Be a Website Guide

A potential customer came to your website because they have a real problem to solve.  Now that they are on your site, you need to become a website guide and provide a real, trustworthy solution to their problem.  When they visit your site, you are guiding them on a path of discovery so that you can prove to a person, one step at a time, that using your product or service will make their life easier and it will give them the experience they were seeking to find.

Sure, asking them to make a purchase outright is easier to do and takes less effort, but getting creative and offering superb content will help your customers not just be nameless, digital consumers but they will become brand ambassadors.

So, become a storyteller, be a website guide, and take your customers on a journey!  Here are a few steps for getting that done:

Not digital people, but real people in a digital environment

Your audience is not data on a chart.  To sell your product or services effectively, you need to make human connections with your customers.  You need to know what they want so you can tailor a service or product to fit their needs.

Previously we talked about creating an audience persona of a target audience.  (You can find that article here.) I mentioned a radio station who identified their listener and even put a picture of her up in the studio so the on-air talent and the promotional team would not forget who she was.  If you don’t market to a target audience, you’ll usually end up marketing to yourself! Check out this article: if you fail to identify a target audience, your advertising will miss your target.

By creating an audience persona, you gain a better understanding of what is motivating people to visit your website.  When you understand why they are there, then you’ll also better understand why they make purchases.

If your target audience is a 44-year-old woman, don’t just think about her.  Think about what she likes, what she drives, what she does for fun, who her friends are, what her family is like, what she listens to on the radio, what makes her sad, what challenges she faces, and what her hobbies might be.

Once you understand who your customer is and what your customer is looking for, then a good website guide brings a customer through the buying process.  Here is a description of a sales funnel:

Typical Sales Funnel

A consumer will move through a process with your company in these stages before they make a purchase. Awareness – Consideration – Conversion.

Let’s briefly unpack those 3 stages:

Awareness

You may be offering the very best service in town, but that doesn’t do anyone any good if they don’t know that you exist.  Awareness got them to your website in the first place and a lot of marketing is done in this stage.  Print and Digital pieces that help with awareness include:

  • Signs, Banners / Flags, Storefront graphics, Vehicle graphics
  • Direct mail and EDDM mail, Print ads, Business cards, Flyers
  • Digital ads, Social media ads
  • Radio / Broadcast

However, once they are on your site, you are out of the awareness stage.  So, don’t redouble your awareness efforts here.  Your website is all about the process of consideration.  As a website guide, you are not helping the user discover your company.  You are helping them decide if they are going to trust you or not.

Consideration

Once people hear about you, they begin to investigate what it is that you do.  This is the reason they are on your website.  Now it’s the time to show that you really know you stuff!  As a website guide, you can do that on your site with:

  • Blog posts
  • Testimonials
  • Photography
  • Videos
  • Webinars

Conversion

Ultimately, your goal is to make a conversion.  You are trying to move a lead through the process of turing them into a paying customer and ultimately as an advocate for your company.

A website guide leads user through the sales funnel

Walk them through the process in this sales funnel. Set goals for them along the way.  For example, when they get to the front page, what should be their first step of discovery?  Create a link and a button to get them there.  What if they read a blog post; what should they read next?  Create a link and a path for a user to take through your site that leads them from one content page to the next.

Then along the way, make it clear what their next sales step might be.  Do you want them to buy from your store?  Do you want them to schedule a consultation?  Make sure there are clear directions and clear navigation navigation to get them from one step to the next.

Not just a digital transaction, but a real relationship

The user’s visit to your website is not just data and a transaction.  It is an opportunity for you to tell the story of your business and to guide your customer on a journey to discover more about what interests them.  As you become a trusted guide, you’ll build a deeper relationship with your client and you’ll find them coming back to you over and over again.

 

Need some more ideas?  Here are 3 proven ways to drive your website sales

 

More Great Content is Available in Our Guide

If you want a complete overview of small business marketing strategies in less than 100 pages, download our guide here.  It is full of useful information that you can begin implementing immediately in your small business.