Reinvent Your Relationships
With Customers – Online

By: Heather Lutze

Companies spend millions each year asking agencies and marketers for help to brand themselves in order to reach more prospects. But how often do these same companies look carefully at the brand that is already built for them by heir loyal, current customers? Like it or not, your “fan base” already has built your brand and holds your company’s reputation in the palms of their hands through an aggregate of blog posts, review sites, videos, and social media platforms stating what they love and hate about your company and the work you perform. In the event that this is predominantly positive, how do you get everyone to collectively support your brand as a community of evangelists for your company? The answer is to start loving your devotees, and to give them what they want: a place to network, talk, share advice, and continue to extol the virtues of your brand. In the end, this is what large corporations pay the big bucks for -- reverse marketing by and for your already loyal customers, and it’s something you can do yourself.

Take, for example, a small company in a predicament. Company founders had built a tremendous brand and had a huge following; however, the brand became fragmented and un-controlled online. For years the owners had been known for their passion and love of their business, but they had struggled to produce a Website that would support their loyal fans as well as perpetuate a brand that would speak to prospective customers.

Their problems were due to an incomplete vision of their online audience as well as an unrealized grasp of their potential reach. Their Website spoke to current brand enthusiasts, but could not provide enough of a forum for their fans to express their devotion. As such, YouTube videos, blogs, unofficial Facebook fanpages, etc., were appearing across the Web and were, in many cases, pulling away from the core values and mission of their business.  Additionally, unless a prospect knew to search for their specific company name or slogan, they would not find any official Webpages in search results. This created a frustrating situation for everyone that was only remedied once the owners took control of their online presence.

How do you build and “feed” a community of loyal customers to continue to build your brand from the inside out, while at the same time open the market and build brand awareness to new, valuable prospects?

Sometimes you need to go big or go home! In an effort to establish your online brand, sometimes you have to decide to redesign your Website, rewrite all the content for search engine optimization (SEO), and start aggressively utilizing social media to congregate followers. It can be a big job – but it can have a big payoff. 

Here are three steps to help you streamline the process:

Tip #1: Love Your Domain Name And Show The Search Engines You Care.
Select a domain name for “findability” – it matters. What is your current domain name?   Does it reflect who you are and what you do?  Does it reflect how your customers are trying to find you?  Does it include any of your key words for search engine optimization (SEO)? If your customers can’t easily find you, nothing else really matters. 

Tip # 2: Build New Web Site Look And Feel Consistent With Your Mission.
Does your old site lack focus because too much is going on? Before they revamped their page, the small company from our example included over 60 “options” immediately available to users on their home page. This meant that the message for users was confusing and overwhelming. Also, their home page was used as a clearinghouse for sale products, which gave them the image of being a discount store or the “clearance warehouse” of their industry. People who came to the home page needing help with a specific subject had to search over several pages to find answers. It was a very frustrating experience overall and not consistent with their message. The Webpage was scattered and hectic – the opposite of how the business was actually run.

Their new site has cleared out the clutter and cuts to the chase. Four primary conversion opportunities are presented on every page of the Website. Additionally, their background is consistent with their other product lines on the home page and every interior page. The goal is to present a cohesive user experience that appeals to both long time devotees and first time visitors looking for guidance. Your Website is your first introduction to prospective clients. It needs to reflect your professionalism.

Tip #3: Setup Social Media For Huge Community Of Followers Waiting For Your Lead.

Have you established a social media presence? Large communities of devoted followers are building their own Facebook pages and are looking for connections like your company that already have a presence. Establish “the” credible, official place on social media sites your followers can trust. Networking in cyberspace is still networking – now you have the ability to reach millions of people instead of one roomful of folks at a time.

Taking the dive and reinventing yourself or your business is scary, but even scarier is the inability to adapt and change over time. The Internet is a very fast paced environment and you must stay in touch. Ultimately, you’ll see big payoffs and great “findabilty” for being bold and taking a stand to define your coatings contracting company. If you don’t adapt, your competitor will.


Heather Lutze has spent the last 10 years as CEO of The Findability Group, formerly Lutze Consulting, – a Search Engine Marketing firm that works with companies to attain maximum Internet exposure. A nationally recognized speaker, she is the author of, “The Findability Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach To Search Engine Marketing” (Wiley and Sons).  Heather is a lead speaker for Pay Per Click Summit, and previously spent two years speaking for Yahoo! Search Marketing. For more information, visit  www.FindabilityGroup.com.


 

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