COMMENT AND OPINION | Stewart Woodruff OPINION
STEWART WOODRUFF
Be critical about your online presence. Get things right and potential customers will find you
n this industry, there have been many differences of opinion on how we should be operating, but whatever you are doing, and whatever you consider to be right, retailers need to make sure they are prepared now that we are returning to some form of normality. We all understand that customers don’t just fi nd us. We have to make it easy for them to come across our business and we need to position ourselves so that we are the only company they visit. This is done by marketing, keeping your face in front of your potential customers, and convincing them that you are the only person they should be talking to about their project. Now, some companies are bigger than others, and so their marketing budgets are greater, but you don’t have to spend vast sums of money to get yourself out among your potential clients and convince them that you are the one they should be talking to.
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This is work that you should have been doing all the time, but it has been more important than ever over the past year to ensure that potential, and existing, clients know you are still around and you are still the best company to contact.
The world lives on mobile devices and so the simplest way to keep in touch with potential clients in your area is to make sure you have an online presence and to ensure it is mobile-friendly – an easy check on Google and you can see if you need to make any alterations. Nothing is worse than a slow site – we all hate to be kept waiting and this could lose you business. So if your website is mobile-friendly, there are three easy ways to keep in front of your clients – fi nd out how in the box below – and two of them are free.
GOOGLE YOUR BUSINESS It’s your shortcut, no-nonsense way to being found on Google when people search for what you do and it’s free! Google your business and see what information Google has about you, and what more you can add. Are your company details correct? Have you got any reviews? Is your map position correct? Are your opening hours correct? The more details you provide, the more posts you put on, the more reviews you get, the better ranked you become and the better your presence. Write articles. Put on pictures of completed projects, describing how the design benefi ted the customer.
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My top three post-lockdown tips 1
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The owner of MBK Design Studio in Kent has some helpful tips to ensure that, as retailers open again after lockdown, potential customers know they’re the place to go
Preparing for the new normal
But there is one golden rule – for all your marketing. Just remember the general public don’t care who you are, they just want to know what you can do for them. So be critical about your online presence. Get things right and potential customers will fi nd you and will know about what you do, how you work and, more importantly, they will be price-aware.
FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE This is also free and all businesses should have a Facebook business page. It is a valuable resource. By posting stories about jobs you have done and the reasons behind the products used, you can provide a glimpse of the type of work you do, the way you work and the products you recommend. Starting from scratch is quite diffi cult, but by using your personal page and joining community groups you can share your posts and get them in front of a wider audience. There is even free software that allows you to schedule your posts and share them accross other platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
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YOUR WEBSITE There may be a cost, depending on who hosts it and what maintenance procedures are in place. In my opinion, what a website should do is educate and answer any questions potential customers may have and convince them that you are the expert in your fi eld and the person best suited to handle their project. Websites must not be a brochure site, telling potential customers how good you are – they are not interested. They have a problem and they want to know how you are going to solve it. So provide solutions and give answers and don’t be afraid to talk price.
· May 2021
Main photo:
Freepik.com.
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