These days, with so much competition online, it’s harder than ever to get your product’s name out there. Simply updating a social media feed or sending out a newsletter just isn’t enough anymore.

In response, marketers and SEO experts have been turning to another avenue of exposure: referral marketing. Referral marketing, which relies on customers to spread the word about your product, has a lot of appeal, but it may be unclear where you should start. Here are five tips for incorporating referral marketing into your online strategy.

Create an Effective Sales Funnel

This is the fundamental step that defines success of any campaign. Make sure your CTAs are planned out and no click is wasted. Use online form builders to put together lead generation forms and capture any sale!

Keep a close eye on your conversion funnel to make sure you are making the most of your traffic.

Create Viral Content

The most important thing to remember when marketing a product or service is being sure that the marketing content – whether it’s an eBook, a sales page, or a video – is worth sharing.

Too many forget that they shouldn’t be creating this content for themselves. It’s for the customer.

You should already know what your demographic likes and dislikes, but also consider what kinds of things they share. Take a look at what your demographic does on social media. Do you notice any trends that you could follow?

Make Content Shareable

Once you have a killer idea, you need to make it shareable among your demographic. Don’t just put your video up on YouTube and expect people to flock to it without any notice or incentive.

Post a notice on all the social media channels you operate. Send out a newsletter to let people know you’ve got something worth sharing. Mention it to customers as you communicate with them. If you’re making a big push, you could even contact media outlets with a press release to get even more exposure.

Hold Contests to Incentivize Sharing

Although people may know about your content, they may not be willing to share it, let alone view it. In this case, it may be best to offer an incentive for sharing.

Some successful strategies include holding a lottery of sorts by offering a prize for everyone who tweets about your content or your business.

Work with Brand Ambassadors

Sometimes you can’t just rely on yourself or your customers to get the word out. One trend in online marketing lately has been for marketers to work with brand ambassadors.

The term “brand ambassador” is a bit of a loose term, but it generally means someone who is willing to promote your product in return for money, free samples, or other benefits. Brand ambassadors can promote your product through their own social media or blog, giving you access to an audience you might not have had a chance at before.

Customer Referrals

Don’t forget the old-fashioned method of offering customers rewards for referring your product to new customers. This strategy dates back to before the internet, but it is still applicable today.

In fact, the rideshare app company Uber recently used it to great success, offering customers free rides if they referred the app to their friends. It was a win-win. The referral program gave users free use of the product, and company gained tons of new customers.

It’s hard not to see why referral marketing is so tempting. For one, it’s another avenue for advertising your brand.

And also, the weight of the work of getting your brand out there shifts from you to your customers, who are essentially doing the advertising for you. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it?