Have you noticed how many adverts on TV include a link to a Facebook page? Cell phone companies are advertising 4G speed devices and tablets. Century Link, Vonage, and Comcast are promoting packages to get you online. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have cloud solutions. How can you determine what you need to do to make the Internet work for your business?
Three principles to consider are:
- It’s about the customer
- Keep it simple
- People, not tools, make the best decisions
How can you apply those principles as you review, or think about, your online presence?
To learn how to apply these principles go to
Think Like A Customer
Your online presence is about attracting new customers and retaining existing customers. Some of the questions that your online presence should be able to answer are:
- What problem does a customer have that I am best able to solve?
- Why am I able to solve the customer’s problem?
- When will a customer know that their problem has been solved?
- Where will a customer go to get your help?
- Who are my customers?
Use the answers to these questions to draw a map of how customers interact with you. Sometimes having a one page web site is all that you need. Start out with what you know, and improve over time.
Improve Over Time
Your business changes over time, as you respond to customer, market, economic and other conditions. Take the time, each quarter, to take a look at your business, and write down:
- What do I think is currently my biggest problem?
- How well does a customer think I am doing?
- Where do I collect information to tell me if I am being successful?
Use the answers to these questions to plan out the change that you want to make over the next quarter. You don’t need to solve everything all at once. For the information gaps, look at what tools you might need to collect or provide the information.
Make Best Use of Tools
Tools should help you run your business more efficiently, so that you can spend more time doing business. Tools that help you do business should also make it easier to run your business.
- How do I collect information about a customer and my business?
- What information does a customer expect me to provide?
- Where and when does a customer expect to find the information?
Use the answers to these questions to determine if there are better ways to collect and provide information. Having an online inquiry form allows you to easily collect information without asking the customer to commit to an order. Think like the customer, and how they do business with you.
Please let me know if you have any questions, or need more information