Encouraging Word of Mouth Referrals

Buzz, viral, blog — whatever you want to call it — word of mouth marketing is big news, and for good reason. It’s cheap and it works. There’s even an association for it. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association has launched a new blog to share research on word of mouth marketing metrics and measurement. For example, the blog describes a study that found that word of mouth is more effective than advertising for spreading information about a product, even if the ties between participants are weak.

Rachel Oliver at JV Media Design offers several steps for accelerating your word of mouth referrals. But remember, honesty is paramount. Jay Lipe at Smart Marketing explains what happens when word of mouth marketing crosses the line. WordSpreadsQuickly.com explains how it used a word of mouth strategy to generate 10,000 downloads of a study in two weeks.

Word-of-mouth referrals are the best kind of marketing for freelance writers. It doesn’t cost you a penny and you don’t even have to do the work. Encourage others to become part of your “secret” sales force by making sure your friends, family, neighbors, spouse’s co-workers, and everyone else you can think of know that you provide writing services for nonprofits. Think about it . . . anyone can be involved with a nonprofit in their spare time, so you never know where that referral for writing and editing services might come from. Make sure your name comes up by letting the people in all the circles of your life know that you are a freelance writer/editor.

I know this strategy works because it’s how I’ve obtained many of my clients. Contact with these people produced writing/editing contracts for me:

• a woman I took a class with
• the co-worker of a woman who took a class I taught
• a man I volunteered with
• my husband’s boss
• a couple I met at a party
• a colleague of an existing client

Share your word of mouth success story by adding a comment to this post.