I’ve been invited to present at a meeting of a business referral networking group tomorrow. Topic: How to create a business referral marketing program.

Most of the group’s members work for small businesses or have their own businesses. A few work for banks or insurance companies, but must build their own customer base through marketing. What some members of the group may not realize is that they already have a business referral marketing program. As a member of a networking group, they are investing time, energy and some money into marketing their services. But are they getting the most they can out of their group membership? Should their program include other strategies and tactics? That’s what I will focus on.

Building a referral marketing program is much like building any other marketing program, with some slight twists. Here are the components:

• Objectives:  Don’t say your objective is to gain referrals. Be more specific and measurable; for example: my objective this year is to get 5 new referral clients for my web site design business and 5 new referral clients for my search engine optimization services — and provide 10 highly qualified referrals to colleagues in my network.
• Audience: In this case, your end customers are not your audience. Your networking partners are. Where can you meet them? Why would they be interested in helping you out? How do you gain their trust? Analyze everything about your audience and build an audience profile.
• Message: What are you selling? You are not selling a product or service; you are selling yourself. You need to promote yourself as a brand: what will people think of when they hear your name? How can you position yourself to be unique from others in your line of business? How can you connect your name to your service in your audience’s mind?
• Media: Your audience drives media choices. The networking event is a media choice. Picking up the phone and calling your contacts is a media choice. Sending a hand written note on your personal stationery is a media choice.
• Process: Give yourself tasks and timelines to improve the effectiveness of your marketing program. For example, if you meet someone who could be a part of your network, send them a next-day email or letter or call them up. Keep a simple spreadsheet of contacts and communication tasks.
• Measurement: The reason you set specific goals and keep track of all activity is so you can measure what’s working and what’s not, including any networking referral group you happen to belong to. Don’t waste time on what doesn’t work; try new things that might. It’s the only way to improve results.