Word-of-mouth: Is it the best way to gain work?
Is word-of-mouth really the best way to gain work? That is the question I often think about. To me it is the simplest way to get a new contract. Basically you sit back and let someone that you’ve done work for in the past spread the word about you. You may get a call regarding your services or you may not, but at least you know that someone is spreading the good word about you.
Is it good practice to ask the person to spread the word about you? I can understand maybe asking for a testimonial to be put onto your website, but is asking them to tell everyone they know that you’re a good creative professional? I just don’t like the feeling of telling them to do something like that. I can only hope that they do that for your growth, both in the business world and for your own self well-being.
Other than word-of-mouth from past clients – what do you think would be the best way to get the word out about your company? Any tips?
Author Info: Jason Adams
I received my degree in Commercial Art and Design in 2002, and regularly attend seminars to keep up with the latest in web technology.
I’m actually fighting with this myself. I agree that word of mouth is a great business tool, but soliciting it is a bit uncomfortable. I think word of mouth should be an extra benefit of knowing you did a great job for your customer/client. Hoping they were satisfied enough to pass on the good word about the job or service you did. Asking for it just seems…awkward. It should be complimentary. Seeking it somehow cheapens it in my opinion.
Jason-
Thanks for contributing to the site, it’s appreciated.
In general and in my opinion word-of-mouth is the best way to gain new business. It’s driven mine for years. I have not paid for advertising or marketing once.
I do not ask my clients to spread the word, they do it themselves. I always ask my new clients where they heard about my work. This then answers the questions of which of your clients is referring you.
You do have to be careful about word-of-mouth, as it can be good and bad. If your pricing is too high – people will say that you’re too expensive, if it’s too low people will say you do cheap work and do you really want everyone saying that about your business? The bottomline is, if you don’t have a strategy your word-of-mouth advertising could damage your business in some ways.
As for other avenues to gain more work / clients – there are tons of them. Do what’s right for your client, advise them truthfully, do above average work, and stand behind what you do best – and the referrals will come.
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AG
Word of mouth always works best when it’s natural and not forced. When you ask someone to recommend you it will most likely come of as a sales pitch where normally. You would rather just impress the person enough that they would mention you if it comes up as part of the natural conversation. This then seems more genuine and will probably have a better chance of getting you work.
Jason,
Not only do I rely on word-of-mouth, I’ll ask my clients for it. Make it worth both your whiles. I often ask my clients for referrals. I usually set it up in a way that’s beneficial to both of us. If they bring me a new lead that pays off, I offer them X amount of hours or a percentage of the project. Your clients are your best advertising. If they love what you do, if you’re showing them results, they’ll be able to sell you to someone else better than you can. Coming from you, it may sound like a pitch, but coming from your client, it’s a referral that’s often times more trusted.
~M
I must say I agree with Atom. From my stand point it seems that I don’t hear people talking about me, so I assume they aren’t. However I wouldn’t make it a recommended practice to ask them to do so. I have heard on occasion instances where people have name dropped me, and it almost means more when you don’t have to suggest it. Word-of-mouth in the terms that is talked about here, is supposed to be based on what people want to talk about. Businesses like Google, and facebook thrived on it in the beginning. Making people question and search to see what something really is all about. Now anyone who is on the internet, or watches TV knows about these companies in some way. Let your works speak and sell itself. If it is good enough, and WOW-ing; people will practically beg for your info.
So don’t get to cocky, and just be assured the people talk, and even if you don’t hear it…doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Sure we would all love to be the HOT topic on every business professionals mind. The reality is they are all looking for something and when they see it they will ask questions.
Also I make a point to include a small stack of business cards in with final projects. Maybe this makes me a hypocrite of everything I have stated previous, but if people do ask questions they will have something to give them.
Jason,
I believe everyone’s response is hitting at the same place with varying degrees (if that even makes sense). Word of mouth truly is the best advertising for any business, but I tend to agree with Matt in this instance. I don’t believe it is “cocky” to ask people to remember you when any one of their contacts starts to talk about their next design project. As Alan stated, I always put a couple business cards in with my final project. After a project has been completed, I ALWAYS make it a point to write my client a “thank you” note…a handwritten note on a card with my logo on it. In it I ask them to remember to refer me if they had a good experience and liked what I did for them. Those notes take 5 minutes, but I’ve had the best response from them. It’s not a hard-sell tactic, just some good old fashion customer service (which seems to be dying these days). As Atom said, word of mouth can be both bad and good, but you have to take the good with the bad. Do good work, be a pleasure to work with, do right by them and advise them well and you wont have a problem. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for referrals.
Our very own personal network is powerful and extends far behind anything you can imagine, I’ve experienced that for myself this past year. Use your personal network to expand your business, and most of that would be through word of mouth. We are all in the business of selling ourselves, and sometimes that is the hardest thing to sell.
Yea, word of mouth is cool and 99% of my freelance work has originated from WOM but your last question is what’s the best way to get your name out about your company? The BEST way could be debated until the cows come home. What if studios, agency’s, freelancers actually did what they sell and advertise? What would that look like? I’ve seen some print ads for creative studios in various regional publications and they are nothing to jump and down about, nothing witty or creative.
Is it costly? It could be, what if your budget was zero, what could you do? Gorilla stuff comes to mind, how creative would you be willing to go? We have somethings cooking up for an event in May that will be little to no cost at all, but will open poeples eyes up to how to creative NWI can be.
If you really want clients you’ll need a plan, you’ll need to burn the box and stand on the ashes. Don’t ask permission ask forgiveness.
I had a client that was opening a fitness club, to get the word out about the launch we made huge cakes and covered them in icing and hand delivered them to every office building within 5 minutes of the club, at the bottom of the cake was a message about, how they ate all the cake and now need a way to burn it off. We tracked the response and 30% of the opening members joined the club based off an idea of sending a 4 dollar cake to offices.
Remember when the client is you, be creatively reckless and reap the rewards.
Wow! The response here has been great. Alot of great points to consider.
@Tom A. McDonald Thanks for the reply. I agree that asking flat out for the client to spread the word sorta cheapens the deal. More the reason to think of creative ways to market yourself. Joseph Gonzalez brought up some good ways to just do that.
@Atom Groom Great to see that word-of-mouth has worked out the best for you. Nice to hear that you don’t need to mention that to the client either, they just do it.
@Richard Orelup Totally agree, natural and not forced upon the client is the way to go.
@Matt Valuckis That is a different approach from the other responses. And one that I should consider. Asking your client to refer you by offering X amount of hours or a percentage is a great incentive.
@Alan M Drake Very good points in your reply, thank you. And no, I don’t think it is a wrong move to include a stack of business cards when finishing a project for a client. In a way it signals to them that they can hand them out to their friends or someone they know who needs work done. It is up to them to pass them out or not, so it is a great way to not force it upon them to spread the word about you.
@Teresa Zorzi Yes, that makes sense. The replies have been hitting the same general points, but with varying points of view. That is what is great about this community that we’re involved with. Very true about selling ourselves, it can be the biggest challenge. I’m expanding my personal network more this year, really glad you brought that up. Thanks!
@Joseph Gonzalez Loved what you had to say! The way of using a cake, which isn’t the healthiest food to eat, as a way to say hey, “Get that cake burned off just around the corner at our gym”, or something to that effect, is a great way of marketing. Good to see that you got the client 30% of the members for them at that time.
Thank you very much everyone for your feedback! This is truly a great place for us creative folk.
Word of mouth is the most powerful way to get more jobs. Even the big companies work hard to get word of mouth advertising. If you hear good things about a service from someone that you respect, then it very likely that you will try it out.
I don’t do much freelance but I do get contacted from people because of word of mouth. That is why it is important to be friendly and professional. It opens doors.