Weaving a Tapestry of Trust

October 28th, 2009

tapestry Talking with a local merchant today, I asked, “Are you on Twitter?” She blushed a little, then replied, “No, me and my business partner are just too busy running this place to keep up with stuff like that. But we do other marketing, like sending out emails.” On the counter, certainly out of eye-shot of the usual customer, was an “email sign up sheet”, curled pages and all. Even the general observer would be able to tell this thing was, (1)not being shared with every potential customer, (2)was not being databased, and (3)was not being used. (You see, my entry from 4 months ago was still there and I’ve yet to receive an email from them.) At that point, I was struck with the realization that while I might be a good geeky juggler, some business owners are more than a little bugged out with the thought of adding a new marketing task to their otherwise nutso day. I get it – but then again, I don’t get it. These same entrepreneurs waste time every day on tasks that bring them no closer to their customers, and some tasks that should be abandoned altogether. Their service is strong, but their outreach is weak. They’ll spend money on ads and junk mail, (what I consider very passive, shallow marketing) but not put a little sweat equity into new media? Plus, they’re not taking advantage of some really amazing tools on the web today.

So what’s the point of this post? To dispel your reasoning for not using social media and other techy web tools, and moreover, to give you some ideas why you should embark now. In doing so, you’ll weave a wonderful new way to reach out and warm your customers.

Web-Based Must-Haves

Email Marketing

There are applications galore to help small businesses run more efficiently and easily, yet many still cling to the old way of doing things. One of the centerpieces you should have is your email marketing program. I use MailChimp and that’s who I’ll talk about. With a few clicks, you can brand your outgoing messages, keep track of people that want your offers, see who clicked what, and then…do it all over again. The beauty of an email marketing program today is so many-fold, but here are the highlights: your campaign is both email and web-based to accommodate the “email phobe”, they can be shared on Twitter, Facebook and other places, and they can be forwarded to friends. That’s powerful marketing.

Information and Document Storage

What kind of items can you have here? How about Order Forms, Pricing Lists, Customer Databases, Agreements, Checklists, the latest idea for a cool flyer that’s being bounced around…whatever. It’s time one computer wasn’t the only place your team can find documents or information you need to run your business. These can be housed online at a place like Google (which incidentally has a LOT of great tools) or Scribd, but it’s nice to have one central place where documents can be made, modified, and then shared and moved forward. This kind of collaborative environment really lends itself to the creative process and the more immediate care of customers, but more, it allows your team access to things, rather than being tethered to a desktop computer.

Your Own Hosting

I can’t stress this enough: if you have a website and/or a blog, please…please…please – host it yourself. Why? You’ll have access to all your stats, you’ll get the benefit of all the traffic to YOUR content, and you’ll control your content. Still using the email address “someone@aol.com” or “joeblow@comcast.com”? Really?! Isn’t it time to let your business grow up? Isn’t it also time you began promoting your own brand instead of the tech giants of the world? With your own hosting, you can brand all your email accounts and domains and have them all pointing and raising up your brand. If this isn’t your area of expertise, hire a techy to help you complete this. It’s that important. And one more thing about choosing a hosting company: cheap doesn’t always mean good, so really check reviews. I use Bluehost – terrific uptime, great pricing, excellent back end tools, humans answer the phone 24/7, and it’s easy to use their site. Just do your homework, okay?

Twitter, Facebook and …?

You knew I’d get to these, right? And these are just the two biggies. Depending on your niche, you should probably be on a few others. You don’t need to be on these all day long, but keep in mind customers are using these free social media spaces every day to share, compare, tell, promote, bash, praise, and recommend. Whether this kind of interaction suits you or not is really not the point: statistically, it’s been proven that people are there. Setting the accounts up is pretty simple and even a smart teen could help you do it. Make sure you have your brand and contact info there. Then what? Conversation. Talking. So join in and begin talking. Not advertising, but talking, building trust between you and your customers. Great things going on in your city? Share it. Tell people about fab deals other businesses have. I recommend a 9/10 ratio – 9 things about others, 1 thing about you. Then put up specials of your own occasionally – “web only” deals, “secret word” deals, have fun. Repeat – have fun. If authentic people and businesses connect with you, connect back. You never know who could be your next customer.

And Finally, Stitch Your Tapestry Together

You’re now equipped with a great starter set of tools, so tether them to each other:

Promote your social media places on your website or blog, your email, your marketing pieces, in your store or office, and in all your other social media spaces. Let your customers know you’re out there and want to talk!
Schedule time each day to work on your social media channels and content for your upcoming email marketing. If you have a blog (and you should!), try to have content for it as often as you can muster.
For all these efforts, start small, say 15 minutes a day. Put it on your schedule so you commit.
Use tools to manage things more easily: All free, check into Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, FriendFeed, and Pixelpipe . These applications will make managing things just a little more streamlined.
Treat this marketing effort with the importance it deserves.

Taking this different approach, you will find that your marketing costs actually go down, while your customer connectivity goes up. For time, if you’re keeping to a schedule, you’ll find this effort will blend nicely with your day. Another terrific side effect? This kind of contact is the base component to building loyalty, because while your competition is busy coming up with the next great postcard, you’re busy talking directly to your customers about what they want from you. There is no replacement for direct communication with your customer and if they let you in that space, you have woven a tapestry of trust. Tend it well.