As part of our 8-week Duct Tape Marketing coaching program, the current group of participants will explore this week the idea of making your website your hub of information and education.
Gone are the days of a stale, static website.
If your site doesn’t act as a hub of activity, coming and going, receiving and sending . . . then it is virtually dead.
Making your website your hub allows:
- Capturing the Lead – you don’t have time in a typical 5 minute conversation to tell a prospect everything there is to know about you and your business. Having a hub of information and education allows you to point them to something tangible besides simply saying “go to my website.” You can direct them to specific pages, or an opportunity to watch a video, or download a complimentary whitepaper or free report. In doing so, you’re also able to capture the email address of your prospect in exchange for something of value.
- Tracking your activity – know who is coming in and at what point they land. Tools like Google Analytics help track this.
- Educating your prospect – if you understand marketing as “getting people with a specific need to KNOW, LIKE and TRUST you,” you have to believe that not every single contact is going to result in an immediate transaction. You’re not a broom salesman trying to capture an exchange of funds each and every time you meet someone. You are cultivating relationships and you are desperately trying to educate your prospect. When they are aware of the full range of benefits and the seriousness of NOT doing anything about their problem, then you create a compelling situation that gently forces them to make a decision. Through education, you have convinced them of their need for you.
- Demonstrating thought leadership – no matter your industry, your prospects are looking for the leader – someone who can navigate clearly, direct people to solutions, answer questions and alleviate fears. Linking your blog to your site (ideally it should be integrated into your site – but if not, you should at least have a blog), and then subsequently linking your Linkedin account to it, tweeting your Twitter updates to it, and pointing people from Facebook to it – these are the ways to showcase your leadership. Of course, by definition, leadership hardly exists without followers, but don’t give up. Every leader starts with one follower (yourself), then maybe a spouse or group of friends, and then adds to the flock. Don’t wait to start leading your industry until you have followers – that’s backward.
- Promoting your stuff – in balance, this piece should exist as part of your hub strategy. If your prospects see you educating them all along the way and leading them with thoughts they never had before, then they will permit a fair amount of self-promotion. Just keep it in balance.
When your hub exists in this way, it provides an easy-to-follow formula for a social media strategy. When you are tweeting, adding a link on Facebook, or submitting a YouTube video, think about how you can H-E-L-P your audience:
- H – point them to your hub – everything goes back to the main source of education and information!
- E – educate them – this is part of your “compelling process” (as opposed to your “selling process”)
- L – lead them – give them unique thoughts that challenge, convince, and compel
- P – promote yourself and your products – kept in balance, you are allowed to do this – but don’t over do it!
How are you using your website hub to H-E-L-P your prospective customers?
-Randy