Referral Programs Are a Necessity

Does your business have a referral program in place? Are you doing any kind of referral marketing? If not, you probably should consider putting something in place.

Why? Because referrals are the best, most cost-effective and simplest new customers to get. If you don't have a referral program in place than you're missing out on new business. If your customers/clients are truly happy with the product or service you're providing, than referrals should come to you without you even asking.

After doing some research this week for a different project, I came across some best practices in referral marketing. Here are a couple of ideas that are inexpensive and effective:

• Give three business cards to every client you have. Ask them to hand your cards out to prospects who could benefit from your product or service.
• Add a line to your email signatures with a link to your referral program or just add a statement about your program.
  
• If you use social media sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn, add your referral program to your signature or post.
• Most importantly - Ask! If you don't ask, you won't get the referral.

Your referral program doesn't have to be anything fancy or formal, but I would advise implementing a couple of tactics that at least inform your audience that you are looking for new business.

Constructing an incentive into your referral program is completely up to you. In some industries a monetary gift for a referral can be seen as inappropriate or unnecessary. While others - specifically in the B2C world - can be exactly what is needed to really drive in new referrals.

Hopefully you've picked up a couple of ideas that you can implement into your business right away.