Word of Mouth Marketing
photo credit: photomequickbooth Ask yourself this question. “How do people find out about different things that are going on around town?” Well the answer to this question is simple. They ask someone, or someone is eager to give the information to everyone else. This is branded as gossip by many individuals. However, in business, this is known as word of mouth marketing, which can be an extremely useful strategy.
Spreading the word is just as useful as wearing the product. You are seen as being a walking advertisement. It is inevitable that someone will ask you where you got the product. They will inquire as to how they can locate the exact same thing. This is where it all starts.
This tried and tested form of marketing has been pushed to the curb with the arrival of technology. Thousands of people can now be reached on the Internet. The problem with this is that millions of other people are attempting to achieve exactly the same. We are all competing against each other to get the same audience, and the competition is immense.
There is a possibility that you are the sole person in your city or neighborhood with an online business which performs the service that you provide. Local businesses can network with you in order to meet their needs. Well, each and every one of those businesses can in actual fact recommend you to their clients, who may not live in your city or neighborhood. These people of course, have friends and business associates that they can then recommend your services to.
It is the same as that commercial for shampoo that was on the television. In it was a girl with beautiful hair who informed two of her friends about the shampoo. Those two friends told two of their friends and so on. This is an accurate form of word of mouth marketing.
However, do not rely on this to grow your business. It is necessary for you to go out and mingle with others. When conducting business via the Internet, it is simple to become a hermit. Clients are contacted over the Internet; you make phone calls, and possibly go out for supplies. The circle of your influence extends to family. That really is not going to assist you.
Your influence needs to be widened by expanding your list of contacts. Participate in such events like church activities and other civic organizations. Build personal level relationships with people and then work on a professional type of relationship. Churches are sitting on a wealth of resources that they are not even aware of.
There are a wide variety of different people that attend church, such as administrators, business owners, construction workers, doctors, lawyers, teachers etc; the list is endless. The possibility of forming new contacts is also endless. It simply takes one person to speak your name or to mention your business to get the ball rolling. Do not discount the influence of passing the word.
Use RSS Feeds to Bring Visitors Back to Your Site
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tool which enables people that use the internet for the purposes of subscribing to content that they are interested in.
This assists people in monitoring information that they value without the need to go online and search for it every time they sit at the computer. For instance, blogs, forums, and websites can all be subscribed to. When subscribing to these, any new content is posted, emailed to you, or appears on a reader. A reader is basically a collector of all information that a person subscribes to.
When it comes to marketing and business, an RSS feed benefits business owners due to it ensuring that a message reaches their proposed audience. Content and promotions automatically appear in their mailboxes for easy read access.
There are a variety of options available with RSS feeds. It is possible for business owners to:
• Send all full length blog posts to readers.
• Send articles in their entirety to subscribers.
• Send extracts of blog posts with links to your site.
• Send extracts of articles to subscribers.
• Send promotional messages, contests, coupons etc.
• Send reviews of relevant products.
• Send top industry stories on a daily basis.
• Send weekly highlights together with links back to your site to enable readers to peruse entire posts at your site.
It is these options that return readers and prospects back to your site. For example, it is great for subscribers when you send them a full length article, because they do not have to click on anything. The article will appear right in front of them without them doing any work. However, sending an extract or a captivating headline to subscribers will encourage them to click on the link which will take them directly back to your company website.
The key to bringing readers back to your site is to deliver a headline which will grab their attention. Avoiding this step will result in fewer clicks to your site, and who wants that at the end of the day? I think that you will agree that no-one wants to achieve that result.
Another way in which you can encourage readers to return to your site is to continue to send them a full article, including an advertisement, promotion, or even a simple embedded link direct in the feed. By doing this, even article scanners have the opportunity to click and take advantage of the promotions that are being offered and readers with an interest will click on text links, which will send them directly to your business website or sales page.
There are countless opportunities for both readers and business owners when using RSS. It is imperative that you are resourceful, pay attention to how your readers prefer to network online, and provide the experience that they wish for. This way, they will keep returning for more, resulting in you receiving more traffic and more profits.
