There’s nothing more powerful than word-of-mouth advertising. It’s a personal referral from one friend to another  pure and honest, no hype, no hidden agenda.  If you have positive word-of-mouth going for your restaurant, it’s worth more than an expensive ad campaign.  However, it’s been shown that consumers who have a negative experience at a business tend to tell 6 to 10 people, but those having positive experiences only tell 1 or 2 people. So how do you tap into the positive word-of-mouth and encourage the power of these friendly referrals? Here are few suggestions for getting conversation started about your place.

* Create an Extraordinary Experience – Do something totally unexpected that leaves a lasting impression on your customer. Give them dinner free because they’re wearing red. Have a strolling accordion player. Give each table a lottery ticket. Hold an autograph session with the High School Basketball Team.  If you want word-of-mouth, give them something to talk about!

* Customer Referral Postcards – Create a referral postcard that current customers can give to their friends, and benefit themselves. This could be a deep discount or free meal to entice the new diner in, but the postcard would also have a place for the referring customer to write their name and address.  When their friend redeems the coupon, you drop the postcard in the mail and the customer then brings it back for their free dessert or discount.

* Referral Bonus Points – If you have a frequent diner program or a Point-Of-Sale system that tracks customer accounts, you can set up a reward for referrals.  When your customer’s referrals come in, the customer gets bonus points in your frequent diner program.

* Simply Ask – The most obvious, yet often overlooked method is to simply ask for a referral. For instance, when you are delivering a business lunch for a group, ask if they know of any other businesses in their building that order lunch in and might appreciate receiving a menu and an introductory offer.  Or if a softball team comes into your place after their games, ask for a referral to the league office so you might contact other teams and encourage them to come to your restaurant.

Word-of-mouth is such a powerful marketing method, there’s plenty of reasons to do whatever you can to encourage it. For more restaurant marketing ideas and strategies, grab a copy of the ultimate local store marketing book “Restaurant Marketing Secrets.”