Word of Mouth Marketing Tools

• Word-of-mouth marketing tools can help generate significant amounts of revenue at little to no cost. The strength of word-of-mouth marketing is that it allows you to gain instant credibility through an existing customer or supporter with the years of relationship building and advertising. Choose from a range of online and in-person word-of-mouth marketing tools to help your campaign grow exponentially.

Tell a Friend

• A simple way to market your services is by asking for referrals. Make the referral process interesting by adding a tell-a-friend sweepstakes. To enter the sweepstakes, your customers should be required to refer a specific number of customers to your business. The referring customer can use the receipts as proof of his referral or sign up the customers in advance. You can also use this idea for an online business by requesting customers refer your business to five friends by entering their email addresses into a form on your website. You can email each friend as if the message came from the referring customer. Give away a free product or holiday gift as your promotion prize.

Online Publicity

• Everyone has an opinion. News articles, blog posts and business listings can all be found with a range of opinions voluntarily posted by Internet users. You can stir up discussion about your business indirectly by offering your opinion to forums and by contributing articles to enewsletters. You might even post commentary on other users' comments to begin a discussion. Choose a credible online community to begin promoting yourself as an expert, adding your company signature, Web address and phone number to the bottom of each response. Other users will visit your website and ask further questions about your business, allowing you to use your business as a point of discussion. Each time a person reads that article, they will see your business name and other people discussing it.

Branded Content Video

• Viral videos can be tough to create, but when effective you can reach millions of viewers. Consider what your customers value and how you can create a compelling Web video based on these touch points. Humor is a common theme in viral videos, but so are riddles and controversial statements. "There's nothing wrong with controversy, as long as you don't go overboard. So stick your neck out, stand up for something, and shout it to the world," asserts Entrepreneur.com. Add your logo to the bottom corner of your video to brand the content as it is shared between friends.

Promo Gifts

• Another way to encourage customers to refer others to your business is to offer a free holiday gift. You can order promotional items with your logo printed on them to give out to customers for the holidays. Offer free gift wrapping for convenience or recommend that small items be used as a stocking stuffer during the Christmas holidays.