The One Idea That Revolutionised Our Websites & Marketing
FREE DOWNLOAD INCLUDED | We had a major AHA moment when changing our approach to building websites for our clients. We were so pumped, we couldn’t wait to share it with you.
There’s a lot of over-the-top, shmancy sounding jargon in the web industry lately, and it only seems to be getting worse. So many providers get hung up statistics, click-through rates, impressions… this never sat well with us. In the back of our mind, we constantly asked ourselves: how does this relate to customers & sales?
Why? Because that’s what you - the client - want to know.
The link between these concepts and your actual revenue always seemed blurry at best, and we knew that wasn’t good enough for most of you.
Heck, it wasn’t good enough for us!
Sure, these are important spokes in the wheel, but what about the big picture? What does it all mean?
So we took a step back, had a look around and realised we had forgotten one super critical - and frankly, obvious - point:
It’s about people.
Websites, analytics, tracking data - that’s all numbers linked to people that’s measurable and comparable. Great.
But what about the people themselves? Those reading the website text, responding to the images, looking for answers.
What did they want?
What did they need?
What was going on in their lives that brought them to be trawling the internet for help?
We flipped our entire approach on its head. Before we even started moving pixels on a screen, we sat down and developed a system that helped us truly understand the people we wanted to connect with.
It makes sense.
It felt right.
And it works.
So we’re going to share it with you.
Free.
We consolidated all our research, findings, and knowledge gained from ground-breaking mentorship programs like this one into a single, easy-use-workbook that walks you through the process of better understanding your target audience.
You can download your copy here.
Download, open up & dive in.
Before we get started: the big picture.
This approach boils down to a 3-Step process aimed at generating sales:
- Really get to know your Ideal Client.
- Create marketing material that proves you get them - connect & engage by being genuine & helpful.
- Convert your Ideal Clients into sales.
HOWEVER: the most important point is not step 3.
It’s actually Step 2: Prove that you ‘get’ them. Connect & engage. Be genuine & helpful.
We can all see a hard sell coming from a mile away. We get ready to shut down. We’re already looking for a way out.
But…
...if we are approached by someone who genuinely wants to help us, who understands our needs and feels our frustrations with us, our guard comes down.
We feel relieved, understood, heard.
We’re only human, so we need to market as humans connecting with other humans.
Focus on this, and the sales will come.
Right, let’s get started.
Lifestyle Factors of your Ideal Client
This section may seem waaaaay over-the-top, but hang in there. You’ll have an insane amount of ‘aha’ moments here.
When each of us searches online for help, advice, a product or service, we do so not in isolation from our day-to-day lives, but rather heavily influenced by them.
Let’s unpack that statement. Here’s an example:
You may be reading this article after searching for help with your small business website. You may have started doing marketing yourself, and after losing hours researching where to start, you probably have more questions than you started with.
All the while, you have a toddler halfway up your leg with another two fighting over the remote. You just finished up a double shift covering a staff member who didn’t show up. You just bought the business and didn’t realise how loyal your regulars are to the previous owner.
You might be running on 3 hours sleep.
You may have had Coco Pops for dinner. Again.
Now imagine you came across a website, and the home page looked like this:
- Marketing made easy.
- Done-for-you campaigns.
- Digital, social & websites.
- Stress-free marketing.
- Person who looks like she actually enjoys her job.
This hits home on so many levels.
Why? Because we took the time to get to know you.
We put ourselves in your shoes and imagined all your stresses, your pain points, your ambitions, your personal circumstances, your influences, your goals.
This then allows us to:
- Write text that speaks to your problems.
- Get straight to the point on what you need.
- Use images that create the feeling you’re after.
We made a connection through the design, showing that we get you.
Customer Journey Map
Now we’re friendly with your Ideal Client, we can think about their journey to our business and look for opportunities to engage with them.
The workbook you downloaded used the example of a hair salon. Looking through that example, we can see a number of opportunities to get the Ideal Client’s attention:
| Stage in the Journey: what are they doing? | Getting their attention: |
|---|---|
| Before the experience: Questions & Research - Searching online for local businesses, as well as articles about styles, looking for image examples, styling examples, local salons running specials. |
|
| During the Experience: Initial Consult - Stylist works with Client to determine desired outcome for the appointment, making recommendations based on the person’s face shape, skin tone, etc. |
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| After the Experience: On the Radar - client likes/follows the salon on social media, is subscribed to a mailing list, goes into database. |
|
Understanding the path your Ideal Client follows through a transaction offers a range of opportunities to engage with them in a way that makes them the focus of the relationship. By engaging with them this thoroughly, it is more likely you’ll become their hairdresser. Their landscaper. Their physiotherapist.
Nurturing - Know, Like & Trust
Now that your Ideal Client is thinking about you, it’s important all your touch-points encourage them to know, like and trust you. We explain the concept of building rapport in more detail in this article, but the key point is this:
- If they don’t know you, they simply can’t buy from you.
- If they don’t like you, why would they give you their money?
- If they don’t trust you, they can’t buy in good faith knowing your product or service will deliver what you have promised.
This section of the workbook helps you refine who you are. We all find it hard to talk about ourselves - marketing is often confused with bragging, but when done right this is definitely not the case. It’s about setting a few key points in stone, then ensuring this underpins everything you publish, advertise, say & do.
For example, you may have opened a coffee shop (answers correspond to questions 1-4 in the download):
- You love the cafe culture but you feel as though the businesses in your area don’t make families feel welcome, as if they have become too stuffy or hipster. Your business welcomes families as a way to connect, relax and enjoy each other over a good cup of coffee. Cars, play kitchen and books provided.
- You love seeing the regulars come in with their kids in tow - mums, dads and even grandparents bringing their littlies in for a play in the corner with toys provided, while they supervise from the comfort of a good cuppa, connecting with the other caregivers in the cafe.
- Comfortable, welcoming ambiance / good-quality, unpretentious coffee & service / celebrating family whilst having a break at the same time.
- “We are a cafe that welcomes young families - small children should not be the end of your weekly catch up with your friends. We want to facilitate quality time with all the special people in our lives.”
By defining who this business is, their website might look like this:
Well I’m convinced. And very keen for a coffee.
Over to you.
Be sure to email us and let us know how you go with this workbook. We were blown away by the difference it made to our approach - we can’t wait to hear how it’s changed how you market your business.
About the Author: Meredith Heeley is the Lead Designer, Web & Marketing Strategist for UpBound. Need a hand with your website & marketing strategy? Get in touch & let's get started.