Jay Baer brought the concept of friend-of-mine marketing to life in his latest book, “Youtility.” In his book, Baer shares numerous examples of businesses that successfully made the shift from top-of-mind to friend-of-mine marketing. There’s the pool installation company that teetered on the brink of collapse until they started answering questions that customers had about pools on their website. By becoming an information source, they secured their future and took their business to a new level. Another example from the book is a taxi company that started passing out flyers to each of their customers, sharing the best places in town to eat, dance, get your computer fixed, etc. They weren’t directly advertising their taxi service so much as they were providing the inside scoop on the neighborhood, providing the kind of information you’d ask your friends about. Just like with the pool company, this strategy resulted in a pretty lucrative taxi business.
These businesses utilized friend-of-mine marketing strategies to change the way they were perceived by current and potential customers. Rather than being viewed as simply purveyors of a product or service, they were recognized as valuable resources within their communities.
Have you made this shift in your business?
Wendy Forsythe is Executive Vice President/ Head of Global Operations at Carrington Real Estate Services.
For more information, visit www.carringtonrealestate.com/join.