Why Growing Businesses Give a Damn About Referral Marketing
Growing a business ain’t easy, Bubba. It’s 2019, and pumping advertising dollars into declining mediums like television, radio and print copy are proving less effective at appealing to the modern consumer, which in turn stagnates otherwise profitable businesses. It’s time to join 33 million other Americans to cut-the-cord by relying on some good ol’ statistically proven referral marketing.
Who gives a damn
Let’s consider the facts in social media consumption habits of U.S. adults according to the Pew Research Center as of February of 2019:
• 72 percent use at least one social media platform
• 90 percent of 18 – 29-year old’s are using at least one social media platform
• 69 percent use Facebook.
• 73 percent use YouTube.
• 37 percent use Instagram
If you’re not impressed with these results, you should be. This is the holy grail of untapped potential for your business – and ultimately – people who give a damn. Another upside? These social media platforms are free – give-or-take paid promotions or advertising at minimal cost. Another upside? “92 percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising,” according to Nielsen Holdings, an American information, data and measurement firm.
The takeaway? Referral marketing is in and traditional advertising is out. Consumers trust the people they know and do so largely through word-of-mouth, social media sharing, resharing and posting. The word on your business is in the mouth – and digital devices – of the consumers you’re trying to reach.
The damn impact
It’s time to get personal. My cat had been missing from home for the past three days. A neighbor informed us she’d seen one way up their some-50-foot tree in their backyard. Low and behold, it was our missing cat. After hours of attempts at coaxing, hosing and failed attempts at climbing the tree, our feline wouldn’t budge.
One Google search later, we’d found a local tree service company, Blue Dog Tree Service, owned and operated by a young 19 year old named Lane. It was his first rescue call to ascend a tree to remove a frightened animal, yet with a broken foot, ascended 45 feet to safely – despite some scratches – recover our cat.
Since then, I’ve referred this ambitious young entrepreneur through family, friends, Google and Facebook reviews with photo documentation and glowing reviews of our safely returned cat to help grow this young man’s business. My recommendation got him a gig with my mother in need of a little tree trimming herself.
The damn point
I’m sure we all have our anecdotes we’ve either shared, posted or discussed at some point either online or with friends and family. These personal references are the key to growing businesses, small and large, to their utmost modern potential.
The days of impersonal television advertising aren’t lost, mind you. Television advertising remains one of the largest money-pits for major advertisers regardless of its declining impact toward consumers.
“Although television advertising will remain a primary way marketers connect with audiences due to its unmatched reach compared to other media, consumers around the world continue to see recommendations from friends and online consumer opinions as by far the most credible,” says Randall Beard from Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. “As a result, successful brand advertisers will seek ways to better connect with consumers and leverage their good-will in the form of consumer feedback and experiences.”