Sunday, February 25, 2007
Attracting Live Clients by Virtual Websites to Survive the 21st Century
Since moving to Seattle about 18 months ago, I’ve had to find all sorts of services: a hair stylist, health insurance broker, physical therapist and more. At first I asked for live recommendations. Bad move! My acquaintances didn’t know insurance brokers. Someone at my gym suggested a physical therapist. Several women swore by their hair stylists. After several visits to the physical therapist, I still limped around on sore tendons. I survived 2 embarrassing hair cuts and a disastrous, overpriced color change. But I found a good insurance broker. I love my hair stylist. My new physical therapist got me walking comfortably after a single session. Where did I find all these people? The Internet, of course. Citysearch.com, to be precise.. I did make a couple of calls to ask get first-hand information. But I’ve mostly given up on live tell-a-friend referrals. I’m not alone. In Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin says that listing references has become obsolete. We leave electronic footprints all over the Internet. We review and get reviewed. Sites like movingscam.com can save us thousands of dollars, if we use them responsibly. More about Godin’s book: http://tinyurl.com/3bmacm What does this mean for promoting ourselves as businesses? First, even local businesses now need a website with a strong marketing message, not just a calling card. They need content strategy for their virtual storefronts. My new hairdresser advertised herself as a curly-hair specialist. Her salon got great reviews on citysearch.com Even an anti-fashion individualist (like me) needs to get frizz-proofed for Seattle’s damp climate It was a no-brainer. . Second, we all need to be proactive in supporting good services. We help them stay in business, grow and expand their services. We especially need to be proactive because a single off-the-wall customer can have an unfair impact. I’ve seen bizarre complaints posted for services that I patronize regularly. Third, we need to encourage clients and customers to review our services. You can post your own service – even coaching, consulting and copywriting – on citysearch.com and yelp.com. When clients thank you for good service, suggest they write a review from anywhere in the world. True, some services have been known to ask their mothers and brothers to send in reviews. In my experience, fake reviews stand out, just as they do with online bookstores. Of course, you can get reviewed in blogs, websites and other services. Some sites have even sprung up to review Internet marketing gurus. We’ll probably see greater use of these sites as more people post to them and they become more helpful. Your own testimonials, with URLs linking to the clients, create your own unique review site. And someday the phrase “references available” will be meaningful only to those who remember the origins of “cut and paste.” To learn more visit my website. |
Labels: client attraction, internet marketing, retail, website marketing
# posted by Cathy Goodwin @ 9:12 AM 
