Your best potential customers are the ones you already have.
Everyone knows that repeat business can be a big key to success, but there's another aspect of your customers you need to keep in mind...the best marketing you can receive is a current customer recommending you to their friends, family and co-workers.
I'm not talking about multi-level marketing...while many make a nice profit with that business model, talking your Great Aunt Mildred into buying her laundry detergent from you (no matter how much her clothes may smell) isn't the point. What I
am talking about is your customers selling your business for you to others that trust them.
Seth Godin wrote a very interesting book on marketing called "Unleashing The Ideavirus" (which you can download as an ebook for free from Seth
here; I
heartily recommend reading it), where he refers to people that effectively spread your message "sneezers", which leads to a very valid point:
Make it easy (or even profitable) for people to "sneeze" for you.
This can range from a discount coupon your current customers can pass along to others, a discount on referrals, an affiliate program that pays for every sale someone makes for you, or even free products for those that refer paying customers.
What you provide may be the best thing to come along since squirt cheese in a can, but you're not going to see your product's full sales potential until you motivate your customers to join your sales force, and
make it easy for them to do so.
Don't forget to appeal to the "what's in it for me?" instinct that your customers have, and you'll see what's in it for you...and possibly even your Great Aunt Edna.
Here's the question of the day...do you not only make it easy for your customers or subscribers to market you, but give them an incentive to do so? If so, what results have you seen?
