Small Business Marketing Tip Brand and Customer Referrals
By: Craig LutzPriefert

It?s true: Good customers want to help your business succeed. Let?s help them out.

As a small business owner you know your business better than anybody else. However, our experience shows that many small business owners and marketing managers need help in clarifying and clearly stating their own company Brand.

Lots of people talk about word-of-mouth advertising. Creating successful word-of-mouth is much more art than science. Think of it as having your customers and employees carrying a Brand Banner for you.

Let?s be candid: even your best customers won?t wave your Brand Banner all the time. And they don?t need to. You only need them to wave it when the opportunity arises: when they are talking to another potential customer. In an earlier article we discussed the importance of helping mavens develop a positive view of your business. A typical satisfied customer won?t supply you with the quality or number of referrals that a true maven will, but even one referral is better than zero.

There is a pivotal moment in the customer referral process: you are about to see a warm body walking through your door--or not--depending on what your customer says about you. Your customer needs a Brand Banner that is easy to repeat and memorable.

As a marketer it?s your job to supply her with that Brand Banner. Maybe you give her one very tightly focused sentence or phrase that sums up all your business does and is. Sometimes an effective slogan can be so powerful and memorable that the customers believe it and actively pass it on. Usually such slogans must go beyond cute and carry some meaningful content, but not always. A slogan is a part of your Package, and ideally everything about your Package should reinforce the Brand.

A good Brand Banner must be focused, and that focus should re-iterate your brand?s position in the mind of the current customer. If you aren?t clearly positioned in the mind of the customer, then how can the customer possibly refer your friend to you in any type of meaningful way?

Clearly focusing your Brand Banner around your position will help to keep your Brand sticky. In another article we will show how you can draw from your experience to create promotions as well as the Brand Banner that is memorable and easy to repeat.

? 2006 Marketing Hawks

Craig Lutz-Priefert is President of Marketing Hawks, a firm providing essential marketing vision for small business. Marketing Hawks also sponsors the ongoing small business adventures of entrepreneur Crystal Trino at the JourneyToday website.

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