Thunder Over Louisville has been the Derby Festival kick-off event for the past 19 years. It is an air and pyrotechnics show, unrivaled by any other city in the USA; and, Kentuckiana gets to call Thunder its own. Each year I head out to the riverfront, Thunder is bigger and better than the last. I have watched the spectacle from many locales, but one thing impresses me every year even more than the fantastic show – Thunder Over Louisville is no longer just a hometown event for the Louisville area, but it has grown into an event attended by many people from all over the world.

Kentuckiana residents have been great cheerleaders for Thunder Over Louisville through the years. We have invited friends and family, who have, in turn, invited their friends and family. This has helped our hometown tradition become the nation’s largest annual fireworks event, mostly in part to great word-of-mouth marketing. The power of “good buzz” is amazing – just think of the growth your business could experience if all employees and customers adopted the same word-of-mouth excitement about your company and services. Below are a few tips to help you grow your business with word-of-mouth advertising:

1) Always Remember Your Customers Know Your Potential Customers
Unhappy customers like to talk, and that is a fact. When you have an unhappy customer, they are likely to tell their friends, coworkers, and families about their experience with your company. Most customers take their business elsewhere due to poor customer service and uncaring employees. It is important to make sure that all your company employees treat each customer like they have a golden tongue, and resolve all issues tactfully. It is also equally important that all employees speak well of your company to everyone they encounter. You never know who your neighbor’s brother-in-law might know and refer to your company.

2) Ask Your Customers for Referrals
Your customers don’t know who you know; therefore, you should ask them directly for referrals. They may know others in their industry or in different branches of their company that could also use your products or services. Become a shameless self-promoter; don’t be too afraid to ask for a referral, because you may be missing out on some great business.

3) Network in Your Community
Being active in the community is important to word-of-mouth marketing. This will increase your exposure to new people, while naturally allowing for even more business networking. People are more guarded when they are expecting a sales pitch, so being involved in civic volunteer groups, community events, or rotary clubs provides networking alternatives. Not only will they be able to learn about your business, but they will also get to see your company involved in a common organization that gives back to the community.

A good customer is always your best commodity. Strive to please and grow these customers. A study done by the Verde Group and the Wharton School discovered a salient fact that 50% of Americans will not step foot into a store or business due to a colleague or friend’s bad experience. Positive comments about your company, as well as being a good steward of the community, will keep your company in a good light. Companies, both big and small, can benefit from word-of-mouth marketing. Create “fireworks” with your own customers by going above and beyond. Remember to ask them to invite a friend to the “show,” and you may never know how big you will grow!

A longstanding trend holds that no matter how big their budget is people still want to be perceived as “savvy shoppers” or “wise investors.” A recent article discussed how the super rich don’t want to be unsympathetic as to what is happening in the world right now and definitely don’t want to be made an example of in the media, so they have become more discreet in their spending habits. For the über-rich, the desired perception as a savvy shopper may be a matter of fiscal self-image during these times. For those of us running a business, it is an economic imperative to have a successful 2009.

Customers are extending the buying process by getting quotes from many companies and comparison shopping like never before. Here are four strategies to reel in those wise shoppers while still keeping true to your company’s brand:

1. Don’t put your company on the sale rack. Price is important, but value should be sold to ensure your company is not cast into the commodity bin of your customer’s mind. Relying on fly-by-night promotional techniques leaves a lasting impression that only price differentiates you from your competitors. List the things your company does well and turn this into a key marketing piece to be included with proposals. Develop marketing pieces outlining project/product success you’ve had which tell a story of the added value your company brings to the table.

2. Know Your Customers. What services are your customers using? How much are they spending? When are they using your services and why? By knowing this, you can turn a good customer into a great customer. Use knowledge you have on each of your customers to build your database. When you know exactly who your customers are and why they use your company, you can better anticipate their needs as well as better cater your services to them.

3. Get Personal. Once you have a database rich in customer knowledge, you are ready to really target each customer individually. Using database marketing, there are endless possibilities to reach out to customers. More than just personalization, variable-data marketing offers a way to address specific customer needs. Text, images, and graphics can be tailored to individual customers and can be delivered via printed mail, e-mail, or customized Web pages. Because this type of marketing is data-driven, your company can collect and accurately measure results. More importantly, data compiled with each successive customer contact allows you to further improve the relevancy of your marketing messages over time.

4. Make the relationship with your company simple. Make the message simple to compare while making the relationship with your company crucial. Recently, I decided to switch banks. This included opening new accounts, ordering checks, changing my direct deposit, changing online bill pay, closing my old accounts, setting up a rewards account, as well as countless other things. This can take a lot of time without the right person making it simple for you. It takes a lot to get someone to convert, but once you do, make sure they never go back. Make the buying process simple for your prospects and they will be more likely to make the switch.

In closing, hard times often call for smart shopping but that doesn’t mean your brand should suffer. By keeping attune to your customers’ needs and growing personal rapport with your clients, you can maintain strong business relations. By preserving high quality standards and establishing easy working relationships, you capture those savvy shoppers for 2009 success.

In tough times, the determined frenzy to succeed is even more important to ensure growth and is generally what separates those flailing to stay alive from those swimming in sweet black on the P&L at the end of the quarter. Growth in these times is not for the feint-hearted. Even now, there are ways to grow your business with marketing strategies, employee training and smart spending. Through research and experience, we have compiled five ways to stimulate growth for any size company:

1. Make a list of why you started your business and how those reasons make you different. Having to work harder for the sale makes you re-evaluate a little bit, doesn’t it? It forces you to really think, “Why should this prospect choose me over my competitor?” If you haven’t had to think about it in a while, you find yourself digging a little deeper to present a persuasive proposition. 2009 will force us all to move a little faster for the sale, which, in our honest opinion, isn’t all bad. You are forced to get back to your roots to rediscover what made you all dreamy-eyed and heck-bent on starting your company in the first place. What should come out of this Dear Diary experience are your unique selling propositions – those things you thought you could offer better than anyone else. Convert those unique qualities of your company into active selling propositions to close prospects.

2. Don’t stop your marketing effort, but market smarter. Marketing less this year than you have in past years will be detrimental to your growth. While competitors are cutting back, snap up new market share by keeping your company’s name in the eyes of the consumer. Evaluate the mediums you are currently using and explore options of more cost-effective channels. If your company has done bi-monthly static postcard mailings for the last few years, consider doing a quarterly personalized variable data mailing. Your postage savings alone will pay for the variable data postcards and your mailing will be more targeted, evoking a better ROI.

3. Focus on the 20 that produce 80. When times are unsure, it is best to look at where your current sales are coming from before looking for new business in an unknown market. Make a list of your most profitable customers and the services they are using. Then ask if there is anything else you could be selling them. Find ways to sell your current clients all the services/products in your arsenal and communicate with them often. Make the most of those whose hearts you have already won over, then search for qualified leads that mirror your most profitable clients.

4. Train employees to better perform their job. Investing in your own employees is a great way to grow your business. Training your employees helps them to become more productive on the job, as well as to increase job confidence. Job-confident employees are not only happier, but they also tend to have greater workplace longevity. Not only do you have cross-trained employees, but you reduce turnover and save the significant expense of hiring and training new ones.

5. Stay on top of emerging trends. It is important to always know the changes and innovations happening in your particular market and industry. Attend trade shows and read trade magazines and local market business publications. Being the first business to offer a new service gives you a step up in the industry, and who doesn’t like to be the market leader for a particular product or service?