1. Create a referral program. If word of mouth was effective in the past, it’s even more effective now. Create an offer that incentivises your contacts and customers to refer you. The key to the offer is to have a way to tie the new sale to the referrer so you can track the success of this strategy. You can use promotion codes, business cards with a tie-in to your customer, even a verbal confirmation.

2. Adopt a direct sales/marketing approach. Send a direct message to your customers, community and fans that focuses on solving the pains and frustrations that are holding them back. You may choose to use newsletters, sales email campaigns, a social media campaign, postcards and letters that have a clear call to action and drive your customers to buy.

3. Call people and ask for the sale. Telemarketing is a word that creates anxiety on the part of the seller and dread and avoidance on the part of the prospect. And yet, your prospective customers can’t know that you are making an offering available if you don’t tell them. So pick up the phone and explain how you can help them. People love to help and if selling directly to them doesn’t work for you, at least tell them that you have an offer that will benefit them or someone they know.

4. Target high-volume prospects. Identify companies, associations and large communities that would benefit from your product or service and create an email campaign specifically for them. You can offer a webinar or free audit that helps them put the product to use and inspires them to promote it to others.

5. Create a trigger event. There is nothing that drives sales like a trigger event where your product or service can be put to use.

6. Offer your product or service as a companion. Look for products or services that are complements to yours and offer it as part of a bundle. Partner with brands and potentially competitors that already have a distribution channel to your target customers and ask them to distribute your goods along with their own.

7. Build a social media following. You can use social media channels to share insider information and data around the benefits of your product or service that builds curiosity in your target audience. Do not directly pitch or sell on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn—this will anger your audience. Instead focus on enrolling existing customers to talk about the value and benefits they’ve experienced. Think of it as a social media referral.