My standard response to the often asked question “how do I grow my business”  is “ learn to harness the power of the brand gossip!”   A simple premise is at work here.   Your customers are your best sales force so empowering them to start gossiping the virtues of your brand will systematically grow your business!  Some call it the Word of Mouth channel.   Why and how does this all work?  
Most businesses  spend a majority of their time and marketing resources simply replacing their existing customer base because of  “brand migration”.   Brand migration occurs when your loyal and not so loyal customers start “brand dating” around and end up snuggled up with a competitor.  
The first step is a developing a powerful retention strategy.  If you are a business owner, you will be surprised to know that your best sales force is your existing customer base so naturally you will want to keep them close and empower them to sell for you!   It’s all about referring others to your brand.  
Research rates referrals at 80% + credibility factor vs. traditional marketing with a 30% creditability factor.    A smart formula would be to take your annual attrition factor percentage…. lets say 20% which may be typical for most businesses and use a multiple of 1.5 x to calculate what percentage of your marketing budget should be focused to retention.   In this case 30% would be a good starting point to commence referral channel program. 
Next step is incentivize your customers to sell by making it fun and profitable for them!  Incentive programs will be the heart of a robust brand gossip.  Get them talking, get them selling and have some fun with it!
Let the gossip began!  What do you think?