Building Word of Mouth, online and offline
I promise that I will soon write a post that outlines the many reasons that I think that some kind of online outreach to customers is important for independent bookstores. There are many reasons, but today, I just want to talk briefly about one: word of mouth.
A few years ago, I was doing a presentation to reading groups at an independent bookstore. I have a very good friend from college who lives in the next town over, less than 10 miles from the store. She is a school teacher in the town where the store is located. She is a reader. When I mentioned that I was doing this presentation, and that maybe we could meet up before or after, she told me that she didn’t even know that the store existed.
Ivan Misner has a very interesting post titled “Watch Your Word of Mouth” over at Beneath the Cover. This particular paragraph struck me:
“Good customer service is important because it reduces negative word-of-mouth. But by itself, good customer service won’t generate enough positive word-of-mouth to build your business. So it’s up to you as the business owner to ensure the positive counters the negative.”
I believe that online outreach can help build the positive word of mouth. Ivan has some other ideas on how to build that word of mouth offline, with your friends and family. It’s a quick and helpful read.
