By 
A popular topic these days in the business world is saying that you are a “referral only” business or concentrating on “word of mouth” marketing. Now what does it really mean by referral? There are a few different schools of thought.
Some believe that it is a status in business to achieve. It provides a sense of exclusivity and any kind of marketing would be seen as contamination of this kind of “club”. Members of this club focus most of their attention on attending networking meetings with the goal of creating a circle of power that refers to them on a regular basis. For a strategy like this to be successful, one must constantly be in front of those who have the power to refer. References in this strategy can come and go depending on the whims of the networking groups to which the business professional belongs.
There are others who believe that the only way to achieve a referral-only business is to have a strategic marketing plan. These business professionals establish relationships with previous clients and referral partners through various marketing methods such as newsletters, ezines, cards, letters, small gifts, and more. Through systematic means, they can obtain predictable and traceable referral results.
Now what about word of mouth marketing? It can be a great tool, but I warn you that on its own it is very dangerous. Why? Because of the telephone factor. What is the telephone factor? The phone factor is the result of every phone game we played when we were kids.
Do you remember how someone started with a sentence and when they went around the circle it was completely different? Well, when you rely on word of mouth as your only marketing tool, you are in a sense tempting the fate of the telephone game. Someone is destined to completely screw up your message. It is the nature of humanity.
But is word of mouth advertising completely useless? No, but it should be the by-product of your marketing and should be delivered in a carefully crafted message over and over again so that the person trying to help you knows exactly what to say about you. Otherwise, it can do a lot more harm than help.
Those who believe that word-of-mouth and referral-only advertising is a realistic alternative to a well-thought-out marketing plan that is strategically implemented are missing out on a lot of potential benefits. Just like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand doesn’t make it invisible, saying you’re just for reference doesn’t make it that way if you don’t have a strategy to build those references.