Maybe your product doesn’t serve people online. Maybe you have a brick-and-mortar store-front and nothing about your business is online. You may be sitting there wondering why on Earth you would ever need an online presence. Well you’ve come to the right place for an answer.
The real and hard truth today is that the majority of the world is online. Countries globally are getting online faster than ever before. North America is ruled by a cyber stockade of next-geners who spend countless hours a day head-bent into their digital devices, whether it be a cell phone, tablet or laptop. Everyone, every where is online.
When a potential customer first hears about your store-front, the first place they are going to check to see what you’re all about is online. Before they even leave the house, they want to know if you carry the items they’re interested in and what else you might showcase. They’ll most certainly check Google Maps (or other similar sites) to figure out if there is parking near-by or which is the best bus route to take. If you are a specialty shop and out of their local area, maybe they’ll plan their afternoon around the neighbourhood your store is in, check out a book store or a coffee shop.
But rest assured, the quickest way to lose a potential word-of-mouth client, is by not being found online.
If a user does a web search for your shop or product, and comes away empty handed, or at best, with another user’s tale of how they used your product, or worst, another user’s tale of how they also couldn’t find you online, it is highly likely this user will stop there. They aren’t likely to put a lot of effort into finding you, if you couldn’t put the effort into being found.
Even a simple website — with a description of your company, a list of the types of products/services you offer, a map to where you can be found and your contact information — will be met with smiles as opposed to a frown of confusion. The buyers of this generation have grown up with technology always an arm’s-length away. Have you ever watched the confusion that crosses the face of a Millennial when they encounter a store without Interac/Debit? This is the face they will make when they cannot find you online.
You do not need to keep an up-to-date inventory of your stock online, accurate to the last minute. IF this is a service you feel you’d like to offer, most certainly, it is possible. But be active on your website: update your blog, make posts that are seasonally relevant, upload pictures of new stock or services, offer testimonials from happy customers. This is your first impression to many of your clientele, this is your opportunity to shine and usher them in to your brick-and-mortar abode.
When you get your online presence right from the first try, you’ll know it on the faces of your customers when they walk in. Feel free to use a similar tactic in person as you do in blogging, ask them where they heard of you, or if they’ve seen your website. You might be surprised with just how many answer in the affirmative.
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