BrightSurfer

Many people create websites to help their customers work with their business in some way, whether it’s for selling products online, providing an online service or application (as in “computer program”, not “submission form”), or just announcing what the business does off-line and how to contact the staff for service.

It’s difficult to make your online marketing strategies work if many of your customers are not online, though. Many people have Internet access, but some rarely use it. In some cases, you may have a customer base that largely does not subscribe to any type of Internet access; in certain communities where online access is a new thing, some of those people cannot think of any good reasons to use the Internet. So give people reasons to use your website, and maybe they’ll come around!

Ideas, creatively speaking:

• Use your website with your face-to-face marketing efforts. Offer coupons on your website, and put out a clear announcement as to where people can find those coupons. Then, if you have anything you want people to see, you can easily post it online with the coupons (or linked from that particular page). Also, insert your website address into all your printed stationery, business cards, and newspaper/magazine ads.
• Offer something useful on your website that has something to do with your business. Perhaps publish a list of links for resources on information for your work industry, products, or local community. You can link directly to your local newspaper online and include a syndication feed of their headlines on your site if they offer it. You can start a blog and simply entertain potential customers by talking about your business, or by talking about anything, really. Publish an events calendar for your business or your local community. Publish a “favorite websites” list and keep it up-to-date, so that you have a reason for people to actually use a computer to check it out and revisit often.
• Start an email list for announcements. Include coupons or promotional offers in the mailings, and let people know that in advance so that they have a great reason to sign up. Use this list to announce a great new product or service when you begin to offer it.
• Once you’ve joined a professional network or social network online, you can let people know that you exist on the Internet and that you’d love for them to add you to their network. And if they’ve never done anything like that before, well then you would be their first contact!
• Talk about your favorite websites to your current and potential customers/clients. Then when they ask, “Do you have a website?”, let them know…
• If you run a shop or a place where people may wish to sit down and hang out, look into having a secure Wifi connection installed so that people can use the Internet on your business’ premises, if they bring a laptop that can make the connection. It’s a big bonus if you actually have a computer that can be hooked up to the Internet for public access. In either case, make your website the homepage. Caveat: don’t do anything like this without really looking into it at first, because the pitfalls can be rather ugly. Also, avoid this if it doesn’t make any sense for the type of business that you run. Copy shops and cafes usually have Internet terminals with great success. It would probably not mesh well with an antiques shop, however.
• Offer to take digital pictures of your customers when it’s appropriate for them and for your business. Upload them to your website. Tell them where the pictures will end up…
• Do you have a voicemail greeting for your business? Make sure that it includes your website address!
• Do you hand printed receipts to your customers? Set your cash register or receipt printer to include the address of your website.
• Any other creative suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment on this post!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Brightsurfer Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.