BtoB Word of Mouth

Does your company have a "customer reference program"?  If so, then you already have a word of mouth marketing program. 

According to Bill Lee of the Customer Reference Forum, a customer reference program recruits, organizes, and leverages customers who are willing to act as references for a firm. Specific activities include 

• developing leads--generally from sales or delivery people--for customers who might be willing to reference 
• organizing references into an easily accessible and searchable database for use by sales, PR, marketing, analyst relations, senior executives and other groups that need access to references 
• developing case studies, success stories, videos and other reference communications 
• making references available for references calls from prospects, sight visits, blog posts, speaking engagements on behalf of the firm and other promotional activities 
• helping to nurture the relationship with customer references.

CRPs are classic word of mouth programs, and they are some of the best BtoB word of mouth programs.  Next time your company asks if it should invest in word of mouth marketing, you may find that you're already pretty good at it.

Check out Bill Lee's Customer Reference Forum for more information.