Many small business owners rely heavily, if not solely, on word-of-mouth advertising. Often, this is because many feel they lack the knowledge and time to execute a marketing plan.

Yes, word-of-mouth is free and effective, but in order to make it work, you have to constantly remind people to promote your company, and even then your audience is still very limited. Here are reasons why relying solely on word-of-mouth is inefficient:

• Limited Audience: Only relying on word-of-mouth severely limits your exposure to new customers because you are relying on friends, family and your existing clients to promote your company.

• Hard to Maintain Top-Of-Mind Awareness: Consistent repetition of your advertising message, such as through BubbleLife.com and its daily email newsletters, reminds those familiar with your business to visit while maintaining top-of-mind awareness with potential new customers. Word-of-mouth alone does not provide consistent top-of-mind awareness.

• Slow to Generate Leads: More often than not, word-of-mouth is a very slow way to generate leads. Potential customers, who have only heard about your company through a referral, may or may not currently need your business, and when they do, they must remember to contact you instead of a competitor.

Investing the time to figure out how to utilize and execute an efficient marketing plan will help you reach more potential customers than word-of-mouth alone, while repeatedly informing them about why they need to go to you instead of your competition.