"E" Word of Mouth Marketing.

Jeff Brogden

My father, at age 81, still works daily at his rural body shop, Ray Brogden’s Body Shop.   To this day, if you ask him why his business has been so successful all of these years, his answer will be; “You’ve got to give your customer great service so they will recommend you to friends and family”.  If you ask him specifically what kind of advertising works best for him, he will tell you; “Word of Mouth”.   My father utilizes the most common sense and effective approach to promoting his business, a method that in today’s society is increasingly performed through electronic “Social Media or Social Networking”.   I recently re-connected with an old friend on “Facebook”, the king of social media.  She was visiting with her elderly parents in the same rural community as my father’s shop.  As we instant messaged back and forth, she could not believe that her parents had high speed internet connection and especially that her father, at age 85, had a “laptop” and a Facebook account!   I use that example to stress the point that no matter where our businesses are located, no matter what type of products or services that our businesses provide, or who our customers are, we cannot take for granted the effectiveness of “Social Networking” online.    We still have to deliver quality products and services, and we still have to utilize a variety of marketing methods.  However, if we want to compete in today’s business environment, we have no choice but to use the internet for our “word of mouth marketing”.   For the next few months, Automotiveinet will be featuring articles and advice from one of the top “Social Marketing” experts in the country, Lisa Wynn of www.artisanspress.com.     Automotiveinet works closely with Lisa and Artisans Press to provide our clients with the best possible electronic marketing strategies.