Monday, 03 May 2010 00:48

Word of mount bring business

Word of Mouth

Meets Great Hair Day

When looking for word of mouth strategies to use offline, take a close look at your business card. It gives you the opportunity to deliver a short message along with contact info. Think of that 'short message' as your best tag line, something you could say handing the card to someone. It is an opportunity to make your best impression about who you are and what you do and worth a good investment, since it is one of the very lowest cost and highest returns one can hope for. About seven years ago I walked into a hair salon in my neighbor hood to get a haircut. The young lady that cut my hair had a fun personality and was in a purple and black outfit that would catch anyone's attention. I asked for her business card, it was a plain black and white with a line where she penciled in her name. She said she was new to the shop and it takes time to build clientle. I had two questions for her. Is purple and black her favorite colors (she also had a shade of purple streaks in her hair)? She asked how did I know, and I said, "Well, it looks great on you and fits your personality." And, then asked what were her regular days off.


A couple days later I stopped in with two business cards, one a business card with her days off mentioned, her name, a place to write in the next appointment, and store info. The other card was a crazy character about to get their hair done. It evoked a laugh out of anyone seeing it for the first time. It was a referral card, with a place to put in who did the referring. About six weeks later, I came

in for a hair cut and Dona told me she was nearly out of cards and how about trading haircuts for business cards. I asked about how the referral cards went, did she get any back. Dona opened her drawer and pulled out a stack about three inches thick. This goes to show how a business card with a good system built clientele faster than expected. Now, I could afford to get haircuts a little more often and get a couple cuts for a box of cards. It's been seven years and I've yet had to pay for a haircut! As a bonus I started throwing in business card magnets and that proved to be a winner for her as well. To speed up word of mouth advertising, Dona went to the store clerks nearby and asked if they'd mind giving out her referral cards. She told them when she got three referrals, they earned themselves a complimentary haircut. Spread your business by going to where traffic is and work with the 'influencers' to boost the speed of word of mouth. When marketing online, think along the same lines and come up with a social media advertising strategy that can be fun and creates buzz for your business.
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