Last month’s extensive feature on authority marketing introduced this powerful marketing strategy as the premier way to gain influence and establish a larger base of clients. As you are now well-versed in the art of authority marketing, we look to the best ways in which to implement it. Tie it all together by incorporating these two actionable takeaways guaranteed to drive results:
Who you gonna call?
Maintaining your image as an authoritative figure is no small feat. Requesting favors, such as asking your network for referrals, slowly chips away at the structure of influence that you worked so hard to assemble. To organically accumulate meaningful referrals, craft a way to make customers want to refer you. The obvious way to do this is by providing superior service or products. That’s a given. Yet to see coveted new customers come cascading through the door, you’ll need to get creative.
First, pinpoint the highlight of your customer experience. Where along the line are you delivering the most value? This is where you want to ask for a referral, either directly or indirectly, as the consumer is most inclined to oblige. The peak of the client experience provided by an SAT tutor, for instance, might be a pupil receiving a coveted college admissions letter as a result of their outstanding test results. For an orthopedic surgeon, it would equate to a patient removing a well-worn cast to reveal a newly revitalized extremity. These are the moments that need to be capitalized on.
To extract a referral from these instances, recognize these highpoints all with one notable tradition. The key to securing the referral: make it unique. After the desired result is achieved, customers should partake in a memorable photo-op or activity. The SAT Tutor celebrates the client’s success via a photo op with a giant, festive sombrero. The orthopedic surgeon allows his or her newly cast-less patient to ring a celebratory gong. Moments like these are captured through photos and video posted to social media and spread amongst the masses. Even if the patient or client never once directly refers you to another prospect, their network has officially been activated.
Potential clients now have a positive reference to an exciting moment thanks to your services. This, in turn, can elicit a little envy. The high school senior drooling over his or her dream college wants to celebrate their eventual admission á la sombrero. A mother whose child just broke their arm wants to see her kid healed and able to ring the gong with an expertly fused bone. By broadcasting the pinnacle of your client experience, other prospects will want to partake themselves.
Shout Your Success
The ultimate show of authority will always be success. Quick question: Are you shouting your success, or are you whispering it? Creating and promulgating case studies exhibits the impressive results of your products and services. By highlighting the “wins” of your client experience, prospects can peruse the payoff of choosing you as a vendor.
Whereas referrals require a unique experience, case studies should abide by the exact opposite parameters. These write-ups should show the impressive results of your work, without getting too specific. Instead of using a client’s specific company name, refer to them by their overall industry. This allows similar companies to feel that you have experience in working in their sector. Maintaining a general approach prevents prospects from focusing on differences, and instead seeing how the detailed successes could also apply to them.
A brand that does a phenomenal job of authoring case studies is Belo + Company. A friend and frequent solutions partner of the DHD Studio, Belo’s “Success Stories,” cover a broad array of industries without directly referring to any one corporation. These webpages clearly lay out the impressive results, without getting too specific as to the client. As proved by Belo, the formula for a winning case study is getting specific with the results while remaining opaque with the client.
With these actionable takeaways in hand, the rest of 2019 is yours for the taking. Assert your authority by reaping the rewards of referrals and inciting clients through case studies. After all, there is no law against marketing under the influence.