Word-of-mouth: Never underestimate its power

The cheapest form of marketing you’ll ever find is word-of-mouth but, how can you nurture it and keep the positive chatter flowing in order to increase referrals?

The first step is that your venue must perform extremely well in order for customers to say good things about you. The second step is to find a way to monitor what people are saying and for this the best answer is social media.

There are a many creative ways that social media can increase referrals and it offers a direct dialogue with your customers/potential customers before they’ve even walked through the doors. Here’s a few ideas to harness the power of word-of-mouth …

Create a ‘wow’ experience

A good experience occurs for a customer when they have that ‘wow’ factor. It could be your staff going out of their way, for instance the bar manager giving away free glasses of champagne to someone celebrating a significant birthday, bumping into a celebrity in the restaurant or even stocking a very high profile and exclusive product. Even something as simple as having vanity units in the toilets to create a proper powder room for women can cause a buzz.

Interact directly using social media

If a customer checks-in on Facebook or Tweets about being in your venue, then thank them for visiting and be sure to use their name. It’s a good idea to monitor your mentions using one of the various platforms available such as Hootsuite.

Offer incentives, for example if followers share your posts then they will be entered into a competition for a free meal or drinks. A high value prize can really increase that chance of being discussed and increase positive word-of-mouth action.

Finding out what people are saying about you is invaluable. You can find out what you’re doing well but, it also gives you an important opportunity to resolve any negative experiences that people may have had. 

Remember that you can’t please everyone – we’re all human and can be terribly picky, so don’t worry over someone disliking the way that you fold your napkins, but tackle the real issues, for example, bad service, bad quality food, long waiting times, bad hygiene standards, dirty or worn out menus, a shabby interior – these are the things that can really put people off!

Encourage reviews

More and more people turn to review sites when deciding on where to visit so, it’s important to make sure you have up to date profile pages full of good reviews.

The trick is getting the good reviews in the first place, so make it easy and ask your staff to target customers who may be interested in providing a review. Produce cards that invites customers to share their feedback and include details of the official review sites that you use. 

It’s also a good idea to monitor all of your social platforms to find positive reviews. If you find a customer praising you, interact with them and ask them to provide feedback on one of your official review sites.

Whether you’re opening a venue, designing a drinks menu or planning an event, we can help. We’ll work with you to create tailormade strategic plans, so get in touch today.