• Whether your company offers a product or service, some of your biggest business may come through referrals. Referrals are word-of-mouth advertising where someone recommends you to someone else, generating potential new customers in an endless chain. Although word-of-mouth advertising is technically free, there are ways you can work to generate more of it through referral programs.
  
  

Refer-Refills

• If you’re the new coffee house on the block, serving up smoothies or dishing out drinks, a refill refer-a-friend program may start filling your cups and coffers. With the aid of a computer and a graphics or desktop publishing program, you can make up refer-a-friend drinks cards. Use clip art of coffee cups, cocktails or your own sketches and leave room on the backside of the card for the referring customer’s name and phone number. Keep a stack of the cards by your register and encourage your current patrons to grab some, fill them out and distribute to their friends, family and coworkers. Any time a new customer comes in with a referral card, save the card and offer a free drink refill to the referring person. Call the referring person to thank him for the referral and invite him back for a free drink. For extra marketing options, include a place on the card for an email address, then add the information to your mailing list.
  
  

Be Magnetic

• Keep your name front and center with a refrigerator magnet. For many people, magnets are a simple way to keep their kids’ artwork, takeout menus and bills in sight, and many refrigerator magnets come from freebies given away by businesses. By designing a refer-a-friend refrigerator magnet, you offer both a useful free gift and a bit of name recognition. When designing the magnet, add your logo, contact details and a little bit of information about your business, such as “24-7 Plumbing Repair” or “Best Cupcakes in Town.” Distribute a stack of magnets to each of your regular customers and ask them to hand them out to friends and family. New customers will then have your information parked right where they need it. Create and buy magnets in bulk from a custom print shop or online vendor or make them yourself with a few supplies and your computer.
  
  

Block Party

• When your business is less corporate and more of something you’re doing for yourself, such as babysitting or mowing lawns, consider your local neighborhood as your referral target area. Make inexpensive promotional materials on your computer, such as postcards or fliers, and target your block with referral incentives. Distribute fliers to homes with families, for example, offering a free hour of babysitting for each referral they send your way. Keep an eye on lawns you think could benefit from your services and offer a discount off a mowing package to people who recommend you to their neighbors. By targeting just your local area for referrals, you’ll cut down on possible travel and time costs, while still reaping the referral rewards.