5 Ways People Are Your Best Marketing Tool
With the rise of influencer marketing, it’s no shock that some of the greatest brand influence comes from people. Now, brands are working with influencers and advocates more than ever to drive sales. Here are 5 ways people can be your best marketing tool.
People Are Trending
Brand influencers are now trending. It’s the easiest way for brands to get the word out there, and they don’t even have to hire anyone. Typically, the influencer will get a portion of sales directly related to their influence. So, for example, fashion bloggers who drive sales of what they’re wearing will be given a portion of those sales. Sites like Reward Style and Shop Style are good examples of this model.
Brands will seek out influencers (and often celebrity endorsers) to represent their brand. As an added bonus, this type of marketing requires very little work on the part of the brand. There is usually some type of contract involved for posterity, but the influencer is responsible for content development (always a perk for a brand), and ensuring that their audience (typically a very large one at that) is given a call to action.
People Are Vocal Advocates
People who are advocates of your company, product, services, etc. are already your best marketing tool. They’ve had an experience with you, it was a good one, and now they’re either going to tell their circle of influence or their circle is going to start asking them questions. Voila. Instant marketing. People have other people, who have their own people and on and on. This is how network marketing is structured, and there’s no reason you can’t use that idea for your own business growth.
People Are Loyal
Most people have a brand that they love. I know many people who will go out of their way to visit a certain business because it has exactly what they want. This brand loyalty translates into return business for you, and return business is always an excellent marketing opportunity. An excellent example of this happened to me last month. I went shopping at a popular clothing store, and I was given a loyalty reward: a coupon for a discount on my next purchase, but I had to come back to the store at a future time to claim the reward. This is an excellent marketing tactic; it kept me happy as the (loyal) customer, and guaranteed the brand that I would make another purchase in the future.
Customer Service is Key
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given up a brand because I had poor customer service. It really does matter, people (pun intended)! Excellent customer service starts with excellent people. Hiring customer service managers who are friendly, informed, and diligent is a marketing tool in and of itself. You can be sure that positive experiences in this arena will generate more sales (see tip #2).
People Have Short Attention Spans
I know this sounds like a negative thing, but stay with me on this. By now, you’ve heard of things going “viral.” Videos, products, companies, and brands go “viral” because we have short attention spans. When we like something, we share it instantly and the reach is vast. Infinite, even. So as a marketer (or business owner), use this to your advantage. When something is shared, instantly react (think responding to social posts, etc) and you have an interaction that, though brief, will create a lasting impression (this is important: see tips 1–4) that will an advantage to you in the future. Samsung, Taco Bell, and Apple all have excellent examples of this (see this post from Mashable).
