Business owners need
web strategies to work right now because they're facing everything from increases in material, labor, energy, and marketing costs. Web 2.0 marketing can still fit in over advertising, in hopes that business will find its way through
word of mouth and cost nothing to advertise.
Word of mouth is the best kind when current customers tell others. We build business fanpages to help businesses connect and build stronger relationships with their customer base. It only takes time instead of advertising dollars to converse with customers, find out what they like and what you can improve on to deliver more value and service.
Website strategies that work best in accelerating
word of mouth have amounted to jumping on marketing services that contract with you to drop prices in half in hopes of creating a goldmine of business with the hopes of developing repeat business. This can work to an extent, but it is fraught with the danger of dropping perceived value of your goods and services and could be difficult to generate business at the price points needed to turn profits that clear overhead. If you are going for it, use those services by limiting the new business to the times of the week business naturally drops off, or limit to stock on hand that you need to move and not the most popular that moves on its own. A much better strategy to put in play first is to work your best customers to advocate your business on your behalf. Use
appreciation marketing by sending custom thank you and reminder cards instead of an email. The extra effort of appreciating customers with a physical card happens to get a lot of attention because it shows special effort. Introduce your incentives in this way and the word of mouth will spread faster online as well as offline for taking action of making a customer feel truly appreciated. Do this regularly and there will be no need to drop prices or offer loss leaders to bait customers with tight purses and wallets.
