TweetI read an interesting post at Microgeist that discussed the differences between traditional and social marketing.
This article discussed (among other things) one very important new relationship or communication channel that has grown since the popularity of social media has increased.
Traditional marketing (print, television and radio) is very one sided —
Your company communicating to your POTENTIAL customer about your business
New Media (Blogs, Video and Social Networking) has changed things —
Your EXISTING customer communicating to your POTENTIAL customer about your business
Social media has made Customer To Customer communication and thus REFERRALS commonplace.
Why bold and capitalize the word referrals?
As a small business owner myself I know the power of referrals. There is absolutely nothing better than a customer that comes to you after being referred from a friend or colleague. They instantly trust you because they trust their friend or colleague.
Trust. They trust that you will deliver on the service you claim that you provide. They trust that the product you are offering does what it claims. They trust that you will treat them well as a customer. When people trust you, they will willingly hand over their hard earned money.
People are becoming friends and colleagues online. People that have never met one another but share common interests and goals and help each other out. They are talking about your business and industry in Social Media channels. They are REFERRING friends and colleagues to other companies. If you are not a part of the conversation – your competition will be.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My comment:
I am wondering how I can take my book (The product I wish to market) and apply your methodology of COMMUNICATING. I have written and completed for marketing my book “From Red Star to Spangled Banner”. This is what you wrote above:
1. Your company communicating to your POTENTIAL customer about your business.
2. Your EXISTING customer communicating to your POTENTIAL customer about your business.
While I understand the scenario you presented. Still, I am not selling gadgets that people need. A new book is an unknown entity at best. It is exactly that to all strangers, until they take a chance to read it and not to mention purchase it. So, how can I provide the potential audience the urge, to purchase my creation? There are gazillions of books out there, like stars in the Universe.
I guess if I were the reader, I would pick the “shiniest star” metaphorically speaking. I must get the value or generate interest to the customers who inherently are target for my story. Than, they will purchase it, provided I did a descent job at it.
This is where I need guidance.
Dale Attila Fogarasi
Your book is about your life story… the story of a Hungarian immigrant that came to the United States and became a patriot of the US. There are several possible markets that would be interested in this book:
1. Hungarians
2. Immigrants
3. Patriotic Americans
4. People That Want To Know More About You
Find these people online and begin a discussion with them.