Yesterday I was meeting with an associate of mine that does coaching for small businesses. We were having a discussion about marketing and I was showing him our new presentation on the 6 Essential factors necessary to generate leads on a website.
- Visual Designs
- Simplicity
- Customer Profiling
- Informative Content
- Trust and Credibility
- Persuading Action
He was very impressed with what I showed him but he pointed out that I was missing a critical step. Of course when a person you respect tells you that you’re missing something, you should always ask them what it is.
He told me that to do these steps properly a business must first know themselves and to do this they have to start from the beginning. Starting from the beginning is asking the big questions. Without these questions answered, your marketing will be misguided and ineffective.
The Big Questions
- Who are we?
- What services do we provide?
- Why do people need or value these services?
- What makes us unique from our competition?
- Who is our target market?
While these questions may seem obvious, they are not. Most small businesses cannot answer them with the clarity necessary to have a successful marketing campaign. Typically the answers they give are the same one’s their competition gives. How can you differentiate yourself when you’re saying the same thing your competitors say? Once you understand the answers to these questions, the goal of marketing is to communicate this message to the right people.
One of the challenges with answering the big questions is that you are so immersed in your business you are unable to remove yourself and see the forest from the trees. The best way to answer these questions is to have a third party give you new questions and techniques that will help you clarify the big one’s. This is how business coaches and marketing consultants provide value. They are your best resource for helping you create clarity.
By starting at the beginning and getting the right answers to the big questions, you will find that your marketing campaigns actually work. You are now able to use the above 6 methods enhance your website and increase your online conversions.
Remember that you are never too experienced to go back to the basics.
