Creating a Person-to-Person Referral Program
Some of the best marketing strategies focus on encouraging current or past participants to help create a person-to-person or word-of-mouth referral program. Here are some ideas to engage your participants to help spread the word about future Powerful Tools for Caregivers workshops.
“Tell a Friend” Letter
For use at your last session. Ask participants to help you promote your next workshop by sending a letter to a friend who may also enjoy and benefit from Powerful Tools for Caregivers.
Questions and prompts for participants if they decide to write their own message:
Why did they take Powerful Tools for Caregivers?
What did they learn?
What was their favorite part?
Why do they recommend it?
Examples:
“Powerful Tools for Caregivers is a six-week workshop to learn about ways to take care of yourself so you can take care of your loved one”
“The class was fun, interesting, and educational.”
“After taking this class I am a more confident caregiver! Having tools to resolve problems is a definite advantage in becoming a better caregiver and a happier, wiser, healthier me... and a healthier ‘us’!”
Include information about how and where to find out more about Powerful Tools for Caregivers workshops.
Don’t have a workshop planned for a while? Consider asking participants to send a letter to their doctor. You can also use the following letter to re-connect with past participants once you do have a workshop planned.
Getting a Testimonial
Ask for a testimonial from your participants at the end of the workshop. These are useful when advertising your next workshop. Additionally, the same newspaper you submitted media releases to previously may accept another story or a different angle at a later stage.
Ask participants for feedback on how the workshop has affected their lives. If you have their email addresses, you could also send testimonial forms to them after the workshop so they have time to think about their answers.
If participants approach you with positive feedback, take that opportunity to ask them to provide a testimonial using the form on the next page. Or write down what they say and get permission to use it. Ask if you can use their first name or initials. Otherwise use “past participant.”
Volunteer Ambassadors
Consider inviting past participants to volunteer to conduct word-of-mouth marketing efforts in the community. (See Face-to-face presentations) Also, ask participants if they belong to civic clubs, hobby or interest groups, senior centers, churches, or other organizations that might be interested in having a program coordinator or workshop leader speak about their program. Ask them to join you at the presentation and provide a testimonial.
You can also reach out to the previously mentioned organizations and others to try to get community leaders to recruit participants using the following letter template.