The Best Marketing Channels Are the Ones That Work in Your Sleep
I know I’m not the first to tell you that, as a marketer, it’s getting harder to find marketing channels that generate high-quality leads.
Email marketing, Social Media Marketing, SEO, and the list of marketing channels are endless.
And what do they all require? Active management. Time, energy, and work!
Let’s face it: in 2020, what we need is smarter work. Using the same, tired tactics isn’t going to cut it anymore.
You need to figure out a way to make your voice heard. To stand out from the crowd.
So, what if I told you there was a smarter way to generate high-quality leads?
What if I told you that out of the endless list of marketing channels out there, there is one that works for you, even while you sleep?
I’m talking about Referral Marketing.
Referral Marketing is where you use your existing customers to generate your new leads, and then you reward them for that new business.
Think of it like this: you manufacture the world’s greatest socks. They’re fuzzy and warm and have awesome designs on the toes. Your customer, Tanya, loves your socks. She buys a pair a week.
Tanya is customer gold. What if you could partner with Tanya to help her save some money and help you bring in new customers?
Maybe every time Tanya refers a new customer, they both get 20% off their order.
That’s referral marketing! Now you have more business from Tanya and a new customer! And both of them have warm socks for the winter, nice!
Referrals pay for themselves
Referrals are gold. You’re getting high-quality leads from people who already use your product. Without having to pay the high price from other marketing channels.
Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at some of these stats!
- People referred by friends are 4x more likely to make a purchase
- Referred customers have an 18% lower churn rate than non-referrals
- Customers referred to your referral program are 5x more likely to participate
Look at this: when your customer, Tanya, refers her friend, Michelle to your sock shop, Michelle is 4 times more likely to purchase a pair of socks. And, she’s 18% less likely to stop shopping at your store.
And, if Tanya refers her to your referral program, she’s 5 times more likely to participate in your program.
Boom. You now have another person generating leads for you.
Referrals in your sleep
This is why I call referral marketing “the marketing channel that works in your sleep.”
All you have to do is get the ball rolling, and your leads will begin to grow.
It’s definitely an investment (you will start out small), but over time, your leads will grow. And those leads will generate additional leads. You’ll end up with a continuous supply of new, high-quality customers who help you get new business.
And they get a nice reward for bringing you new business. Win-win!
Everything you need to launch your referral program
You’re probably thinking, “That’s awesome.”
Trust me, it’s not as hard as you think. Let me walk you through it.
Table of Contents
Step one: Model your program
The first thing you’re going to do is to get some inspiration for your referral program. There are 1000s of companies using very successful referral systems, so why not borrow from the best? In need of some ideas? Check out our Referral Program Hall of Fame to spark your creativity.
Odds are, there’ll be a program that works for you. From there, you can mix and match and customize each step of the program to your needs, but an existing template is a great start!
Step two: Set a reward
Everybody loves a reward! It’s important to make your customers feel valued and appreciated, especially since you’re entering into a mutually beneficial relationship.
You don’t have to shell out a tremendous amount of money (decide which rewards are right for your business), but it’s important to make your customer feel valued. This isn’t a coupon — this is a reward for bringing you new business.
Also, decide if you want to do a single or dual (double-sided) reward. A single reward is straightforward: your referrer gets a reward.
A dual reward rewards both your referrer and their new business. So when your customer Gordon refers his friend Barrett, both of them get a reward.
This is more attractive but more costly. It’s up to you to decide which strategy you’ll take.
Step three: Define your terms
No, this isn’t a high school English essay, it’s just good business.
You need to define what a successful referral is.
Set very clear, unambiguous rules for success so your customers are very clear on when they get the reward. Less confusion = fewer headaches.
Step four: Get the word out
Now you have to tell your customers about your referral program. Check out our article on influencer tracking too, it will show you how you can use the same campaign to track both customer and influencer referrals!
It means building terms pages, writing copy for the program, and figuring out how to send your customers all those referral links.
And, of course, tracking their successes.
Wait a second, didn’t you say this was going to be easy?
Yes… well, it can be.
This is the part where most referral programs run into trouble. It can be really hard to launch a program from the ground up once you get into the weeds.
But that’s why we built the Referral Factory.
Referral Factory takes this load off of your shoulders. It helps you set up the nitty-gritty of the referral program, allowing you to execute easy-to-customize referral marketing.
You select from 1000s of preexisting templates, choose your own rewards, customize with your own branding, and then let Referral Factory’s software do the heavy lifting.
No coding, no complicated backend.
And then the program works for you.
Get started with Referral Factory
Ready to take the plunge? Want to generate leads while you sleep?
Ready to market smarter to stand out from the crowd?
Sign up to build your own referral program with Referral Factory. It takes literally five minutes.
It’s great software that empowers marketers to convert their customers into business partners.
Win-win.
for your business using AI
