Advertising

Is it worth marketing an anniversary? As Oprah Winfrey once said, “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.“

We, the awesome Arkside Marketing team, are celebrating our five year anniversary in 2015. Each anniversary of your company’s beginning represents the end of a chapter and the simultaneous start of another. But that is a generalized observation with arguable meaning. Of strategic importance is the marketing value of that anniversary and how it can be used with employees, vendors, investors, customers, and potential customers.

What is an Important Business Anniversary?

Let’s jump into a couple you may not have considered:

1 year – Your first year in business. You made it!
5 years – Most businesses fail in their first five years. If you’re still around, its time celebrate.

Always commemorate the traditional increments of 10 (10, 20, 30, etc.) and half-10 (15, 25, 35, etc.) anniversaries.

Also consider numbers that are relevant to your particular industry or company:

• Investment companies could celebrate their 11th birthday since the New York Stock Exchange is located at 11 Wall Street in New York City
• Law firms can celebrate 1 year (Supreme Court is at 1 First Street, Washington D.C.) or 9 years (9 Supreme Court Justices)
• Casinos and any entity with the word “lucky” in its name should celebrate 7 years
• Masonic lodge may want to celebrate their 3rd and 33rd anniversary
• Auto shop could do something with their 5(years)W30 anniversary
• Dentists should celebrate their 32nd anniversary (number of teeth in the adult mouth)
• Baseball teams have 9 players on the field
• IT companies can have fun with their 1-0 (10) year anniversary as a nod to binary code
• If a company is Christian-focused, or there is a triangle in your logo, or perhaps you have three core elements to your mission statement, the number three gives you an anniversary to promote.

How to Excite Your Customers About Your Anniversary

These milestones give you an opportunity to reconnect with your customers using a completely non-sales touch point. You are suddenly empowered with a new way to stay top-of-mind, offer a unique incentives, and provide an experience unmatched by your competition. (Assuming they aren’t celebrating an anniversary at the same time).

The key is to share your excitement with your customers. Tell your story. Your employees may be your best source of material, especially if they have been around for multiple milestones or even from Day 1. Share trivia and experiences from the company’s history: how did the company begin? What was the last milestone like? How has your city or cities changed over time? Do you offer new products or services?

Here are ways for getting customers excited about an anniversary:

• Create a special version of your logo just for the occasion
  • Add the logo to all sales or other collateral throughout the year
• Host an open house or other party event to celebrate. All employes, family, clients, vendors, local dignitaries, and partners should be invited.
• Create a new page on your website with the stories and trivia mentioned above
  • Include the new logo
  • Share the page across social media
  • Make sure it is linked in your main navigation
  • Add a link to email signatures
• Create sales incentives such as “10% off” (for a 10 year anniversary) or “save $20” (for a 20 year anniversary) or “first 50 customers” (for a 50 year anniversary). Be creative and think of your customer first. What would have value to them?
• Invest in specialty promotional products for the occasion
• Share company trivia on a regular basis on your social media channels
• Create contests or giveaways centered around the anniversary in which your employees can participate

These are just a few ideas to help cultivate ideas for your particular situation. Your customers will enjoy knowing about your success, longevity, and whatever may be in store for them. Most importantly, each of these steps humanize a business. The management, the staff, and the brand as a whole become more “relateable”. In other words: great marketing. Few things can help a company grow like a positive relationship with a customer. They turn into referrals. Those referrals will be around for the next anniversary and so will your business.

You have years of experience.

You have a nice office.

You have a strong track record of success.

You will fight for your client.

What makes you different?

As you market your firm, you need to communicate what makes you different from your many competitors. Keep in mind that before someone chooses to hire you, they have to choose to contact you. Your marketing should give them reasons to do that. Focus on your competitive advantages, then tell the world why you stand out.

FINDING YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

We always remind our clients that they will never know why someone didn’t contact them. Maybe they didn’t like the website. Maybe the phone number in your radio ad was too complicated. Maybe they saw negative reviews on Avvo. Whatever the reason, the lost client has no reason to take time and explain how you lost their business.

Instead, tell them exactly why they should contact you. Here are some potential advantages you should broadcast to the world:

• Graduated with special honors from law school
• Recognition or citation from a governing/oversight body
• 5-star rating online
• Team of specialist attorneys
• Large verdict in a previous case
• Long list of satisfied client testimonials
• Decades or centuries of firm existence

Whatever makes you stand out from the competition is a necessity to communicate. Never assume people know about you. The items above are reasons to contact you. They matter for very important and material reasons because they can help win a case. Many of them also speak to having great customer service. Firms that treat clients badly aren’t around for very long. The level of service you provide will reinforce the brand you presented in your marketing.

Attorney Level of Service

Communicating your competitive advantage will lead to phone calls and emails. Now the hard work begins: meeting expectations. Your level of service is another way to stand out from your competitors. Beyond capturing new clients, it can help you retain current clients.

Analyze the client experience with your firm:

• How are clients greeted (in person and on the phone)?
• Are phone calls kept on hold for more than 10 seconds?
• Do you serve tea and coffee at your office?
• Are letters, calls, and emails responded to promptly?
• Does your collateral (letterhead, brochures, business cards, etc.) easily identify ways to contact you?
• Do you send “Thank You” cards or other tokens of appreciation to new clients?

Summary

Don’t lose business because it was taken for granted. Clients always have a choice for their next attorney. Work with your ad agency to ensure that you are communicating your competitive advantages, and finding ways to make your law firm stand out. Once you have earned a call, put the time and effort into retaining more business and earning testimonials that can be used in future marketing. Small investments now can lead to large returns in the future.

Arkside Marketing is one of the top law firm branding agencies. We are a full-service ad agency, specializing in heavily regulated industries such as law firms, car dealerships, and hospitals. If you would like a complimentary analysis of your current marketing efforts, please contact us today to schedule an appointment. We can come to your office or conduct the analysis online via Skype, Google Hangouts, or Join.me.

We have said it before and we will say it again: advertising works.

As this example illustrates, it works so well that two law firms have gone to court over who can advertise the most!

Beginning in 2012, Lundy Law, L.L.P., a personal injury law firm, purchased all of the bus advertising in Philadelphia. Their competitor, Pitt & Associates, went to court claiming Lundy had violated antitrust restrictions by locking out all other advertisers. The judge disagreed because Pitt and other competitors had alternative media in which to advertise.  In Pitt’s view, that wasn’t enough.

Cardinal sin of advertising: racism.

Divine blessing of advertising: a good ad agency.

The law firm of McCutcheon & Hammer seems to be the unfortunate victims of advertising that they didn’t want. According to them, they didn’t even pay for it. Or ask for it. A commercial production company created the offensive ad below using a horrible Asian stereotype character and it was uploaded to the firm’s YouTube channel. Check it out below (on the production company’s YouTube channel) and then scroll down for updates since the video was discovered last week.

Things got weird once the video went viral. The law firm claimed that it never commissioned the video and that their YouTube channel was hacked. It is a fair assumption that a local TV production company doesn’t have the ability to “hack” YouTube (which is owned and secured by Google). So let’s assume the law firm is using some legalese and hinging the accuracy of their statement on the first part of the statement. They never commissioned this particular video and, therefore, never authorized it being uploaded to YouTube.

Since both sides make opposing claims and the ad involves a very derogatory portrayal of Asians, the Natiaonl Asian Pacific American Bar Association has looked into the situation and made some odd discoveries:

1) Neither party is willing to produce documentation to support their claim.
2) Neither party is eliminating the idea that someone pretending to work for the law firm is responsible. (If this is true, the production company is disastrously negligent in their client authorization process!)
3) The video is still online.
4) The law firm has not followed through with any threat to sue the production company.
5) This is still very bad PR for the law firm and production company.

All that said, the judgment on this one is bad all the way around. The production company makes junk, and racist junk at that. The law firm has done terrible damage control. If this were professionally handled at the onset, it would have been cleanly wrapped up and the reputation of the firm would still be in tact. Such is not the case today.

It isn’t a rumor, nor is it a conspiracy. Facebook organic reach has been slashed. Facebook has admitted to changing its algorithm so businesses (or anyone else with a Page) are forced to pay if they want their posts to be seen. While most businesses saw a decline to about 15-20% organic reach last year, many are now reaching only 2%. In the case of the Arkside Marketing Facebook Page, we are seeing 5-8% consistently.

Facebook has become the bridge troll with a pay-to-play model.

General Motors Called Facebook’s Bluff

The origin of this change reaches back about a year and a half. Facebook had one billion users and was the place to be. Many Fortune 500 companies were clamoring to get on the bandwagon but still hadn’t figured out how. Even at the end of 2012, only 66% of the F500 were on Facebook, let alone using it effectively.

But in May 2012, General Motors’ firebrand CMO, Joel Ewanick, made the decision to fire their social media agency of record and stop all advertising on Facebook. Quick way to save $10 million. The stated reasoning was that they didn’t see any substantial return on their investment so they would stop advertising and continue with their organic Facebook Page fan base of a few million followers.

Even with Facebook making it impossible for brands to reach 100% of their followers, most were still seeing what you posted. Why advertise? Faceb0ok was cannibalizing itself. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

Not only did they just eliminate themselves as a top Facebook advertiser (and revenue source), but they did this the week Facebook had their IPO. Ouch.

We believe Joel was right.

Ewanick and General Motors exposed the flaw in Facebook’s plan. Spending wasn’t necessary because people were organically finding, Liking, and sharing brand content.

Facebook had to fix the giant hole in the ship. Now you have to pay to get on board.

Effect on the Facebook Page for Business

Post-IPO, Facebook has been under immense public pressure (especially from our own Founder who has had issues with the platform). They have been busy addressing their failure on mobile devices and an unfriendly ad platform. Organic results were odd also. For many years, it has been frustrating for businesses on Facebook because they are treated badly. Even when a customer says they “Like” a business, Facebook doesn’t see that as permission to show your content. In their belief, just because a customer says they “Like” something, that doesn’t really mean they want to see anything from it.

In high school, guys wanted “no” to mean “yes”.
On Facebook, “yes” actually means “no”.

Now, “yes” actually means “no way in hell”. So what is a business to do? According to Facebook, a business is to pay for ads.
“Your brand can fully benefit from having fans when most of your ads show social context, which increases advertising effectiveness and efficiency“.

Perhaps the most offensive and glaring admission is this:
“We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.“

If someone tells you they like something and you block them from seeing it, how does that equal a meaningful experience?

Social Media Sharing Options

1) Save Money and Reach Fewer People
There are many social media agencies and managers that we have spoken to whom have told us they will be focusing less of their time (and their client’s money) on Facebook Pages. In their view, the task of reaching a fan base is so time consuming and expensive that better results can be found on other social media or even traditional media.

2) Spend Money and Reach More People
Other social media agencies and managers have said they will pay, if necessary. Facebook wants to command paid media and may be a force that is too large to ignore. For those companies with substantial followings in the thousands or hundreds of thousands, a marketing investment may be a wise decision.

At Arkside Marketing, we have  saying, “advertising is an investment. If it is only an expense, you are doing it wrong.”

3) Leave Facebook
Yes, we’re serious. For some businesses, the Facebook Page organic reach may have provided a nice bump in social interaction, but their new model decreases the return that could possibly be achieved. Could that time be better spent on other social platforms such as Twitter or the SEO-friendly Google+?

In the spirit of full disclosure, we have not recommended that any of our clients abandon Facebook. Each of them can continue to successfully reach their audience, but to a smaller degree. We also plan to continue our own Facebook presence, but will reduce our advertising to large announcements.

Facebook In The Future

Although we agree with his decision, we blame Joel Ewanick for this. Ultimately, it would have occurred anyway. Facebook had to realize their shortcoming. But now that it is here, what will your business choose? The pay-to-play model is here to stay, mainly because it doesn’t seriously infringe on Facebook’s main product: its users.

Contact Us

If you would like an objective evaluation of your social media presence and strategy, contact our office.

Yes.
and
No.

The question “is print media dead” is much harder to answer than you expect. The reasons are complex and the answer is changing. Today, it would depend on what part of “print” you’re asking about. Print marketing includes newspapers, direct mail, magazines, coupon publications, and others. If any of them are “dying”, it does not mean mean they have lost utility or effectiveness.

Newspaper Advertising

The century-plus old technology has faced small year-over-year declines, but overall, has fallen for a decade. This is only true of their print editions. Most newspapers in America have made transitions to digital editions to various degrees. Their digital efforts have seen robust growth in most cases. Because of this adaptation of new media, the budgeting and targeting of an ad campaign is vital for positive ROI in newspapers.

Your Marketing Consultant should know the publication and work closely with the media representative to ensure a customized campaign for you. Very little in advertising is one-size-fits-all. The demographics should be understood and costs thoroughly explained so that expectations can be appropriately set.

As will be mentioned in each print advertising category below, the benefit of a media mix should not be ignored when considering “dying” print. How can newspaper work in tandem with radio or television? How can online ads on the high school sports webpage help support your community relations or targeting of active families? Work with your Marketing Consultant to explore these opportunities.

Direct Mail Advertising

Your customers want to build relationships and so do you. Direct mail is routinely rated one of the least intrusive forms of advertising. According to a recent study on direct mail by Millward Brown, “physical media left a ‘deeper footprint’ in the brain”. In other words, people remember more about something they can touch as opposed to something they can not.

But what about results? Doesn’t everyone throw out “junk mail”?

Target Marketing magazine conducted a study on ROI and the media producing the best results for customer acquisition, customer contact, and retention for B2C marketers was direct mail. It is easy to track and that makes it easy to understand and source it’s performance.

Magazine Advertising

Beautiful, glossy pages filled with beautiful people and products. Although not as hard hit as newspapers, magazines have seen challenges erupt over the last decade. But there are many success stories and evidence of a rebound in the industry. Just last week, Newsweek announced it would restart its printed publication. Publications are seeing a growth in readership and revenues are on the rise.

As long as magazines are used effectively and for the right goals, they can be a powerful element in your media mix.  Some data suggests that you only get half a second to make an impression before someone decides if they will read your magazine ad or not.

Focus on what you want people to notice. This could be a call to action, a logo, or a photo. If appropriate, include contact information and a reason for people to use it. Like all ads, your space is limited so use it wisely and beautifully.

Coupon Advertising

We may be climbing out of the recession, but people still love a discount! Find the publication or mail package that is most likely to reach your target market. Just because you publish a coupon doesn’t mean it will get used. Targeting is critical and must be combined with a worthy offer.

Again, time and space are limited. You have less than a second to make an impression and only so many inches to use. Keep your disclaimers short, your dollars or percentages big, and your contrast strong.

There are many options such as Welcome Wagon, which targets new home owners, or PennySaver which stretches “from sea to shining sea”.

How To Advertise in Print Media

Is print media dead? No. It is changing and rebuilding but it remains extremely successful for advertisers. Contact an Arkside Marketing Consultant today and explore your best options.

In case you haven’t heard, Twitter plans to go public with an IPO sometime in 2014. Cheekily, they made this announcement in a tweet. Now they are under intense pressure to prove their value. How can Twitter be profitable? Can it grow? Can it help business? How will it attract advertisers? With a recent blog post, Twitter has set out to prove that tweets drive offline sales.

Majority of Sales are Still Offline

Twitter partnered with Datalogix to determine the impact Promoted Tweets (and tweeting in general) had on offline sales. Despite the surging popularity of social media with businesses and their consumers, 94% of purchases in America are still made offline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

So how can businesses use Twitter to impact their offline sales?

Promoted Tweets, according to Twitter.

How Twitter Impacts Offline Sales

The logic is fairly simple but execution is key. Tweeting is about condensing any idea or action into a message of 140 characters or less. The people that see those messages have just become a branding audience and, in most cases, the goal is to move from branding to action. You want people to act on the information or call-to-action you provide.

When 35 CPG brands were studied, it was determined that Promoted Tweets (one of Twitter’s advertising products) directly correlated to a 12% sales lift offline. Also impressive, organic Tweets helped push an 8% offline sales lift.

Impressed? Wait, there’s more. (We’re not cheerleaders for Twitter. This just happens to be excellent marketing data that we believe can help our clients achieve great success in social media and gaining incremental sales. You want to sell more, right?)

Twitter’s data also showed that customers exposed to Promoted Tweets bought 29% more than customers who were only exposed to organic Tweets.

Measuring Social Media Impact

Twitter has helped advance the measurement metrics of online promotion affecting offline sales. It is a critical tool for any brand who seeks to grow their business with the inclusion of social media in their marketing mix. Verifiable sales are an element of measurement, just like website traffic, online buzz, or media coverage.

Facebook also had a recent announcement about conversion from online ads to offline purchases. This segment continues to grow and should not be ignored.

Summary

It is becoming more difficult for skeptics to deny the importance of social media in marketing. Its importance has been documented for SEO objectives and its genuine dollars-and-cents value is being better quantified every day. If you would like to learn more about effective social media and how it can lift your sales, please contact Arkside today.

When the doors to the office are locked for the evening, that never means you have to stop receiving phone calls, generating website traffic, receiving emails, or educating your customers. There are many ways that your direct response advertising campaign can continue to sell after hours. Advertising is an investment and, like your money, it should always be working for you.

Let us pretend your company sells mattresses. You have three showrooms within 200 miles of each other and they are open 9am – 6pm seven days per week. Your website shows your full product catalog along with information about your company and how to contact any store.  You are currently running a radio ad campaign and 20% of your commercials are running from 8pm – 12 midnight. (Don’t worry. You got these for free as a result of our negotiating.) You also have a television campaign running from 4pm – 12 midnight, a YouTube channel, Facebook Page, Twitter feed, Google AdWords, and a long-term SEO strategy.

How do you continue to sell after 6pm?

After Hours Call Center Services

Your radio and television ads include a phone number. But after 6pm, you don’t have a live body in the office to answer it. That is no reason to stop your customer from calling after hours. There are many call center services with locations around the world (remember the time difference) that can provide professional operators to take calls for your business after hours. They speak proficient, sometimes fluent or native, English, and can be trained to follow your company protocol for greeting and working with after hours calls. This can include instruction on what to do with urgent calls and whom to reach. Messages can be taken and delivered via fax or email for convenience.

They can also direct customers to your website and/or social media networks, which we will cover in the next sections. Always remember that your staff and marketing media should be a resource to the customer.

Website Live Chat

Your direct response advertising should include a reference to your website. And your website has a live chat operator, right? If your answer was “no”, we hope there is a great reason because a live chat operator can help you move more mattresses when your brick and mortar is closed. According to a 2010 Forrester Research study on live chat, “44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a Web site can offer.”

In addition to answering questions just before or even during someone’s purchasing process on your site, live chat also offers specific after hours benefits. If most or all of your competitors are lacking a website live chat feature, you are in a unique position to help your customers AND sell to them while your competition waits for 8am the next morning.

Live chat is also a great means of reducing cost-per-sale.

1. Online conversations cost less than a phone call.
2. Call/chat center employees can handle multiple chat sessions at a time, but only one phone call at a time.

Customers hate waiting. By allowing your employees to multitask, you can substantially reduce the backlog on your phone system during the day (not to mention reduce call volume dramatically) and increase the overall number of customers who received support.

Finally – use it in your advertising! Promote your competitive advantage of having help available 24 hours a day, especially if that is when your advertising is running.

Social Media Conversations

It isn’t wasted time or space to include social media in your direct response advertising if you can help questions and sell mattresses via social media. In much the same way live chat can help you sell after hours, so can social media, but with more opportunities. Live chat requires initiation by the user on some level to begin the relationship. All of the social media sites give your business the opportunity to start a relationship, answer questions, promote a new mattress line, or offer advice.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A recent study showed that Google prioritizes social media factors in its calculations for search rankings. Seven of the top 10 factors involve social media. If for no other reason, make sure your company is using social media to enhance its own rankings in search. Never make it a challenge for customers to find you, especially after hours when customers have plenty of time to search and choose between you and your competitors.

Content is also critical for SEO and customer engagement. No one wants to see a Facebook Page or Twitter feed filled with self-promotion. Talk about events in your community, share interesting and RELEVANT photos and videos, and create contests to prompt customer engagement. These are a few of the things you can do that will earn a customer’s attention while they try to learn more about you and your mattresses in the wee hours of the night.

After Hours Staffing

Ensure that your staff or an outside vendor are monitoring your social media networks after hours. They should have the ability to respond to messages, reTweet, share information, and assist customers with making purchases on your website. The goal is to be far more than an answering service taking messages for someone to handle in the morning.

Your social media team should be thoroughly familiar with your website. This is vital so they can direct customers to the right page at the right time. For example, a customer wants to know how many years a mattress will last. Your social media team should send that person to a Testimonials page about the mattress line, not a description of the features. (Of course, if your product page has testimonials on it, that is okay.)

Summary

There is no reason you need to wait for your doors to open to sell. Utilize your after hours direct response advertising to direct your potential customers to the places they can find answers. With these three techniques, you can successfully and cost-efficiently sell your product or services after hours.

We are very excited to offer environmentally friendly options on most of our printed products. As we look for new choices that benefit your business, we hope these paper and ink options provide a unique value. Now you can let your customers know that your company is a responsible steward of the Earth.

SOY & RENEWABLE INK

Look no further for “go green” environmentally friendly ink. The ink we use for both 4-color and 1 & 2-color offset printing are formulated with soy and other renewable agriculturally-derived materials. The Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are kept low and any leftovers are responsibly recycled. Our 4-color digital inks have zero VOCs and meet the demands of European regulation EN71, part 3. Our large format rigid inks have extremely low VOCs and are compliant with South Coast Air Quality Management District regulations. Coming soon, we look forward to announcing LED curing to further reduce our carbon footprint.

RECYCLED PAPER

Same great quality at no additional cost! Every one of our “go green” paper options is available at no extra cost on most of our products. Our “go green” paper is a composite of recycled paper, post consumer fiber, and virgin pulp (saved from a volcano sacrifice) derived from managed sustainable forests. These forests help clean our air, control erosion, and provide environmentally friendly jobs.

PRODUCTION MATERIAL RECYCLING

The materials that make our paper and ink are not the only recycled parts of our printing process. All paper waste, used metal printing plates, waste inks, and solvents are also recycled on a regular basis. Taking these steps helps reduce local air pollution, improve our employee safety and are vital elements of our commitment to sustainability.

WHY CHOOSING RECYCLED IS IMPORTANT

The number of forests around the world is dwindling. Billions of gallons of ink are used in the United States and every American uses 749 pounds of paper per year. By offering recycled and environmentally friendly printing products, we hope to reduce our footprint on our natural resources and keep our pricing amongst the lowest in the industry.

Here is a great perspective on the positive impact of using recycled paper: one ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 350 pounds of limestone, 60,000 gallons of water, 9,000 pounds of steam, 275 pounds of sulfur, 225 kilowatt hours and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

Contact us today to learn more about your environmentally friendly printing choices with Arkside.

“The best time to collect referrals from customers is at the point when they realize and acknowledge a good job was done.” –John Jantsch

That moment when a customer realizes and acknowledges when a good job was done can happen at any time. Your challenge is to solicit referrals at that moment.

The world has changed for every industry. Business models have been modified and adjusted to meet new demands and new opportunities. Most importantly, companies are no longer the most important factor in their own brand – their customers are. The wrong criticism on social media can force a company into “damage control mode” or, in some cases force the company out of business. Average consumers now wield tremendous influence through digital media and the enhanced power of referrals.

It is no longer enough to wait for a client to tell a prospective client how amazing you are. You need referrals on a larger scale. Assume your competitors are always looking for new ways to tap the power of referrals.

Referrals Have Always Worked

And they always will. Word of mouth remains one of the most powerful and trusted methods by which consumers choose a brand. Many businesses -even entire industries- have relied on word of mouth referrals for their existence. Lawyers are an excellent example of this. The traditions and esteem of the legal profession naturally lend themselves to a proclivity for clients to tell their friends, family, or colleagues about the great (or horrible) job their attorney did on their case. At a cost of $100-$500 an hour, people want personal stories of success.

But now referrals can be successfully generated through more than a phone call or a Chamber of Commerce mixer. There are means and methods to incorporate referral solicitations into your current or new marketing strategy.

New Power of Referrals Opportunities

The example you see here was taken directly from the Facebook Page of a celebrity friend of ours. He, unfortunately, recently went through a divorce and when it was done, this was what he said about his attorney. This celebrity has a few thousand social media connections. This simple post (which includes the attorney’s name and phone number) is far more valuable than if he had simply told a friend or family member. He told thousands of people. Instantly. People that value his opinion.

The name before the phone number is more than just a name. It is a link to the attorney’s Facebook Page. A convenient form of contact was just facilitated by a simple Facebook post. According to the Small Business Administration: “At the high-value end of the referral scale is an existing customer who facilitates a sale.”

As you look at your own methods of earning referrals, ask yourself:

• Can your referrals not only sustain your business, but enable it to grow?
• If you are the principal or a senior partner, would the firm continue without your referral network?
• Are your competitors including referral solicitation as part of their marketing?

Making Referrals Part of your Marketing

There are three steps to successful referral marketing and tapping the power of referrals:

1. Earning – As Ted Rubin says in his Return on Relationship™ coaching, “Provide the most value, you’ll get the most business.” Do your job so well that your clients will want to refer you to others.
2. Soliciting – Now that you’ve earned a referral, don’t be afraid to ask for it. Your Arkside Account Manager will give you multiple ways by which you can ask for a referral, review, or testimonial that is convenient for the client.
3. Promoting – Show prospects why they should choose to work with you…why others have chosen to work with you. Include your testimonials and other referral comments on your website, social media, and even presentations. Remember, part of online advertising is showing search engines what you want them to see!

Summary

Your business doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for one friend to tell another friend how great you are. You can not survive and expand by bread alone. You need to initiate activities of scale and develop new means by which referral business (the best kind of business) can be generated. Social media and search engines like Google and Yahoo! offer the tools to achieve a higher level of success with the new power of referrals.