IT’S NOT JUST MARKETING – IT’S PERSONAL

There are over 1 billion websites on the world wide web today, the majority of your competitors have websites, most have social media accounts too. So, how do you convince your potential customers that you are the best in the business before you have even spoken to them?

I have always put a lot of emphasis into creating a truly personal online experience and really making your potential clients understand that you are real people doing a real job and not just a website that may be here today and gone tomorrow, this is more important to most consumers than you think. Trust is one of the biggest factors in online marketing and I’ve written a few tips on how you can use the tools available to develop trust within your target market.

Create a professional and most importantly unique online experience, look at what your competitors are doing but also at what they are not doing and how you can present your product and services better than they do.

Does your website answer the questions which users are asking? When someone arrives at your website primarily they want to know three things – ‘Do they do what I’m looking for?’ , ‘Can I afford it?’ & ‘Can I trust them?’ Make sure that you present your content clearly and it is obvious to users how they can take the next step – a website which doesn’t turn visitors into business is useless and a drain on your resources instead of an additional source of income.

Ensure that everything works correctly, your website usability is the first impression of your company’s customer service levels. A broken website shows that you are not paying attention to your client’s needs.

Make your online space personal includes using real images of your team and your business, not stock images.

Get testimonials from your customers, with photos and videos is best if possible. You can even sign up to a site like Tripadvisor or Trust Pilot which are independent review sites and can carry a lot of weight when people are preparing to make a purchase online.

Introduce live chat into your site and helping your website visitors to move down the sales funnel by answering their questions and alleviating their concerns.

Show personalised content to your users based on their previous visits to your website, location, device and much more.

As online marketers we are no longer selling products or services, we are selling a customer experience. During these difficult economic times when less and less business is available we need to look at more ways to enrich the customer experience.

Your potential customers could be comparing you to your competitors at any time and the worst thing is that you don’t even know it.

By creating a professional and personalised website you can move one step ahead of the competition and keep more of the market share in your industry.