrelated to this business) to the referral source with a nice thank you card.
6. Ask for referrals – if the product/service is good. then people are glad to tell their friends and contacts about you.  all it takes is just a little question “do you know someone else who could use _____?”
7. Make it a system and name it – it just makes it that much more real and if you have employees, then you can offload a lot of the legwork.

Anyhow, that has been eating at me since I listened to the episode and just wanted to make sure I got it out so maybe it can help others.

Stay Secure!
Curtis Crawford

So, do you agree? How do you generate word-of-mouth for your business? Add your idea in the comments section below.

Well, Miriam (the listener) appreciated the advice and is now acting on it. This not only gives us a warm feeling inside, more importantly it reminds us of the power of building momentum and taking action. Here’s Miriam’s response:

Aloha(Hello) Timbo and Luke,

I have been wanting to email you for several days to thank you all for answering the question I sent.  Needless to say, I was shocked that it actually got aired and that you all gave sincere, thoughtful and informative insights to the question.

I have listened to that podcast at least five to six times and will continue to listen to it as it continues to give me more insights and “ah ha” moments for my business.  I have often thought of writing a cookbook but felt that something was lacking in the format.  Your idea to turn it into an infomational/ business / how a small business like mine runs is intriguing and exciting.  I could definitely get behind that idea!

Your suggestion to systemize is a great idea for me.  I do have an extensive product line that would need to be streamlined and edited a bit to make it easier to actually have another person handle the day to day operations. I have treated and continue to treat my business like my babies but at some point my babies grew up and took flight. And so like the babies, my business has grown up and it is time to let it take flight too.

Mahalo (thank you) for such great and timely advice.  Thank you for picking the topic to air.  I certainly gained more insight into my business from listening to that podcast. I hope it will also help others that might be having similar thoughts about their business.

Although we’ve been in business for over 34 years, the name “Miriam’s Old Hawaii Bakery” is fairly recent.  Originally called simply “Miriam’s”, my son wanted us to have a name that could be trademarked.  My son and I brainstormed for several days exploring what this bakery meant.  We wanted the name to reflect the fact that it is rustic and home-spun in appeal.  We wanted to convey the idea that this bakery is like the bakeries of old, where everything was made from scratch, with tremendous pride and soul.  It is the way I view baking, food and life in general.  I’ve worked hard to ensure that all the products and the ambiance of the place reflect the feeling of love and of coming home to a relaxed, happy place.

I feel the name “Old Hawaii Bakery” reflects that.  We want to convey old-fashioned feelings of family, where, when you walked into a home, you could count on the fresh smells of bread baking and the warm personalities of the people making it could be felt. Thus the name was born and my son and I really love it.  We constantly strive to make our business reflect just those feelings and what we represent.

Cookies…I am  always giving our products away or bartering with friends and clients.  I often trade my breads and cookies for  other people’s farm produce, eggs, business advice, etc.  I love to barter!  I wish we could go back to those simpler times when bartering was the way of trading.

Anyway, I would love to send some cookies and other products your way.  I also would love to send some bread but I do not think it would make the long shipping time.  However, the other products will definitely make the journey.

If it is all right with you all, could I get a mailing address where I can ship you some of our products?  I’d like to send them as a mighty grateful thank you for all that you have done for us by giving such great advice.  I’ve so enjoyed your warm and enthusiastic personalities, and am so grateful you’ve shared them with all of us through your podcast.  You really come across as sincere, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and wanting to help others. A rare thing in this day and age!  You do a great service for all of us in the business community.

Mahalo (thank you) for your time and efforts. Take care.

Miriam
Miriam’s Old Hawaii Bakery

If you’ve got a question you’d like answered on the show then please send it through by clicking here or clicking the orange Questions tab on the left hand side of this page.

Small business marketing is any activity aimed directly at generating an enquiry to a small business.

That activity may be based around five key aspects:

1. Product – What product (or service) can you offer that solves a major problem you’re prospects experience?

2. Price – How can you price it in a way that is attractive to your prospect whilst ensuring you make decent margin or sell lots of them at a low margin?

3. Place – Where can you distribute it so that the maximum amount of prospects have the opportunity to access it?

4. Promotion – How can you promote it in a way that engage your prospects and compels them to take action?

5. People – Who do you need in order to optimise the way your product gets to market?

There’s, of course, many other questions to be asked however the above provides a good start.

And here’s the secrets sauce – small business marketing is all about having lots of balls in the air at one time. Each ball being one marketing initiative. Some will fall to the ground … others will fly. You wont know which will do what until you try – so test and test again.

Is there a difference between small business marketing and big business marketing. Damn right, there is! Big businesses have a load more marketing dollars to spend. All that means is they get to do more things, more often.

Do you need a big stash of money to do great small business marketing? Hell, no!

You just need to be smart, will to give things a go, be patient and never give up. Look at marketing your small business as fun – it will show in your outputs.

And if you’re looking for somewhere to start – some ideas to get you going – then tune in to Australia’s #1 small business marketing podcast  - it’s literally full of hundreds of ideas shared by successful small business marketers.

(Acknowledgement – Thanks a million to Clodagh Higgins from Get Focussed Consulting who suggested we answer this question. Love your work, Clodagh ;0)

No matter what your small business is all about, you simply have to offer a guarantee to your customers.  After all, why on earth should they buy from you if you don’t believe in your product enough to guarantee it?

However, the thought of actually having to give money back to customers is a scary one.  But something that you really have to accept in business.  After all, you can please some people some of the time…. as those famous lyrics go.

But what should you actually guarantee?  And how do you go about being fair to your customer, but also to put in place legitimate and fair damage limitation so that should something beyond your control go wrong that you don’t end up completely out of pocket?

That’s where the expression ‘keep it simple, stupid’ comes into play.

Let’s face it, we’ve all seen those reams of terms and conditions – small print that, to be honest, who on earth has the time, inclination or even the interest to plough through when you’re purchasing a product.  And we’re all guilty of it – only worrying about all those get-out clauses when something actually goes wrong.

The thing is, far too many businesses hide behind that small print.  And if there’s one thing that’s going to make your customers (or potential customers) think you’ve got something to hide, then it’s page after page of terms and conditions.

After all – how refreshing is it so see a company that says something along the lines of;

“We guarantee that our product is suitable to do XXX.  If it doesn’t, we’ll refund (100% / 80% or whatever) of the purchase price – no questions asked.”

It’s a bold statement – but it’s crystal clear!  And how many extra sales do you think a guarantee like that would bring you?  Because we’d bet our last dollar that it would certainly see them racking up!

In today’s world of mad litigation, multi-page contracts and people and businesses doing whatever they can to squirm out of anything they can, a guarantee like that will stand out like a shining beacon in the darkness.

Sure – it’ll take some courage to do it, but rather than thinking of it as a guarantee, think of it as yet another marketing strategy.  And anything that gets your customers sitting up and taking notice of you is exactly what you’re aiming for.

Be different, be professional, be bold.  It’s exactly these attributes that’ll have your business standing out from the crowd.

Do you offer a guarantee? Share it in the Comments section.

** This is just one of the many observations we made in an interview we did with John, the Founder of Wicked Campers. You can listen to the whole Wicked Campers marketing interview here. **

He’s one of Australia’s best small business marketers.

68 years old, covered in tatts, absolute salt of the earth fella.

He asked me if I wanted a quote to have my windows cleaned and gutters cleared.

Sure, I said.

So he pulls out his ladder, his 3 year old 64-page faint-ruled exercise book and a pencil from behind his ear.

10-minutes later he’s back with a written (bloody reasonable) quote on a bit of paper he’d ripped out of his 3 year old 64-page faint-ruled exercise book, apologizing that he’d run out of business cards.

He tells me he can do the work within the next two weeks and just needs a couple of days notice.

We have a chat, I get to know him and build trust then he excuses himself as he’s got more doors to knock on.

I love Fred. He keeps it simple.

I didn’t bother asking if he was on Twitter. Or had a website. He’s too busy ;0)

Postscript – It’s just over a week since I wrote this post and Fred just knocked on my door again. On a Sunday! I commented that he worked hard. His reply – “If you don’t change it, you don’t get it.” I love Fred’s attitude. (And know, he’s not pushy at all).

Following on from my recent trip to the theme parks on the Gold Coast, here are my 10 observations of how the they market themselves and questions  they pose about how you could be asking about your own business:

1. Product is King.   Q. How could you better treat your product or service?
2. Interesting pricing strategy of $99.99 until June 30, 2011 and you can use it as often as you like  (huge take-up….high perceived value…little repeat take-up)   Q. How could you alter your pricing to encourage more transactions but less take up?!
3. Q4U makes life easy by not having to cue for rides. They actually charge you for a problem they’ve created!!   Q. What can you do to make your customers’ experience hassle free…and charge for it at the same time?
4. They don’t use social media to have an ear to the ground.   Q. How can you ensure that you know what you’re customers are thinking?
5. They don’t always understand their customers’ state of mind – I would have kiled for a massage during the day as I raced between rides!   Q. What state-of-mind are your customers in when they’re ready to purchase from you? And how can you meet their needs?
6. Bring your staff along for the ride.   Q. What can you do to ensure that everyone who has responsibility for selling your product / service is on the same page?
7. Consistency is Queen.   Q. What could you do to ensure all your marketing is more consistent?
8. Consider bi-products – Massage, behind-the-scenes tours, product explanations.   Q. What bi-products are you inadvertently creating but not making money from?
9. Consider your opening hours a bit more closely (Wet ‘n Wild closed way too early given the huge cues).   Q. Are your opening hours respectful of your customers’ needs?
10. Don’t screw me – Pizza, photos were outrageously expensive … AND don’t charge for piddly little things eg. Remote control boats $2.  Q. What could you give away to your customers that would make them love you and not cause you to lose money?

Hear me go in to greater details about each of these marketing lessons here on the Small Business Big Marketing podcast #41.

To fill in the time I decided to send a tweet to Telstra to see if they were listening …

They were …

Now, I could be cynical and say that receiving this didn’t make my wait any shorter, so where’s the value.

However, I reckon there’s a lesson here for us small business owners … Social media is a great listening tool. Now, we might not be big enough to expect people to be tweeting about our business…but you should certainly be listening in on what people are saying about you category. For example, if you’re in the real estate business then you should have a few columns in say Hootsuite which track tweets about say property prices or the suburbs in which you sell.

What do you think? Are you using social media to listen in? How?

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As I see it, here’s the 5 atypical fund-raising tactics as of 2010:

1. Expensive direct mail…where a 2% redemption rate is cause for celebration.
2. Scatter gun advertising based on what the media offers FOC..and not on where the donors are.
3. Identifying that one special day…Movember. Jeans For Genes. Daffodil Day. All well thought out, but boy must they take some organising and resources!
4. Rattling tins on street corners and roads…dangerous and dated.
5. Gala balls. Raffles. Silent auctions.

Now, I’ve no doubt all of the above provide a ROI to some extent…but they all feel very 1950s (“Hello” to the Fonz!).

So, as one never to raise a problem without providing a solution, here’s 4 tactics I’d employ if I were the Marketing guy at a charity:

1. Place big red buttons all over town…alongside which was a coin slot, note drive and credit card swipe. Pushing the button once equaled a $5 donation.
2. Let’s take this one step further. Let’s create a vending machine that had 20 buttons. Each one representing a different cause. Same payment methods though. Then people could choose a cause that rang their bell.
3. Have a number you could send a SMS to that would result in $1 being added to your phone bill. The phone company would then pass it on to my charity. I’d have the number plastered over freely negotiated outdoor advertising everywhere.
4. Create an iPhone / iPad app that cost $1.19 to download…the entire amount (less Apple’s 30%) going in to my cause’s coffers.
5. In fact the above app could be the button mentioned in my first idea…and each time you opened it you were presented with ideas on how to donate…there’d be a red button locator…the number for sending an SMS…and maybe even an opportunity to buy a raffle ticket!

I know. I know. There are some technical issues to overcome with all the above. That’s OK…then we best get started.

Can you help bring one of these ideas to life? Or add another?

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As I see it, here’s the 5 atypical fund-raising tactics as of 2010:

1. Expensive direct mail…where a 2% redemption rate is cause for celebration.
2. Scatter gun advertising based on what the media offers FOC..and not on where the donors are.
3. Identifying that one special day…Movember. Jeans For Genes. Daffodil Day. All well thought out, but boy must they take some organising and resources!
4. Rattling tins on street corners and roads…dangerous and dated.
5. Gala balls. Raffles. Silent auctions.

Now, I’ve no doubt all of the above provide a ROI to some extent…but they all feel very 1950s (“Hello” to the Fonz!).

So, as one never to raise a problem without providing a solution, here’s 4 tactics I’d employ if I were the Marketing guy at a charity:

1. Place big red buttons all over town…alongside which was a coin slot, note drive and credit card swipe. Pushing the button once equaled a $5 donation.
2. Let’s take this one step further. Let’s create a vending machine that had 20 buttons. Each one representing a different cause. Same payment methods though. Then people could choose a cause that rang their bell.
3. Have a number you could send a SMS to that would result in $1 being added to your phone bill. The phone company would then pass it on to my charity. I’d have the number plastered over freely negotiated outdoor advertising everywhere.
4. Create an iPhone / iPad app that cost $1.19 to download…the entire amount (less Apple’s 30%) going in to my cause’s coffers.
5. In fact the above app could be the button mentioned in my first idea…and each time you opened it you were presented with ideas on how to donate…there’d be a red button locator…the number for sending an SMS…and maybe even an opportunity to buy a raffle ticket!

I know. I know. There are some technical issues to overcome with all the above. That’s OK…then we best get started.

Can you help bring one of these ideas to life? Or add another?

I couldn’t have written this book any earlier if I’d tried. Why? Because:

1. I didn’t start studying Marketing in any formal sense until I was 18.
2. I then didn’t get my first Marketing job until I was 21.
3. I then needed a good five years of making mistakes. By that time I was 26.
4. I then needed a good ten years of learning what worked and why? This took me through to 36.
5. I then had to start a number of my own small businesses and live the dream. You know how it is. At the age of 39 I figured I had enough runs on the board and a smidgen of free time to put fingers to the keyboard.

So, that brings us to Cha-Ching! The Sweet, Sweet Sound Of Small Business Marketing That Works.

It’s 250 pages chock-full of marketing ideas and inspirations for Small Business Owners.

And it’s launched on January 21, 2009.