When Relying on Word of Mouth Advertising and marketing Hurts Your Home business by Fehhn Laheg

Word of mouth advertising and marketing is the oldest form of advertising and marketing: Jane likes Joe's product, so she tells her buddy Ellen about it. Ellen tries Joe's product, likes it, too, then tells her friend Jim about it. And so on.

Great technique, correct? Regrettably, relying on word of mouth advertising and marketing alone can drive you straight into the poor house.

My nine-year-old daughter was actually upset this week. We received an e-mail from her dance teacher that all dance camps this summer had been canceled due to low enrollment. I couldn't think it! This is the very first dance studio she truly loves and was waiting for their summer camp the with perfect anticipation!

Here's the most fascinating part ...

The owner of the dance studio is a expert dancer who teaches ALL styles of dance, and works as a professor at a nearby college's dance department. Plus, she is a delight to be about.

But none of that mattered when it came to filling her studio with students and campers.

Both weeks had been under-enrolled, her young students AND her dance apprentices who had been seeking forward to teaching them had to discover other items to do this summer.

Why did this take place?

Just like various coaches, the studio owner was relying on two things:

1. That her current students will enroll - right after all, they already know how perfect she is!

2. That her present students will tell others all about their excellent dance teacher!

Clearly, this was not sufficient to get more men and women in the doors. The exact same factor occurs in coaching companies each and every day: coaches waiting for their satisfied customers to spread the word and rave about them, hoping this will fill their practice.

What would I have performed differently? Here are just a few tips:

1. I would've given each and every client a reward for bringing yet another person in the doors (e.g. a month of totally free admission, a gift certificate, etc.)

2. I would've also produced an exciting event to attract alot more attention from the nearby community, media, schools, and other companies: open home, dance expo, and so on. (This is even even more essential in coaching considering there are thousands of coaches accessible today at a click of a button.)

three. I would've gone from school to school - exactly where the excellent candidates congregate - passing out coupons and invitations, or even asking school principal to slip it into the students' weekly folder. Heck, that's how my music teacher discovered ME and completely changed my life! I am still grateful that she had the guts to market.

In other words, I would be significantly more pro-active instead of waiting and hoping for referrals.

Advertising takes guts! But also, most experts - dancers, coaches, healers - believe that advertising is evil. Try telling it to my nine-year-old, who won't have a chance to dance this summer just given that her teacher didn't market sufficient.