There’s an interesting paradox I’ve noticed having to do with an analog vs. a digital existence. You may have the most entrancing physical location imaginable, and yet because you can’t be found online, you can’t connect with customers and thus don’t exist. Have you encountered it?
It has to do with search. Through search businesses have the opportunity to be found and connect with potential customers. We used to have the Yellow Pages. I remember sitting on stacks of them as a kid so I could reach the dinner table. Who uses them anymore? People found businesses this way.
Now, we type search terms into Google, and consider the results. Perhaps your website appears. Maybe not. More often than not, it doesn’t appear. Does it really exist then in the mind of your customer? If your customer is desperately looking to find you in the physical world and you aren’t there in the digital world, then, no, you don’t exist.
So when people try to find your business, entering search terms relevant to you, do you come up first? If you don’t, then don’t be surprised when someone else takes your place not only online, but also in the offline world.
Then there’s the “connect” part. What makes you want to connect with a brand or a store or a business?
Think of the old general store where visitors were greeted by name and the owner immediately mentioned a relevant new arrival. It’s not too dissimilar from how Amazon greets me and recommends products to me. Why would I go elsewhere if the current treatment is so customized, so relevant, so respectful of my time, and deepens with each transaction? I connect when I feel appreciated and respected as an individual, and I’m recognized and listened to.
My point is that you have to take steps to be found and discovered when people search for you online. And then, you have to take steps to cement the connection and establish a relationship that carries seamlessly from your digital presence to your physical presence and back again.
Here then are 10 tips to being found and connecting:
1. Eliminate your online flash applications. Content within a flash application is invisible to search engines. If you can’t, make them as unobtrusive as possible. And absolutely don’t have your content hidden within that flash application.
2. Focus on content, specifically relevant, informative, and unbiased content that has your customers’ benefit at heart.
3. Make sure your relevant keywords (the ones that people would search for) appear consistently in your content.
4. Start a blog and post frequently, consistently and relevantly about your business, your presence in the marketplace, and how you connect with your community. Tell your story and be genuine in sharing valuable information.
5. Make all of your content unique to you. That means don’t copy it from another site; don’t have the same content on your website that another website carries. Make it totally relevant to you and your geographic location. Tell your story.
6. Listen. Listen some more. Listen in your store. Listen to what your frontline employees say about your customers. Listen to what’s happening in your community. Figure out how to be relevant to what you hear. Listen online with freely available tools like Google alerts and Google Analytics. Then address what you hear via your blog and web and in-store via your sales associates and marketing tools.
7. Forget the hard sell. Forget about it within your store; don’t dare do it online. The hard sell prevents you from connecting; it scares customers away and it drives negative word of mouth.
8. Look at your physical retail or office experience. What does it communicate to a first-time visitor? Does it welcome and invite visitors in to browse and discover unexpected ideas? Is it clean and inspiring? Now, look at your website. What does it communicate to a first-time visitor? Is it difficult to navigate? Is it all about you or all about what your visitor might be searching for?
9. Promote your digital presence in your store or office and on brochures, business cards, ads, email signatures, etc. Be sure to promote your physical location, phone number, etc. on your digital site.
10. Invite visitors to both digital and analog locations to opt-in to your regular email newsletter communications. And then deliver an email newsletter that will wow your readers with the valuable information it contains.
What would you add to this list to overcome the analog vs. digital existence paradox? What other tips might you share for being found and connecting?
Tags: business, Content Marketing, customer experience, Marketing, Social Media
An interesting thing about Flash… not only are there search engine issues, but there are Apple issues. While iPhones have never been able to display Flash, it wasn’t so much of a big deal because most people don’t do their major searching on their iPhone.
But the new iPad has the same Flash limitation. And if you’ve followed the Apple vs. Adobe battle, Apple has no intention of displaying Flash on either product.
The iPad is more geared toward web browsing. And despite what anyone may think about Apple or the iPad, they sell a lot of products and the iPad is no different. You don’t want to lock those people out.
Mike, what a fascinating angle you share re: Flash and Apple products. I don’t do much searching on my iPhone and haven’t yet had a chance to play with an iPad, but the Flash limitation is another major hurdle for websites to overcome if they intend to make it easy for browsers [people and spider] to fully appreciate the content offered. Thanks for bringing it up. Best, CB
Christine,
Brilliant post. Thanks for simplifying this all down for us.
Jeanne
Jeanne, thank you for that high praise! Given how you inspired a Zappos & service post with your “Earning Customer Raves” piece, it’s the least I can do! Best, CB
Good points, Christine! I’ll add one more that’s based on a good friend’s feedback from his customers. It expands on tip #8.
My friend has a local plumbing biz specializing in tankless water heaters. As you can imagine, most plumbers have crappy looking websites. His, however, is very simple and polished, filled with useful info — in layman’s terms, to boot.
Even though it hasn’t been updated much in the past three years, many new customers still tell him that HIS WEBSITE is what convinced them to go tankless AND to buy from his company.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the intangible look-n-feel of your site is equally important as the other things you’ve mentioned. Don’t hand the reins to your nephew, hire a designer so your website makes the right impression.
Shelley, I love your point #11 [or #8.5].
What that look-n-feel of your site does is communicate how well you have thought out the value you offer visitors. Simple truly is better especially when done from the perspective of potential customers and not cluttered up with all the gory, flashy trappings that are remnants of the hard sell/shouty days.
Thanks for sharing your friend’s marvelous example! I hope lots of other business people learn from him.
Best,
CB
I believe your first point isn’t exactly accurate. Most good coders know now how to get flash content indexed. “Elminating your flash content” is a bit harsh
Kevin, yes it is a bit harsh and flash content can be dealt with. However, many businesses get ’sold’ a magnificent [or not so magnificent] flash based site and don’t know enough to ask about how to get the content indexed. They wind up with a site that does them no good for their business and no good coder close by to help diagnose the situation.
What about the point that Mike Klassen makes? What is an effective solution for iPads, etc.? I’d love to hear your perspective.
Thanks for being part of this discussion.
Best,
CB
Good points and the Apple point is the best case for limiting Flash. Once HTML5 is used more this issue will go away. We have gone from all Flash sites to all HTML sites now. Not only is it better for iPhones and iPads it is much easier to keep up.
I want to talk about the comment about hard sell. Even in the store you shouldn’t have a hard sell, but you certainly should see. The best approach is a helpful approach. Give customers the information they need to make a purchase. This goes for offline and online. Too many “Social Media Experts” push this no advertising or selling on social media and that is plain wrong. The research I have seen indicates people do not mind receiving information about products. That is why they become Fans. Yes you should have a mix of engagement and of information broadcasting.
Harry, I really appreciate your reinforcing the ‘no hard sell’ point. Selling is an important function and, in my mind, is all about listening, being helpful, and finding solutions for customers rather than force feeding them something that may be irrelevant. “A mix of engagement and of information broadcasting” – I like that!
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
Best,
CB
Christine (and now Harry also): the iPad issue is a red herring as far as the original article goes. When “getting found on the Web” exactly equals “only thru use of the iPad” i believe that time will never come. And the debate about “HTML5 will kill Flash” is so far coming down in Flash’s favor. If you’re on the opposite side of that, all i can say is don;t hold your breath waiting for it.
But back to the original point. I agree flash for the sake of flash is a waste. A dopey splash page entering a site is a waste of everyone’s time. But the nice little flash module that about 50% of sites use nowadays to rotate 3 or 4 hero spots on the home page actually contribute a nice look and experience. To me, the issue there is not coding, but content. If the content in the hero space isn’t repeated, and in more depth, elsewhere on the page (i.e., outside of flash), then it’s time to bring in the SEO consultant.
Thanks for the discussion.
Kevin, good points – especially about repeating the hero space content.
Thank you!
Best,
CB
Interesting that in the May 2010 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine that arrived in my mailbox, there was an article called, “Coolness has its price: Seven reasons to avoid using Flash on your website.”
Their website still has the April issue, but it might be worth keeping an eye out for when the May issue arrives online. Perhaps it will include that article in full.
Fair or not, it’s been interesting to see how Flash has been in the cross-hairs recently.
Thanks, Mike!
Best,
CB
[...] 10 Tips for Being Found & Connecting with Customers: “There’s an interesting paradox I’ve noticed having to do with an analog vs. a digital existence. You may have the most entrancing physical location imaginable, and yet because you can’t be found online, you can’t connect with customers and thus don’t exist. Have you encountered it? [Marketing Profs] [...]
Hi Christine,
Great post, but I want to comment on #5. I agree with you to make your content unique and not copy content from other websites. Although people also appreciate when you point them to interesting content on other websites.
But you should also present your content in such a way that others can go ahead and re-use it. The more people that use your content the better. This will only help you to get more exposure and reach people that you would otherwise have missed.
BR,
Hans
Hans,
What an excellent addition and reminder! The more we can share, the better and the more likely we are to reach new audiences – as you say. Something to keep in mind in re-using content is to never forget to add your own interpretation [the human, personal element] and to give attribution – which also seem to help further spread ideas.
You bring to mind David Meerman Scott and his World Wide Rave.
Thank you for contributing!
Best,
CB
Great article and very useful tips. Really agree with you as far as Flash and glad that we don’t use it.
Your #4 tip is one that we have used and it really works. I have had my blog for about 2 1/2 years and post weekly. I see in my blog stats that people go to our website quite a bit after reading an article.
It takes time to get the word out but in the long run it is really worth it.
Kathy,
I love hearing about the success you’ve had with your blog. It’s the most powerful platform I’ve encountered for being able to share information about your company and business. As Hans mentioned above, it’s important to make your content reusable and share-able to increase exposure and reach people outside of your immediate circle; blogs do that.
Thanks for sharing.
Best,
CB
I’d like to add another expansion to tip #8 – a website needs to be well-written. A friend sent me a link to his new site this morning for his carpet cleaning business. I really appreciated that the content was clear, concise, and well-written – no spelling or usage mistakes. It communicated professionalism, which is especially important to a small business.
Christine, thanks for this informative post.
Bethany, there’s nothing quite like clear, concise, well-written content to engage and communicate focus and commitment. Particularly for a small business — which you and Shelley both seized on. Great example, too!
Thanks for your comment.
Best,
CB
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