What is word of mouth?
Word of mouth is what people are saying about your business.
If what people are saying about your business is positive, word of mouth can be a great business generator. However, negative word of mouth can be a business killer.
So as a small business owner, you want to not only be aware of word of mouth but seed positive word of mouth as much as possible.
Some of the ways to generate positive word of mouth are straightforward. Providing good products and good customer service will go a long ways toward getting people to say good things about your small business to others.
But you can also help build good word of mouth by working to present a positive image of your business and bringing that positive image to the public's attention. That's one reason big corporations are all into social responsibility now; they figure it will make their companies look good and hopefully generate some positive buzz for them.
As a small business, visibly working to make your community a better place will certainly help build positive word of mouth for you.
You can also build positive word of mouth by soliciting testimonials from satisfied customers. These can be used on your website, on your Facebook page, in your advertising, posted in your store... wherever they will be visible to the public and seed a positive image of your small business.
Because so much of word of mouth occurs online now, many companies also monitor what people are saying online about them. Applications that monitor your business's online reputation can make this easier.
10 Ways to Grow Positive Word of Mouth details how you can use word of mouth to increase your small business's customer base.
