When it comes to adopting effective marketing strategies, referrals are something companies should focus on. This is because referrals are far more likely to convert than leads that have been generated via other marketing methods. The two different types of referrals are reputation and experience and when you design a market strategy, it should target both:
- Reputation referrals – These come from individuals that have heard of your company and business. People that have previously engaged with some of your content online or seen your advertisement are examples of reputation-based referrals.
- Experience referrals – These are a direct result of someone working with your business. Previous clients are classic examples of experience-based referrals.
Strategies to follow
Here we discuss a few effective referral strategies that will help you generate more leads:
#1 Focus on becoming an industry leader
Many companies have experts on their staff; however, they aren’t recognised names outside of their own establishment. The few things you should do to position yourself as a recognised industry thought leader are:
- Update your company blog at regular intervals
- If you have team members with the skills to write engaging and relevant content, they can eventually try to secure guest blogging and contributor positions on various relevant industry websites. This will eventually become one of your primary sources of reputation-based referrals.
#2 Publish detailed case studies & results
Make it a point to publish comprehensive case studies & the relevant results on your company website; this helps increase referrals in two different ways:
- The subjects of those posts will be keen on sharing with family & friends which can easily spark instant referrals.
- When people visit your site but don’t convert, they may also prove to be a valuable asset as future referrals. If they find the published results and case studies to be impressive, they may end up referring your business to people that require your service at a future date.
- When you publish the case study results on your website, it tells potential clients that you are a results-driven company and that helps attract referrals.
#3 Publicise your client list
It’s very common for companies not to disclose their client list to the public; in some cases, they can’t do so because of the non-disclosure agreements. Sometimes, companies fear that if they list their client-base publicly, the competition will poach them. If this is the case, you should reconsider your decision and add a client list to your site. It’s important that you get written permission from clients you add to this list.
#4 Focus on things you specialise in
You will attract far more referrals if you focus all your branding and marketing efforts on things you specialise in, rather than a broader range of services. Many companies start out by offering numerous services within a certain niche; over time, they may reduce the number of services they offer and focus only on one or two things; and your marketing efforts have to reflect that.
In addition, you can feature your clients in some of your marketing efforts such as including a client success story etc. This can help you get qualified leads through that client, and success stories also are proof that you are good at the things you do.
