Offline search engine optimization

It seems everybody is hopping up and down that businesses need to be Tweeting and Facebooking or else they’re missing out. There is no question that businesses need to be taking advantage of the marketing tools they have at their disposal, but we often overlook one of the best available: word of mouth.

So far, every project I have worked on has come from word of mouth. Customers talk, and a positive experience for them is basically offline search engine optimization. If you make a good impression with a customer, when a friend or colleague is looking for a recommendation, you’re going to start finding yourself on the top of their list.

The next time you are dealing with a customer, ask yourself how you can make it memorable for them. They’ve chosen to come to you, but how you deal with them will decide whether they come back and what they say about you to others. You don’t even have to start off with anything extravagant, just leave them feeling a little better than when they arrived. You might be surprised at how much word of mouth can help.