What better way is there to market your product or services than to have someone do it for you? I’m specifically talking about letting customers market for you. They do this through word-of-mouth referrals and some even write on their own blogs. Then, there are customers who are avid Facebook and Twitter users who love to share their experiences with their “Friend” community. That’s electric marketing!
Ways to Reward Customers
To get customers to blog and talk about your business, you can hire them as blog writers or reward them with other incentives. Both ways work very well, but the best and most genuine marketing comes from customers who have no vested interest in your company. In other words, they will speak the truth, paid or not, free products or not. It’s actually the best way to see how your company measures up to others in the industry. You may be even to glean ideas on what you can do to improve the company’s image and performance. Yes, customer’s tend to be honest like that.
My Experience as a Paid (?) Blogger
A short while ago, I was an incentive-paid blogger for a local business in my community. It was a place that I frequented and felt that it had so much potential to serve the community in more than one aspect. I approached the owner and we worked out an agreement for me to blog about them on Facebook in return for a free service. Now before I was the blogger for them, I could be completely objective and was full of (un)-solicited advice all day long! However, once I became a part of the staff (in a round-about way), I felt the need to sing their praises in all things, good or bad. It wasn’t what I felt in my heart, but I felt I had to do this because I represented the company in a way. It wasn’t the best situation to work in and we both mutually agreed to end the business relationship. I went back to being a customer and they went back to being a business.
One reason why my situation didn’t work was because the focus was removed on improving the company’s service quality and was placed more on making the company “look good.” Yes, this is important, but it’s way more important to actually have something good to offer than empty words. Also, as a blogger, I wasn’t able to be objective any longer since I was “paid.” Bloggers are always under pressure to deliver and satisfy their clients, no matter what.
Speaking the Truth
Therefore, the ideal marketing situation for customers to blog about your company is to allow them to be themselves and speak their reviews, whichever way they go. Of course you can and should offer incentives, free products or even compensation where you can, but don’t focus on that so much. Be honest with the customers and tell them you want them to write or review your company and give their honest opinions on Facebook, Twitter or the social networking platform of their choice. Track their comments and follow up with comments of your own about their experiences. This makes you look good and makes your company seem genuine. People always want to do business with companies who don’t mind taking a little constructive criticism and who make efforts to improve their business standards. It all turns out to be a win-win situation.
