A common challenge for startups is how to generate awareness and attract new customers. Many don?t have the resources to pursue traditional marketing or public-relations efforts, and must find creative ways to increase their visibility.
One channel that?s especially valuable for these companies is word-of-mouth marketing, a medium that is more effective than any other form of advertising. Aye Moah, Boomerang?s chief of product, wrote about how we use our paywall to have positive interactions with users. But we also use it to incentivize customers to recommend Boomerang to their Twitter followers.
We wanted to see how effective this marketing strategy was, so we did some research. Our monthlong Twitter study found that giving users a small reward for tweeting about Boomerang was an effective way to generate genuine word-of-mouth recommendations that reached thousands of real users. Here are three tips on how to turn your customers into an effective marketing channel:
Reward users that recommend your product
If you have a product or service that leaves customers happy, many will recommend it. But when you offer even the slightest incentive for sharing your product, the number of recommendations you get climbs significantly.
Many of our users tweet about Boomerang in exchange for message credits that allow them to snooze and schedule additional emails. Cynics might wonder if giving such incentives might result in disingenuous tweets on throwaway accounts with few real follow...