If I ask you the source of most of your new customers, you’re going to tell me "referrals."
The truth of that is borne out by a recent Borrell Associates "Chart of the Week," in which 46 percent of businesses said referrals from customers do the best job of providing them with new customers.
Another 21 percent mentioned referrals from friends or family, and 17 percent said professional referrals work best. Altogether, 58 percent of the 594 businesses surveyed mentioned referrals of one kind or another.
As a digital marketer, my shoulders slump a little when business people talk about personal referrals. At first blush, you might think there’s not much a digital marketer can do to enhance referrals. More on that in a moment.
The role of digital marketing
The Borrell chart has good news for digital marketers, too. Of those surveyed, 44 percent said a social media platform does the best job of providing new customers. Facebook was mentioned by 33 percent of the respondents, ranking just behind customer referrals.
In third place? Search engine marketing, aka search ads like Google Ads, with 23 percent.
Other leading sources were the company website, 16 percent; events or sponsorships, 13 percent; broadcast radio, 12 percent; website ads, 10 percent; newspapers, and 10 percent.
Reinforcing personal referrals
Let’s revisit the personal referrals because I believe online marketing plays a role there, too. Think about what happens after a potential customer gets a referral from a friend or colleague. They go online to learn more.
That means your website needs to answer any questions they might have and provide accessible contact information. It also means online business profiles – on Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc. – should show up-to-date reviews with four- and five-star ratings along with your responses to any negative reviews.
At a few different levels, digital marketing plays a role in how your business attracts new customers. If you need help with it, you know a guy.
Jargon-busting: Call to action
Sometimes, websites with great information underperform because they fall short when telling site visitors what to do next. That’s where calls to action come into play.
In digital marketing, a call to action is a phrase, a link, or a button that encourages a customer or potential customer to take the next step. They should appear frequently on websites, landing pages, social media posts, and emails so people know what they are expected to do next. "Buy now," "Subscribe," "Get Your Free Updates," and "Learn More" are examples of calls to action.
The next newsletter arrives Sept. 10. By then, the NFL season will be underway, and we’ll have a pretty good idea of who will be competing in the Major League Baseball post-season. (I’m afraid it’s already "Wait ‘til next year" for my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates.)
In the U.S., we’ll be celebrating Labor Day with a long weekend, Aug. 31 through Sept. 2. Sept. 4 is National Newspaper Carrier Day. I’m not sure how many newspaper carriers are left, but it might be a good day to celebrate those like me, whose very first job was delivering newspapers.
Until next time, be grateful. Be generous. Be patient. Love.
Thanks for spending some of your time with me, . I appreciate you.
Mark
P.S. - This newsletter was 100 percent created by me, a human.
P.P.S. - Some links in this email might be affiliate links, which could generate small commissions for me at no extra cost to you.
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