When Relying on Word of Mouth Marketing Hurts Your Business enterprise by Beverly

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

Outstanding strategy, suitable? Sadly, relying on word of mouth advertising alone can drive you straight into the poor house.

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

Here's the most fascinating part ...

The owner of the dance studio is a skilled 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 around.

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 searching forward to teaching them had to get other issues to do this summer.

Why did this take place?

Just like several coaches, the studio owner was relying on two points:

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

two. That her present students will tell other people all about their superb dance teacher!

Clearly, this was not sufficient to get even more persons in the doors. The very same thing occurs in coaching companies every single 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 carried out differently? Here are just a few tips:

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

two. I would've also developed an exciting event to attract far more attention from the neighborhood community, media, schools, and other businesses: open home, dance expo, etc. (This is even a lot more significant in coaching taking into consideration there are thousands of coaches obtainable these days at a click of a button.)

three. I would've gone from school to school - where the best 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 fully changed my life! I am still grateful that she had the guts to market.

In other words, I would be considerably alot more pro-active rather of waiting and hoping for referrals.

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