We Get All Our Business Through Referrals
One of the most common phrases I hear from companies that sell B2B is that they, “get all their business through referrals.” This is generally some type of response to explain to you why they don’t do more marketing. And while referral business is outstanding - especially sense it reiterates your customer experience value - it’s not a marketing strategy. So my response to this is simple - how else would you get business?
If your strategy is to build your business on referrals only - even if it works for you currently - it will not scale as quickly as a full marketing strategy. Referrals grow like a expanding funnel, and can take years and the right timing to expand at a rapid pace.
Combining referrals with a marketing strategy expands your “funnel” faster. How? Here are a few tips on what you can add to your strategy:
Reviews = Referrals
Do you have a review strategy? Or do you have a few reviews on Facebook, a few on Google, a few on tour website, and a few scattered around the internet? Harness the power of these reviews with a plan to highlight them in one place. This will help drive SEO as people search for info on your company. And good reviews - even if they are strangers to those reading them - act as referrals for your business.
Targeted Referrals
Have you ever asked your clients for a referral? Have you ever included some of your current top clients in your process to build a prospect list? If done correctly, both of these strategies can pay huge dividends. Tools like LinkedIn make it very easy to determine who your current clients know that you might like to know/target. Dive into their network and discuss with them their willingness to refer you to a certain number of contacts.
Repurpose Referrals
We talk about content all the time. But what is more powerful, you telling others how great your business is - or your clients telling them. Use quotes, reviews, or ideally videos (all with permission of course) of them recommending your business to harness referral content. You can share this multiple times on multiple platforms, and it will have huge residual value.
As you can see, there’s nothing wrong with referral business - but it could be even better with the right marketing strategy around it.
Need help with strategies like this? Please reach out to Daniel Smith at dsmith@marketretrievers.com or call 423.503.0388 to start a discussion.