maine web development, web design, internet marketing

Your geographic area no longer defines your economic sector. Thanks to technology, you can define where you exist by vertical market and offerings, not just by region. You can use email, social networks, your website and web search to create a flexible, resilient sub-sector of the mainstream economy focused around your company.

The Sector of Jim

Since it is now easier than ever to connect with like minded people, sales prospects and industry connections, wherever they are, economic sectors are no longer defined in traditional terms. Jim can create the sector of “Jim” and have that economic sector be all the people and things Jim and his company really care about and are interested in.

A New Approach

No longer are we just in the “Software Consulting” vertical market, we can be in the sub-vertical of “Jim” and through connecting with great people, tie our economic situation to that sector and outperform the industry or the entire economy. This is nothing new as most companies are defined by the relationships they have managed to make – their book of business.

What is new is that it is easier and quicker than ever before to create initial relationships and expand them. The tools exist for companies small and large, new and old, just like they exist for Jim. Jim can nurture his relationships, add new ones and grow them all into prospects, sales and partners through daily and weekly unobtrusive interaction and conversation.

In this environment, we have to assume that the more informed prospects and contacts are more understanding about what we do, the more likely they will choose our company as their partners for this particular service or solution. If the more educated a particular prospect becomes about what you offer, they might be less likely to choose your company. Otherwise, you are probably not the best solution for them and that will likely come to light at some point in the future of your relationship. When a prospect is not a good fit, let them go and remain honest about what you do and who you are. There are many fish in the sea. As I always say when a customer is not a great fit, “We weren’t meant to marry everyone.”

Jim and A New Direction

By building a positive sphere of influence around himself, his management team and his company, Jim can outperform GDP. By aligning himself with better companies, better buyers and relationship oriented people, Jim’s personal economy is defined in his terms.

This will be the direction of successful B2B marketing in the future – creating a sphere of influence and using it to bring your services and products to market and to influence research buyers. At the end of the day, your services and products have to be the best fit possible for your customers or that will taint the opinions of those in your sub-sector – the people who will help you connect with others. Be honest and try to be the best possible fit without fear of rejection.

This new direction of corporate transparency and honesty marketing will be hard for the traditionally minded marketers to accept because it forces them to discard some the their soon to be archaic notions about “value added messaging” and “delivering competitive advantage” – two things that are now in control of all your current and former customers.

For this reason, those of the traditional marketing mindset, we see their influence decline as their marketing efforts become less successful and buyers migrate towards more personally empowered channels.

Pond, What Pond?

Small Businesses used to have to choose to be the big fish in the small pond or be the small fish in a big pond. Forget the pond! Define your own body of water, what is looks like, who is in it and start splashing around. Expand your relationships beyond geographical constraints and build relationships based on business philosophy, ideas, services and products!

photo credit: fotographix.ca

I hope not.

On a recent search, that was the typical amount of time I spent on a website looking for information, decided it’s not there, and then clicked off to another website. Research supports that 7 seconds is the amount of time most people spend on a website before they click off to somewhere else when they don’t find the information they are looking for.

Websites Are Going Up Against Human Nature

With so many expert web designers out there, why is it so difficult to build a great website? In my opinion, too many focus on the technical stuff and not enough time on how people behave.

1. Humans are great at making split second decisions.

We process a lot of information in less than 7 seconds. We make snap decisions every second while driving and in meeting with coworkers.

If you’re not convinced, the next time you’re sitting at a coffee shop, look around at the people coming in and out. In less than 5 seconds, you’ve already sized up everyone. Just based on visual cues, you can make a split second decision on which strangers you feel comfortable chatting up over coffee.

The same thing happens with websites. In about 7 seconds, you’ve made a decision to stay longer or click off to another website.

2. Our eyes are trained to scan first

…And if we see something of interest, we’ll drill down to the details. Customers are looking for very specific information and a well designed website enables customers to find what they are looking for very quickly. Even the most patient customers are not going to spend more than a minute seeking out information on your website. It should be easy to find with a quick glance…Quick meaning less than 1 second.

3. We’re impatient, multi-tasking creatures

I can’t remember the last time I was in a meeting and there wasn’t at least one person checking their email, typing away on their computer, or interrupting the meeting to answer a call on the cell phone. Unfortunately, it’s just the way we live today. So don’t expect customers to be 100% focused on your website. Humans live for instant gratification, so you’ve got to hook them fast before they move on to another task.

What Makes A Website Sticky?

Knowing how people behave, you can build a website so potential customers will want to drill down deeper and not click off to another website in 7 seconds.

1. It’s all about your customer’s headache, not your own

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Why would anyone want to spend time on your website? You need to develop content from your Customer’s perspective. They have a headache and they’re willing to part with good money to make that headache go away. So focus on relevant content and offers that solve your customers problems.

2. You’re ugly

Your website, that is. You need to serve up the right balance of white space, text, graphics, and audio/video wizardry for your website to be effective. Design a website that is easy on the eyes. Too much text is hard on the eyes and too much flash can drive one’s patience.

3. Intuitive Menus and Navigation

If your visitors can’t find the information they’re looking for on the current webpage, you need to ensure that your menus and navigation are intuitive to lead them to the information they’re looking for.

Bottom Line

If you’ve spent a lot of money on SEO or paid ads to drive customers to your website, make sure they stay more than 7 seconds. You may only get one chance to hook customers to your website. I hope these suggestions spark ideas for you to build a better and sticky website.

Last week at Sage Insights in Nashville we had the great pleasure to meet with many Sage Business Partners and talk about the weather, websites, tech, the economy and social media… As well as answer questions like “What the heck is twitter?” and “Why are you giving out flying monkeys?”

Now that we’re back in the office, we want to make sure that we keep the energy going for all of the partners out there who got excited about new initiatives and marketing for their businesses.  The tools are here, let’s get going!

Here are five concrete tips to make your new marketing goals happen post-Insights:

1.  Define Goals

You need to know where you’re going before you can get there.  So what is it?

Do you want to get better search rankings in your local area?  Do you want to grow sales for a new product you’ve just gained certification in?  Do you want to pick up more clients with an orphaned software installation?  Do you want to expand into new regions?

Write down what you want.  Look at it.  Digest it.  Commit to it.  Okay, now what?

2.  Choose Tactics

Now that you know what you want to do, you need to figure out how to do it.  We provide a bunch of information on SEO, web design, PPC, email marketing, blogging, and social network marketing with the idea that it will help you better understand these tools and whether they’re a good match for your company.

For instance, a well designed website with a coordinated organic search marketing strategy is a must for nearly every company.  Once you’re there, you can look at other options such as email (great to maintain relationships with existing customers), paid search (great to attract new business for specific queries or drum up registrants to an event) or blogging (great for establishing yourself as an authority in your industry).

3.  Decide Who Will Do the Work

Now that you know what tools you’ll use, you need to decide who is going to wield them.  Will it be you personally?  Will it be your marketing manager?  Will you be partnering with a vendor?

Understand the costs and risk associated with doing it in-house versus choosing a quality vendor.  This is also a good time to make sure that the goals you’ve set, the tactics you’ve chosen, and the resources you have to invest are all in league.  You won’t be able to go up against software.com for the term “Software” but I bet you can get to #1 for your product and service in your home town.  You can expand from there!

4. Add to the Conversation

Social media has been on the radar for years but now it really seems to be hitting critical mass.  Which means that more people are talking about what you do more than ever and that if you aren’t tuned in, you’re missing out on the conversation.

Our first piece of advice is always to listen first, but once you’ve done your share of listening, you can start contributing.  Write articles that answer common questions, jump in on discussions where you can lend expertise, provide insight and comment on stories related to your industry.  Don’t sell, but show that you’re human, real, and trustworthy.

5.  Keep up the Enthusiasm

It’s easy to get psyched while at an event and then to let that excitement trail off as the everyday grind kicks back in.  Fight the urge to let new initiatives slip!  Mark out time specifically to pursue new initiatives, develop small and digestible steps that you can do and set benchmarks.

You can do all of this, and you’ll see that the payoffs make the effort well worth it.

Want More Inspiration Now?

• Sign up for an upcoming webinar
• See slides from our presentation Beyond the Hype: Social Network Marketing for B2B
• Subscribe to email updates from this blog

I was asked last week, “Why don’t you guys charge for your weekly webcasts?” and that was followed up by, “You could develop a good income steam charging $50 or $100 per webcast – I definitely would not record and archive them – they are valuable and I would get something for the effort.” My response was immediate, “You just don’t get it do you?”

Charging for this type of content in today’s internet environment runs against one of the golden rules of Social Media – contribute to the conversation. The ability to share valuable content among interested parties is fundamental to the use of many Social Media sites like Twitter, Digg and YouTube.

Reaching out in a meaningful way on a weekly basis has value but that value can be multiplied exponentially when you empower people to share that content through social networks, email and word of mouth.

We usually have somewhere between 10 and 20 attendees in each of our weekly webcasts and we have has as many as 50 signed up for really hot topics. By leaving the content open and shareable, that content can reach 100 times as many people – and has. By charging, we are limiting our sphere of influence for that valuable content to just those people who attended – missing the real value of the webcast. We are essentially selling the investment short and taking a short term monetary gain and ignoring the long term benefit of the effort.

Some benefits of sharing content:

• A great way to start a relationship – after all, a give and take relationship starts with giving, not taking.
• Expands your reach – people you shared it with will share it with others.
• Adds credibility to your company.
• An educated client or prospect is much easier to work with.

Risky Business?

I realize there is some perceived risk in sharing valuable content to the general public. And that is understandable, as your competitors will have easy access to the information you provide. If sharing information about what you do will put you at a competitive disadvantage, then you have bigger issues with your business model related to how you build relationships.

Stop worrying about opening your company up to the world and start reaching out with shareable content. Give people something to take and they will likely share it with someone else – now you are a making meaningful connections, helping people in a meaningful way and helping to position you and your company in the marketplace.

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Want to know more now?

Read: 5 Recession Busting Moves For Small Business
Read: Creating Your Own Economic Sector
Read: The Marketing Power Shift – Are You On Board Or Will You Be Left Behind?