Don’t get stuck using old communication channels – use the best technology to stay in touch with your customers.
Some companies get it and some companies don’t. A lot of business professionals don’t understand that connecting with customers is a great way to increase sales and grow their business.
Communicating with customers using online communication seems a little too “geeky” or “nerdy” to many traditional entrepreneurs.
But in a world where people are constantly moving, changing jobs, and working put under tremendous stress; being able to find a trusted adviser (you and your business) can be a great relief for many harried clients and customers
How To Connect With Customers as a Trusted Advice-Giver?
You can become a trusted adviser by first listening to your customer’s problems, pains or frustrations. Hey take notes if you must. YES, I’m serious!
Once you know what your customers are feeling and think, you can answer all their pressing questions and educate them on what you sincerely are the best ways to solve some of their problems – for free.
Yes, for FREE.
While this might seem counter-intuitive, we (us human monkeys) all enjoy working with people, we know, who we feel understand us and who we think can help us.
And everyone is hard-wired to like “free” stuff – especially if it helps with a problem, in some way.
So how can you answer questions, educate and connect with your customers without going broke? This where your business website and some basic online communications tools can come to the rescue.
A WordPress business blog is of the easiest and most affordable ways to to connect with clients or customers, that I know of.
A good WordPress website with it’s free communication tools can increase your market reach and build trust and rapport with your prospects.
5 Powerful Tools For Improving Your Customer Connections Using Web Technology
Tool #1 – Use a WordPress Blog
The best tool for connecting with customers today, is a self-hosted WordPress website.
Basically you should either add a separate blog to your standard website or makeover your current site using the WordPress platform or software.
Without a business blog – a WordPress website – you are severely limiting your chances of online success. And the main reason why are kind of simple.
The search engines (mainly Google) have a bias towards “fresh” content.
For example, what if you went to the website of the Wall Street Journal… and discovered that they had not added any new stories or articles in 2 days!
Your trust would be broken (or at least dented) and you would naturally look for another newspaper website with more up-to-date articles.
And you probably would not go back any time soon and it might take you a long time to get over your disappointment (if ever) and come back.
Okay, granted your websites is not a “news” site as such, but there are millions of new websites coming online every year.
So if you don’t give the search engines something “new” and “fresh” to look at, they are not inclined to send their search robots out to scan your S.S.D.D (Same Site, Different Day) anytime soon.
And a WordPress blog that you own and control is the fastest, cheapest and easiest way I know to upload and add new content to a website without paying for professional help.
Tool #2 – Use the WordPress “Comment” Function
Use your business blog to collect comments from visitors. Unless you are hit by a lot of spam or junk comments, always leave your blog posts open for your readers to interact with you.
Comments prove that not only are you open to feedback but that you want to engage in conversations with your web visitors.
Plus use comments to learn what visitors think about your products and services. You don’t have to do anything they suggest … but knowing what Joe Public thinks can head off a nasty or negative publicity explosion!
Tool #3 – Build an Email List-Community
If you don’t want to have open comments, then you need use a email capture form to build your in-house list or community.
Email lists can seem pretty old fashioned to most folks. But outside of the telephone, email is THE most popular way that people stay in touch with businesses they are interested in.
Yes, more people still email than they post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter! Not to mention email messages converts 35% more than social media does.
This is because social media is a one-to-many communications channel, while email is one-to-one.
Sure the same message can be forwarded to thousands but it comes from a single private email out-box and goes into a private email inbox – one single message at a time.
This intimacy is why email messages are seen as personal communication, while Facebook or Twitter posts are not.
So despite overflowing inboxes full of fake emails and sex-related spam, people still will click on an email addressed personally to them more often than they will a click on a “drive-by” mini-post in a super busy timeline in Facebook.
Tool #4 – Build Word of Mouth with Social Media
Utilize sharing software with social media to build more word-of-mouth traffic.
Yes, I know I just explained that Facebook messages do not convert as well as email.
And that is true… and one of the other reasons why it fails to sell as well as email is that a business to consumer message or pitch on a social media site is just that – a sales pitch.
You can improve your customer connections by using social media sharing technology that lets YOUR customers share your blog posts, product photos, video,s etc. with their social networks for you!
Too many small business people think that they should “push” out their message using their Facebook fan page, when they should be a encouraging their web visitors and customers to do the heavy lifting for them.
Use O. P. S. N. (other people’s social networks) to share back links to your content!
For example. Say as a small business owner you only have 500 Fans on your Facebook page and when you send out a message it only reaches only 10% or less.
That means at best only 50 people could be reached — and you still don’t have a guarantee that those 50 people saw it, read it, or clicked on it.
But say just 50 visitors to your business blog “shared” a single link to an interest article on your blog.
That means 50 people x their 500 Friends = a potential group of over 25,000 people who might see your message.
And if like you, they only reach 10% of that total group – that is 2,500 people who could be reached and maybe have seen your message.
And since these referred messages are from people, they know, like and trust (their friends and family), the chances are good that most of these will at least read the message.
Social media is very powerful… but it should be used as a referral system rather than an announcement or marketing system.
These are just a few of the ways that you can use your blog to connect and build relationships with both current and prospective customers.
Tool #5 – Download this Special Report on Free Web Marketing Tools
But wait there’s more…!
I always wanted to say that!=…But there are more tools below.
I have researched several other web technology tools you can use to connect with your customers and listed them in a special report called, The Top 21 Free Web Marketing Tools for Small Business.
Regularly priced at $10.00, you can download this special report (just on this page) for free!
The Top 21 Free Web Marketing Tools for Small Business.
Inside you will find information and links to tools for…
- Website & Blog Construction Tools
- Content Creation Tools
- SEO & Social Media Tools
- Tools for Convincing
- And Professional Web Marketing & Development Services
All you have to do is click the link below and signup using your best email address.
[color-button color=”myorange” href=”http://eepurl.com/bhuO4H”]The Top 21 Free Web Marketing Tools for Small Business [/color-button]