Since the dawn of communication, referrals have been an integral part of human interaction in some form or another. This allowed us to identify the best services and people for the job from an anthropological standpoint. It’s mutually beneficial and good for all parties. It strengthens social bonds, empowers individuals, businesses, as well as economies. Although the basic principles of referrals and word of mouth marketing have remained the same over time, modern referring has changed a lot, especially with the advent of the internet. It’s becoming infinitely more complex and sometimes difficult to pinpoint. Many of the old rules that we used to assume were inapplicable no longer apply. Referrals are based on trust. In today’s climate of fake news, paranoia-laden paranoia, trust can be a scarce and valuable commodity. It’s also hard to earn and easy to lose. So who are we to trust? We trust our peers, our family, friends, and people with similar opinions and outlooks to ours. Blogs and publications that we find engaging and informative, customer reviews, and top/best lists are all examples of trusted sources. These are the people we trust when looking for information on products, places, and people. Online anonymity also allows us to freely post negative reviews or opinions. It also means we don’t give referrals as much credence as we used to. This freedom led to people being more prone to reacting to things (“The fork wasn’t as shiny as it was the knife – 0 star ActiveCollab is faced with a volatile market, where there’s a lot of content. We operate in a global B2B market and primarily focus on online magazines and web publications. We also pay attention to testimonials and cultivating reviews.
Our targets are divided into:Organic – these high-traffic publications are mostly made up tech magazines that have done extensive research and product testing before creating their lists and articles. These are the best places to get advice as they are honest and unsponsored opinions from top experts. It is very difficult to get a job in these publications.
Competitors – mainly composed of Top 10 lists. These lists are the lists that our chief rivals are on.
Single competitor – These are blog posts that mention a single competitor (and often turn out to be sponsored by the competitor). It is important to pay attention to the context. ActiveCollab is primarily a B2B product and we do not want to be mentioned in articles that discuss ActiveCollab.
We use the same strategy to reach these referral targets as we do for our outreach efforts: First, we make contact and build relationships, then we discuss the possibility of doing more. To be included in articles, such as “Top 10 Best Project Management Software” lists.
To be added to a list if we are already listed
To be moved up to the first place if we are already part of the list. The first place in lists gets the most clicks (about 30%) and these percentages gradually fall the further you go down the list.
Concerning the single competitor articles mentioned above, we first need to decide whether or not we want to be part of the article. If so, consider whether someone else has already paid for it. The golden rule is to ask. These publications rely on sponsored articles to make money.
