The Seven Pillars of Internet Marketing, it is All About Your Customer
1. Know Your Customer
First things first, who is your customer? Many successful businesses actually create “personas” for their internet customers, identifying their theoretical age, sex, browser technology, etc. One business may have many different personas. A vitamin store may have a bodybuilder, an expectant mother and a senior citizen all looking for supplements; you wouldn’t market to all three the same way.
In general, women tend to use the internet and shop differently from men. People browsing computers and electronics will tend to look at detailed specifications more than someone shopping for a purse, where 360 degree high resolution images would work better. Although many sites change their layout to accommodate mobile users, highly advanced sites may actually change their colors, images and product offerings based upon what they know about each visitor.
2. Find Your Customer
Where is your customer most likely to find you? A 24 hour plumber doesn’t need a Facebook presence as much as they need to be found in search and local listings. It’s also unlikely that anyone would follow them on Twitter or Pinterest! On the other hand, businesses with products or services that are considered “positive”, like fashion, health or fitness, may find that social marketing is just what they need to take them to the next level.
This is also where keyword research is extremely important. What words will someone type into Google (or Bing, or Yahoo) to find your business? What is the competition for those search terms? A local vitamin shop would find it VERY difficult to get on the first page of Google’s organic listings for the term “vitamins.” This is where location targeted paid search and local business listings really stand out.
3. Invite Your Customer
For organic listings, write unique and inviting titles and descriptions for every page. For paid search, write your ad copy with a purpose. In local listings, maximize your business profile and get reviews from your customers. You have to stand out from your competition to get someone to your site.
4. Sell Your Customer
They click and end up on your site, now what? Sell, sell, sell. Do your landing pages grab the visitors attention, or do they bounce? When a visitor comes to your site from a search for “red shoes”, make sure they see red shoes when they arrive. You also should have a unique value proposition, tell it. Show them you have what they are looking for and why you are the best place to get it. This applies to services as well as products.
5. Compel Your Customer
Ask for the sale, or the sign up, etc. Give them a reason to buy or give you their contact information NOW! Perhaps it’s a free shipping offer or discount they can receive. For an eCommerce site, a completed sale is the primary goal, but a newsletter signup is better than nothing. For lead generation, eBooks can be a great incentive.
The second part of this is to make it easy to complete the transaction. You don’t need a full mailing address, password creation and mother’s maiden name for a newsletter signup. For eCommerce, shopping cart abandonment is a real killer. Make it easy to see shipping costs without going through half the checkout process, zip code only is great. One page checkouts are also known to dramatically increase conversion rates, especially when order details with shipping are clearly visible as well.
6. Service Your Customer
Deliver what you promised to deliver, when you promised to deliver it. Every customer cost something to acquire, don’t blow it after the sale. If problems arise, communication is the key. A proactive call is a lot better than an upset customer. If your business touches people on a personal level, a follow up call or thank you card can really go a long way.
7. Retain Your Customer
If you are the 24 hour plumber, you may just want to ask for a positive review. For most other businesses, a monthly or seasonal newsletter should be the bare minimum. The next time your customer requires your product or service, you don’t want them searching all over again. The idea is to find the balance. Some industries get great results from 3 to 4 “sale” emails a week, others need to play it low key and send out only monthly “informational” emails. For most eCommerce sites, the balance lies somewhere between the two.