Referrals are the kind of marketing every brand wants more of. They can bring in new business through people who already know and trust the brand. For sales reps, it’s about showing marketers how branded merchandise can help turn happy customers into advocates.
Marketing Sherpa’s Daniel Burstein says a strong referral strategy is about more than simply asking customers to spread the word. It means knowing who to ask, finding the right moment, giving people a reason to recommend the brand and making the process easy.
In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share his insights on how marketers can build a referral strategy that turns satisfied customers into brand advocates.
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- Help marketers think beyond the one-time giveaway. According to Burstein, a referral strategy works best as an ongoing program rather than a one-off campaign. That means merch reps can look for repeatable opportunities where branded products make sense, like customer onboarding or appreciation events.
- Pay attention to timing. When customers are happy, seize that opportunity to ask for a referral. Maybe it’s after a successful project, a renewal or another positive milestone. Those moments can also be natural opportunities for a thoughtful branded gift or thank-you item.
- Think about who’s getting the merch. Not every customer is equally likely to become an advocate. Burstein points to a cleaning company that increased referral conversions by targeting its most satisfied customers instead of asking everyone. For merch reps, that’s a reminder to ask marketers who they’re trying to turn into advocates before recommending products.
- Give people something worth sharing. Referral incentives don’t always have to be the same thing. According to Burstein, people may refer a brand because it makes them feel helpful, knowledgeable or connected. That opens the door for merch reps to suggest useful, well-designed products that customers will want to receive and use.
- Make the brand easy to recommend. Burstein says customers are spending social capital when they refer a company. They need to feel confident that the recommendation will reflect well on them. That makes the overall customer experience — and the proof points marketers provide — especially important. Merch can reinforce that experience when it’s thoughtful and aligned with the brand.
- Look beyond the official referral program. Burstein recommends tracking referrals and monitoring brand mentions across social media, review sites, forums and other channels. Those conversations can reveal enthusiastic advocates as well as unhappy customers. For merch reps, that’s another reason to think of branded merchandise as part of a larger customer experience, not a standalone tactic.
The best referral strategies give people a reason to talk about a brand. Merch won’t create that advocacy on its own, but the right product at the right moment can help make a positive customer experience more memorable — and give people something worth talking about.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Daniel Burstein, senior director, content and marketing, MarketingSherpa and MECLABS Institute.
