That’s a good start, but don’t stop there. Your website can be one of the most effective marketing tools you have. It is by far one of the best values as well.

In the past, if you wanted to do business you’d get a yellow pages ad, for thousands of dollars, and then you took out ads in the paper also, maybe canvasing and area with fliers or something. You knew you had to spend the money because that is how you were found. You put it in the budget and organized your business around it.

But for some reason people approach things without the same business commitment. People seem to think that spending as little as possible is somehow going to achieve a satisfactory result.

It seems to me that if we think about our websites in the same way that we used to think about our yellow pages ads, we’d realize that for it to be truly effective for us, we will need to spend a little time and money getting it working for us. Only then will we get the return we are looking for. The difference is that you will spend far less and get far more through your website than through a yellow pages ad. Sorry little yellow book sitting in my drawer unused, but you just will.

The key is not to simply hang your website like a sign then walk away expecting customers to just show up. It just doesn’t work that way. What this means is that someone needs to do the work necessary to make sure your website is designed correctly (structurally), is optimized so people can find it (Search Engine Optimization) and is easy to use (usability) so that your website can be found by people looking for your products and services and when they get to your site, they find what they are looking for and hopefully take the next step.

You Get What You Pay For

If you decide that you are going to manage your own website yourself, be prepared to spend a lot of time learning about website design, search engine optimization rules and writing content for the web, which is very different than other writing you may do. You must learn all this so that your site will perform effectively. If you don’t, your website is not going to be effective and you will have spent your time for a less than desired result. You might not like this next statement, but it’s not the websites fault if it’s not working for you.

Think about this. If you hired someone to do your website and they could not get it to where you want it, or couldn’t make it look how you want (EG: to match your branding), you’d fire them, right? Well, maybe it’s time to fire yourself.

Don’t Skimp

One of my challenges, surprisingly, is to convince business owner not to skimp on their marketing efforts. This is a bit odd to me as your marketing is what prospective customers use to decide if they are going to take the next step and move forward in doing business with you. Is it really worth saving a few bucks to take that chance? You don’t want people to look at your website and think “This says they’ve been in business for a week” do you? Or to simply hit the back button because they couldn’t find what they were looking for?

I see people with those paper brochures that they printed themselves. Cheap? Yes. (Actually maybe not when you look at what ink costs). Easy to update? Yes. Effective? Not really. So, is that a good use of your money and resources? Is it a good business decision? I see the same thing with business cards people get for free from certain companies as well. A bunch of people have the same business card because they’re all picking from the same templates.

Not Like The Old Days

Keep in mind that we’re not talking about the same kind of dollars that yellow page advertising cost. I’ve heard of people spending $5-30k per month! Yes, you read that right, per month. A brand new website doesn’t cost near that and if you have a website, you can get it hosted and professionally managed for around $40/mo.

It’s not personal, it’s business

If you want a professional result, you need to hire a professional. Just make sure you define your goals and make the necessary choices to achieve them. You may take your business personally because it represents who you are. I understand that, but when you need to make a business decision, keep your emotions out of it. Find someone you trust and see how it goes. If they can’t get it done, choose someone else.

Ok, so you’ve started giving your customers little nuggets, maybe some insider information or extra articles that you don’t just give away to everyone. Perfect.

Getting More Meaningful

Your customers are just like you; They have opinions they’ll happily share with others.  They might even want to get involved with various charitable causes.

While this next suggestion is not intended to be a direct selling tool (meaning that you do this for the purpose of selling in some artificial way) it may increase sales.

This is more about showing your company to be honestly interested in your customers and the community.

Get them Engaged

The internet is a great place to connect with your customers and to offer information about what you’re doing. Right now the two places to do this that are getting lot so media coverage are Facebook and Twitter (these links are to my pages so you can see what I’m talking about). NOTE: Feel free to become a fan (Facebook) and Follow Me (on Twitter).

You may have heard the term “Social Media” and these are it.

In the end it is simply a way to build relationships with people. The fact that you are using a non personal computer to do it seems a little contradictory, but the words (posts and comments) aren’t written by the computer. You and your customers will be engaging in conversations ranging from products reviews to where you went sailing. Take it as far as you like, but be sure to find out the best way to utilize the social media opportunities.

Facebook on Steroids

Keiran Murray of Extreme Networking 101 teaches the best Facebook Webinar around (if you live in the Tacoma area they have in person classes as well I believe). If you want to use Facebook to it’s fullest potential, get in that class. Oh, and be committed to actually putting into practice the things you learn. They make it fun and easy and you can even build your Facebook page during the class!

Using Facebook will give you a predesigned platform to connect with your customers. There is no subscription free and it’s all there already. You can start with just having your photo and a company logo. Facebook has everything else built into it. Of course, the more effort you put into it, the better it will be and the greater the potential benefit.

Twitter

Twitter is a bit less interactive. It’s more of a way to get information out quickly for people to access. While they can respond it just isn’t quite as nice of way to build relationships in my opinion. However, before you write it off, consider that it might be the way to get a customer to take a next step to visit your website or Facebook page. You can send out tips, tricks and offers, all the while continually pointing them to your website. If you consider that as it’s purpose you may find value in it. And remember, it costs nothing but  a little bit of time to write little posts regularly.

Causes

Beyond day to day communication, using your website, Facebook, etc to draw customers to charitable causes is a great way to do three things very efficiently

1. Get people involved with the event/cause
2. Develop a stronger bond with your customers
3. Long term profits (This is residue benefit that comes to companies that honestly give back)

Getting involved

You help the cause, your customers feel good about helping. How great is that? And if you sponsor the cause/event you get to be face (driving force of the cause) that your customers will associate.

Develop a Bond

Does the idea of developing actual deeper relationships with your customers seem weird to you? Why, because you feel strange charging them at that point? Having close/strong connections with your customer is good for both you and the customer. They get to know you and that way they don’t have to go out and “take a chance” with the next guy. They can relax because they know you’ll take care of them.

Long Term View

By becoming involved in the community you are setting yourself up to experience long term profits. It does take time and you should find a cause that you are truly interested in. Something you might support regardless. Over time, people will respond to your commitment and you will gain credibility all around. Unfortunately sometimes we feel funny tooting our own horn. We want to donate with the “christian ideal” of not letting anyone know about it. There is not contradiction here. Don’t tell how much you’re giving, but by being an advocate for the cause you are merely drawing others to it.

Conclusion

By having these things hooked into your website you can quickly make updates/changes with very little cost. Let your website get to work for you. By investing a little creativity, and yes a little money too, you can turn your website into a revenue/referral source.

Of course you’ll want to start tracking these things, but that is another article….

You’ll remember last time we covered a couple basic uses of your website and one slightly more advanced one (specials and coupons). We even talked about creating a way for your customers to get even more special offers by opting in to receive your marketing materials.

Take it further

Along with have specials or coupons, you have something that might be even more valuable to your customers: Your expertize.

You may not feel like an expert, and I can totally relate, but have you ever been talking with someone about your industry, business, interests and found that you knew far more than they did? That is what I am talking about. Don’t assume that expert means that you know everything there is to know about a subject. The fact that you know more than your customers can and should be exploited.

Don’t take that the wrong way, I’m simply saying that your customers will benefit from what you know as much as what you offer (product/service). Use this fact as a way to develop your relationship with your customer a little bit further.

You can offer “legal bribes” that will provide free information to your website visitors and will provide you with their name and email and you’ll know that they accessed the information. Now you can follow up with them  because you have a nice reason to. Send them an email is a few days asking if they got what they needed, had any questions or how about a second download of similar or related information? Any fusion marketing opportunities for you? (Fusion marketing would be other companies that offer complimentary services to yours so you can share them with your customers for added value).

So, what is this legal bribe anyway?

Well, that all depends upon what you do and how you do it. I can throw out a few ideas just so that you can see what I’m talking about, but you’ll need to figure out how it might apply to your business. As always, feel free to contact me. I love helping business owners generate ideas.

E.g.,

• 10 things to prepare for winter (works for cars, house, wardrobe or skin/beauty)
• 5 mistakes you’re making with your marketing (or whatever)
• Recipe of the month

You see, they are simple and may seem simplistic, but to your customers it might be the perfect fix to satisfy their addiction.

Take it easy

Also, break things down so that they can be offered over time. This helps you in not having to scramble for content ideas but it also helps your customer because then they aren’t overwhelmed with choices. Take a list of 20 things and make 4 lists of 5 things. Or only offer one idea a month and just be a little more thorough with your presentation, offering a fuller explanation.

In doing this, you will become a resource for your customers. They will look to you as a place to get answers. And when it comes time for them to buy, they’ll already know you, so you stand a better chance of making the sale. Of course if you offer special discounts to customers who have registered, you’re kind of priming the pump. While you should be mindful, keep in mind that giving a coupon/discount is not losing profit margin it is buying business. You aren’t marketing hoping to win business, you are buying business directly only paying (with a little profit margin) for those that act (buy from you).

Looking ahead

In Part III we’ll show how you can involve/engage your customers to create an even stronger bond with you. I can’t wait.

Job done, right?

Maybe.

Your website is one of the most powerful marketing/selling  tools you own. For the money there is no better way to accomplish the task(s) you set for it. Once in place, it never sleeps, takes a break or complains. It performs the task perfectly every time, never day-dreaming about being out on the open road.

Where to start?

Think about information that you offer your customers on a regular basis and consider making that information available on-line.

• What are your hours?
• Where are you located? (you can even give directions and a map).
• Got any specials?

Websites are perfect for this kind of information because it give it out when your customer (or prospect) asks for it. The moment they want to know your hours or location, your website is there to give it to them. I will assume that if you have a site, you have this information available and very easy to find. If I can’t get the answer within one click, your site is not built right.

The Next Step

But what about the third example up there. Do you have any specials or coupons that you offer regularly? By having this on the website, you give the customer the ability to “find that good deal” that we all seek when we shop. Tell people to check out your website for the latest deals you’re offering.

• Buy one, get one half off
• 10% off an oil change
• Bring in your last receipt and get some discount of special thing

Now your website is being anticipated by your customers as a place to provide you savings, a deal, etc. And while it’s doing that, if your offer is aimed at existing customers you will build customer loyalty. Remember, it’s something like three times cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one. Reward them.

Extra Special

You can even add another layer to that and offer something for everyone to get (some coupons or whatever), but offer even more to people who will “register” (this solution does not require a special database program. Please contact me to learn more about implementing this functionality) . That is to say that they give you their name and email address and now they get your monthly, weekly, etc, special offers that you don’t offer on the site. They are special.

This way you get to market to them and they get to save money. Say it with me, “It’s a win-win”

Some are better at this than others and some are more organized about it than others. Lots of us find ourselves getting off track half way through the process because we either get stuck on some detail or we start moving forward before the process is completed because we just want to get going.

Obviously if we are talking about a family trip to grandmas, starting before we have everything in place can be a disaster. Anyone remember to feed the cat, lock the door, turn off the stove?

It’s the same in business marketing. Before we begin a new marketing campaign/strategy, we should start with our goal and work backward to the beginning. Look at each step and define how the step supports the goal. This may sound like a lot of work, but think about how much money you can save by having your plan in place knowing that you have planned it out the best you could vs just throwing your money away, hoping it will work.

With the steps in place, look at your marketing as it fits in along the path. Maybe it’s a direct mailer or an email newsletter.  Maybe you decide to re-do your website to better fit into your branding efforts or you create new business cards and brochures to tie into your newly design site.

Depending upon what you are planning on doing, keep in mind that you must build consistency into your plan. Your customers and prospects react much better when something is predictable. Anyone hear of McDonanlds®? Not the best food, not the best atmosphere, but amazingly consistent. Not matter where you are, it’s a pretty good bet that you will get what you expect to get when you walk in.

Here is a pretty good article on this subject of being consistent, so I am not going to reinvent or rewrite. Take a few minutes and read through it. Take what you like, ignore what you don’t, but be sure that you are making that decision consciously.

Chris Shockley is owner of Envision Design Solutions and has been building websites for over 12 years. He can be reached via the web: http://www.EnvisionDesignSolutions.com/

We know our business and it’s easy to just write about the features of our service and products because surely that is all customers need to know. After all, I know that my products and services are the best and are worth every penny.

There are a couple of very important things to remember

1. Your customers care about themselves
2. There is something that your customer wants or needs

If you simply give a nice list of features, your customer is being well educated. Intellectually, they know more about your industry, the product(s), and your services, but no decision will be forthcoming.

We do not make decisions based upon intellect. Whether we like it or not, people make decision based upon emotion. That is not to say that every decision is some “emotionally” driven mistake that means we ignore logic and facts, etc. Not at all. In fact, often times, the more facts one knows (the more educated about something) the more their emotions can influence them about it. This is why car makers have brochures for you to take home. You get to combine your knowledge of the product with your emotional desire for it. In the end, you are more convinced than ever.

Focus Your Message

So, back to that marketing material you are writing. Think in terms of a couple of things. We read previously that we are all in the business of marketing which still holds true, but I want you to consider a new idea about your approach.

You sell a service or a product, but in the end each one of us is a provider of solutions.

Our customer has a problem, some of which are obvious, others they need to be educated about. But it is these problems that we solve or satisfy. Keep in mind that “problem” does not imply something is wrong, it is simply the “something” that a person wants or needs. E.g., my problem might be that I want something fun to do. The answer is my Suzuki GSX650f motorcycle.

So, when you are writing/creating your marketing content, consider the problems that your customers (people) face, figure out how you (your products and services) solve them. List these solutions in the form of benefits and you’ll be speaking directly to your customers.

Think of a compelling line to grab their attention that speaks directly to the problem. Then explain how you solve the problem.

There are a lot of ways to do this such as, networking, advertising, direct mail, a website, Facebook, etc.

This article is not about the specifics of each of those, but rather a primer on a new paradigm using your direct mailer campaign in coordination with your website.

With so many avenues available to the small business owner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with how to do each one the most effectively. That is actually the problem, each one of these often promotes itself as if by just doing “x” you can gain the customers your after, when in reality, you will find far more benefit from using one avenue of your marketing to support another.

Our Example.

Direct mail can be a very effective tool for getting your name out there, reinforcing your branding and getting some direct sales. The experts say something around 2% is an expected return on a generic direct mail effort. If direct mail didn’t work, we’d stop seeing it so we know that, at least to some extent, it is still a valuable marketing tool. The direct mail guys will tell you two things, if they’re any good, that

1) you need a good list (you want to mail to potential customers after all) and

2) you need a “call to action”. Besides that, a great headline, good colors and graphics all help of course.

Let’s focus on the call to action. What is that? Well, it’s the line that urges the reader to do something (the thing you’d like them to do of course). Call Now!, Call today, Enter and win, Buy one get one.

That’s all well and good, but you’re dealing with a one shot deal there, they either do it or they don’t and you’d never know the difference. So how can you make things better? Well, how about you make your call to action be something that exposes them to more of your marketing? Huh? Yes, make your call to action be something that directs them to your website where you can track to see how many visitors you’ve actually had and it’s a place where you can market to them even more. Something along the line of: “Enter your email into our drawing”, or “Sign up for the free eBook”, or “Enter for…”, etc.

By offering something compelling and valuable you motivate them to participate. They willingly sign up, giving you their name and email and maybe phone, and you give them something for free or entry to win the contest, etc. This gives you permission to market to them at a later time and be encouraged by the fact that they’re interested enough to want more information or product or service means you have a far better chance to get their business.

Once you have their name and email, you can follow up to make sure they got the info they were looking for, you can ask them if there is anything else that they want or need, you can tell them about the next offer. Maybe you do a monthly special or have a series of tips that you give. Whatever you do, make sure that your marketing efforts have a better chance of working by using them to support the whole.

Can I ask, how’s that working for you?

Are you getting lots of new customers? Are people finding your site, learning what they need and then calling you or sending you a contact through your email form?

If your website is not performing like you want it to it’s time to do something different. If you keep doing the same thing you are going to have the same result, aren’t you? Most people do it themselves because they feel that it either costs too much to pay someone else or they need updates to happen in a timely manner and the guy they’ve worked with was hard to reach and never got back to them.

The problem with doing it yourself is just that, you’re doing it. Think about it for a minute, you are a professional and an expert who makes money doing what you do (hopefully). You’re pretty good at, you enjoy it, whatever. Why take time away from that to work on a website? Worse still is doing it after hours and taking time away from your family. Would you recommend that you’re customers could do just as good a job doing what you do for them?

And for what?

You see, most people’s perception is that having their website managed professionally is going to cost a ton. After all, most pro web shops charge something around $70-80 per hour. They figure that each time they need a small change, they’re going to have to think about, “How much will this cost me?” And for most out there, you’re right on the money. That is how it works.

The other complaint I hear all the time, and I can’t even fathom this, is that their web guy is hard to reach and doesn’t get back to them in a timely manner. The last update I sent him took two weeks, and on it goes. Are you kidding me? How are they still in business?

That is what is so great about the Envision Design Solutions website management service. It covers both of those concerns because you can have your website and email hosted and get all your website updates handled for a low monthly fee. You need a photo added or a new email listed? No problem, it’s included. I want a button that people can click to download a top ten list of recipes. You bet, included.

As far as timeliness goes, our contract guarantees that your update will occur in no longer than one business day and often much sooner than that.

The other benefit of having website design and management done by Envision is that you get a professional making sure that everything is put together the way it should be to get maximum results. It may look easy, but there is a lot to it. Everyone can type in word or use their web builder tool, but if you don’t know about ‘Meta tags’, the ‘Title’ tag, ‘H1s and H2s’, ‘title’ attributes, ‘alt tags’, ‘keyword linking’ and on it goes, then your website will not perform as well as it could in the search ranking battle for page one.

Envision Design Solutions would love to hear from you to talk over what your website needs to be a success.

When you exchange business cards with someone and they ask, “What do you do?”, are you able to, quickly and clearly explain the benefits of what you offer? How about when you have thirty seconds at a networking meeting, like one of the ones I attend? For you it could be a minute or even five minutes. It might be your direct mailer or a sales letter.

There have been a number of times that, while networking (building those relationships) someone else comes up to me, that I have had as a customer, and says thanks for something I did and the other person I am speaking with says, “Oh, you do “x”"? Obviously my thirty second spiel is not hitting home, because I know I’ve said everything I do.

What’s the problem?

It could be that this individual was distracted and the time is so short that they just missed it. Maybe. Could it be that I was trying to cram too much in? I have a multi-facetted offering so trying to get it all out means I gotta talk fast. Too fast most likely. Whatever is was, the problem is that I was being tuned out. This goes for your direct mailer piece as well. People will toss it if they don’t know immediately the benefit you offer. They may toss it anyway (if they don’t need/want what you offer, but that is a far better reason to hit the round file). The problem is not with the audience, the problem is that I did not communicate well.

What’s the solution?

Is more time the answer? I just need to be able to get my message out there completely and everyone would have better understood what I can do to help their business succeed? I’m not sure time is really the problem, I think the issue is one of the message being communicated. If the message is not very clear it gets ignored, forgotten, overlooked.

To keep this from happening to you, make sure you can clearly and quickly explain yourself (your benefits).  Practice it until you can say it succinctly. It’s important to be able to get your message out quickly when you need to. When you have more time, you can go into greater detail but you won’t be given that opportunity if the first few moments are not compelling. You have to get it across even if you only have a few moments to do so.

Remember, it’s not necessarily important to explain everything you do every time you talk anyway, especially when attending a regular networking event/meeting or sending out a series of direct mailers. Focus on pieces of what you do and define the benefits (Why they should pay attention). Each time/mailer focus on another piece of your offering or use a carefully laid out series to go through a more full explanation. And this next sentence is critical. It is better to  communicate the key benefit you offer; that which that makes you different from the competition.

This message should be the core of all your marketing efforts.

There are plenty of people who do what you do, why should they sign on the dotted line (whether is simply be paying you for a product, or entering into a contract)?

I run into this constantly in my industry. There are plenty of talented people and firms out there, so why should someone have me build and/or manage their website? Well, I need the money. More than that, I believe I offer a different take on websites. I believe in working with clients to use their site as the hub of their marketing efforts and that by focusing on the fact that I view a website as a business tool, not an art project, will help them be more successful than simply having a great looking site or having some do-it-yourself site that takes their time away from their core competency or their personal time. I believe that I have a lot to offer clients that allows them to focus on other things.

So how do I sum that up? Well, maybe I talk about taking care of everything (so they can focus on what they do that makes them money). Maybe it’s about getting them more customers (than they could otherwise). You see, while “everything I do” is too hard to lay out quickly, summarizing it so that a business owner can understand immediately makes a big difference in whether or not I am allowed to continue working with/marketing myself to them. What I am shooting for is not the direct sale, but the opportunity to speak more fully to their specific needs. You can’t do that in thirty seconds, but if you can use that compressed timeline to get a longer meeting, or a phone call, or a visit to the special offer on your website that you offered in your direct mailer, you’ve succeeded.

Summing up

So, I hope that you understand that having a crystal clear marketing message is about getting to the next stage. It’s not a going to be a direct sale. Treat it like meeting someone and you want to ask them out on a date. You don’t lead off with “Will you marry me” do you? You just want to go out for drinks, coffee, dinner.

From a practical viewpoint, you want the direct mail recipient to go to your site. You want those that  visit your site to contact you or to sign up for your newsletter or enter the drawing. At networking events, you want to get together over coffee.

Remember, your marketing should be first and foremost about developing relationships, especially with those you’ve never met. If you can get to the next stage again and again, you will get to the sale. If you cannot get from one stage to the next it won’t happen.

A clear message will get the ball rolling, after that, well,  it’s still up to you.

I have no problem asking for someone’s business, mind you, but I’m not going to sit there and hit them with “This deal isn’t for everybody” or “My boss will be real mad that I’m giving this away” or something.

I guess I’ll never be a good sales person.

Really?

Well, Facebook and Twitter have brought to the forefront something very interesting in a way we knew fundamentally but maybe never defined:

Relationships matter!

They matter a lot. More than fancy business cards, embroidered shirts or slick haircuts.

We all know that it takes a number of meetings with someone before we are willing to trust them enough with our business. So we spend our time trying to tell them all the great features our products and services offer and maybe even the benefits to them. However, it will still take repeated interactions typically, to make the sale. All the while, they are getting information from our competition.

If we make it clear that our customer’s needs are important to us, you’ll stand out from the guy down the street.

But, if someone refers us, we are willing to skip right to talking about what color and how many, aren’t we?

So, what should we be focusing on? Building those relationships! Our time with customers and prospects needs to change from “selling” to learning about them; literally befriending them. Don’t fake it, really make an effort to change how you interact.

When you meet someone, don’t think of them as someone from whom you need to squeeze for every last dollar. You may get money out of people doing that, but you’ll be forced to put that much effort into everyone you meet again and again, and at the end of the day it’s just you with your money and lots of people who aren’t really sure what just happened.

If, instead, you focus on treating people as friends you’ll find that they are much more receptive. The walls drop and they interact more fully because they aren’t defending themselves from your sales pitch. Be honest with people especially if there is a shortcoming, a mistake or you honestly feel that they will get a better product (IE: something that better fits their need) from someone else.

This kind of forthrightness will not be forgotten and I promise it will pay dividends as people will refer their friends to you because they know you won’t attack them, but will treat them with respect, honesty and friendship.

I’ll leave you with this thought. Who would you rather be doing business with anyway, people that were cold and stern or warm, receptive and friendly? I don’t mean you as a customer, I mean YOUR customers. Yes, you can have customers that actually like hearing from and seeing you.

I may not have every customer over for dinner or ask them to watch my kids, but a wave and a “How are you doing” is very fulfilling and makes the entire process relaxing and enjoyable.

In the end it is those relationships that will create real success with less effort