The Internet has changed the face of offline and online businesses in ways that many successful companies are still trying to come to terms with. It has challenged conventional marketing wisdom, sales strategies and changed the dynamics of business competition, resulting in the failure of many previously highly successful companies and the emergence of new players who have overtaken long established market leaders. The web 2.0 customer is highly sophisticated, has a lot of options and is in a hurry. You either provide your online service or product in a simpler way or loose him or her to a competitor.
- Empower customers to help themselves.
- Empower customers to Succeed.
- Show Appreciation.
- Building Lasting On-Line Relationships.
- Branding is more important than ever.
- Differentiation.
- Building Your Image.
- Enthusiasm is Infectious.
- Learn Something New Each Day.
Allowing people to help themselves helps you reduce workload and operating cost. Help customers help themselves by providing sources of information, resource materials, branded whitepapers and helping customers to ask questions. Provide a highly resourceful FAQ page.
Make it easy for your customers to succeed, and you win their loyalty and maintain them for a long time. Success begins with finding the information the customer wants about you and your product. If it isn’t readily available, and they have to contact you to ask for it, they have encountered the first difficulty in the process to succeed. Make it easy to contact you and easy to know who in your organization helps with specific types of problems.
Everyone likes to be appreciated. An occasional thank you note, small thank you gift, or other recognition of your appreciation of your customer’s loyalty might be the deciding factor when a customer decides to move his or her business to a competitor with a tempting offer. Showing appreciation is easier, less costly, and probably even more important for an internet business.
The customer is in charge. This makes the relationship much more unpredictable. Since every business has the same objective of keeping their customers, you need to find ways to continue to sell and to get the largest possible share of the customer’s wallet. Choosing customers who promise high lifetime value, then servicing them well, is the best approach to building a profitable and rewarding business.
Until your brand is established, and to drive business results while you are building it, you must focus strongly on building customer confidence. Encourage visitors to contact you and provide ways for them to tell you about their needs and preferences.
To succeed, differentiate your product and target a market that appreciates that differentiation. Try being a little creative with your marketing messages and where you advertise. Be different!
Branding starts with names. It involves much more, however, your company logo, color, website, fonts are all important. Maintain a consistent image across different marketing platforms. Building a strong brand builds strong value in your business, and assists effective marketing.
Let customers see that you have confidence in your products and service and that you enjoy what you do. Create a buzz. Get your customers talking about the exciting and creative things you do in your business. Take advantage of every opportunity to do something “outside the box” that gets attention and starts people talking about you.
Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more flexible you can be to adapt to change. The better equipped you are to adapt to change, the more likely you are to survive new industry trends and new competitors entering your market space. Your customer is dynamic. Adopt to change when necessary and read about the trends in your industry.
