Why Referrals are Important to Service Businesses

If you are looking to bolster sales for your service business, nothing beats word-of-mouth marketing and referrals. This may seem like common sense to you, however, millions of service business owners in North America spend billions of dollars on advertising every year while neglecting the most effective means of advertising - online referrals.

According to research by Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family more than all other forms of marketing. The same study found that less than half of all customers consider traditional paid advertising to be credible—that’s a decrease of more than 20 percent since 2009!

Here are some reasons why building an online brand and driving referrals is important:

• 49% of U.S. consumers say friends and family are their top sources of brand awareness, up from 43% in 2009. (Jack Morton)
• 85% of fans of brands on Facebook recommend brands to others. (Syncapse)
• 43% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product or service when learning about it on social media. (Nielsen)
• 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family. (Nielsen)
• 81% of U.S. online consumers’ purchase decisions are influenced by their friends’ social media posts versus 78% who are influenced by the posts of the brands they follow on social media. (Market Force)

If you're looking to build a great online brand for your service business, create a profile on ServiceHorn.com. In three simple steps your profile is created and you can begin sharing it with all of your contacts, friends, family and past customers.

ServiceHorn aggregates social referrals, "likes", "recommendations" and reviews in one place helping you advertise the great services you provide and building your local, online brand for free.

If you own a service business, you need to create your profile today: www.servicehorn.com