Tag: customers

  • The Home-Web Business Link

    The Home-Web Business Link

    Web-based and home-based businesses share some common features, but also have distinct differences that can impact your decision on which type to pursue. Consider the following breakdown.

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    The similarities

    Treasure vis-a-vis pleasure!

    • Flexibility – Both offer flexibility in working hours and location. You’re not tied to a traditional office schedule or commute, allowing you to work when and where you’re most productive.
    • Lower Overhead Costs – Compared to traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, both typically have lower overhead costs in terms of rent, utilities, and equipment. This can be especially helpful for startups and bootstrapping businesses.
    • Global Reach – Both can access a global market through the internet, reaching customers beyond your local area.
    • Potential for Scalability – Both can scale relatively easily depending on the business model. You can adapt and grow your reach without being limited by physical space.

    The Differences

    • Physical Workspace – A web-based business doesn’t necessarily require a dedicated physical workspace at home. You can work from cafes, libraries, or even co-working spaces. Home-based businesses, on the other hand, generally have a dedicated workspace within the owner’s residence.
    • Customer Interaction – Web-based businesses often rely on digital channels for customer interaction, such as email, live chat, and social media. Home-based businesses may have more frequent in-person interaction with customers, depending on the business type.
    • Legality and Zoning – Home-based businesses may need to comply with specific zoning regulations and obtain permits depending on the local laws. Web-based businesses generally have fewer location-specific legal restrictions.
    • Professional Image – Depending on the industry and target audience, some customers may perceive a web-based business as less professional than a home-based business with a physical storefront.

    Ultimately, the best choice for you depends on your specific needs and business model. Consider factors like your budget, the nature of your work, your comfort level with technology, and your desired level of customer interaction.

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    Business on the Web

    While there’s no single dominant type of web-based business, some categories consistently exhibit high popularity due to their accessibility, scalability, and potential for profit. Here are a few noteworthy examples, excluding programmer and software development-related businesses:

    1. E-commerce – Online shopping has exploded in recent years, making e-commerce one of the most popular web-based businesses. You can sell physical products, digital downloads, or subscription boxes, catering to diverse audiences. Platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce make setting up and managing an online store easier than ever.
    2. Content Creation – Whether you’re a blogger, YouTuber, podcaster, or social media influencer, creating engaging content online can be a lucrative web-based business. Building a loyal audience and monetizing through advertising, sponsorships, or paid content can offer significant income potential.
    3. Consulting and Coaching – If you have expertise in a specific field, you can offer online consulting or coaching services. This could involve marketing, finance, personal development, or any other area where you can guide clients remotely. Online platforms and video conferencing tools facilitate easy communication and delivery of services.
    4. Online Education – The e-learning market is booming, offering opportunities for educators and subject matter experts to create and sell online courses, tutorials, or webinars. Sharing your knowledge and skills globally through platforms like Udemy or Skill-share can be a rewarding and profitable web-based business.
    5. Freelancing and Online Services – A vast array of freelance work can be done remotely, from writing and editing to graphic design, translation, virtual assistance, and social media management. Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr connect freelancers with clients, making it easier to find and land projects.
    6. Affiliate Marketing – This involves promoting other businesses’ products or services on your website or social media channels and earning a commission for each sale generated through your unique affiliate link. It requires building traffic and creating compelling content, but can be a good passive income stream.
    7. Online Marketplaces – Creating a platform where buyers and sellers can connect, like an online Etsy shop for handmade goods or a digital marketplace for specific niche products, can be a successful web-based business. It requires curation, marketing, and managing buyer-seller interactions, but can be quite rewarding.

    These are just a few examples, but it is important to understand that the success of any web-based business ultimately depends on various factors like your niche, marketing strategy, and dedication. Choose something you’re passionate about and research the market thoroughly before venturing into the exciting world of online business!

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    Business in the home

    Oxygen. Money. Done! Any questions?

    Home-based businesses have existed throughout history, but their popularity has fluctuated depending on various factors like technological advancements, economic conditions, and societal norms. Following are notable periods where home-based businesses were particularly prominent.

    Early History

    Pre-industrial Societies – Craftsmen, artists, and food producers often worked from their homes, selling their wares directly to customers or at local markets.

    Cottage Industry – During the 17th and 18th centuries, textile production was often done in homes, with families working together on spinning, weaving, and other tasks.

    19th and Early 20th Centuries

    Women’s Work – Home-based activities like sewing, baking, and childcare were common ways for women to generate income, especially during economic hardship or times of limited opportunities outside the home.

    Rise of Services – As the service sector grew, more people offered services like tutoring, bookkeeping, and secretarial work from their homes.

    Mid-20th Century

    Post-War Boom – Many returning veterans and women who had entered the workforce during WWII started home-based businesses due to limited job opportunities or a desire for flexible work arrangements.

    Direct Selling – Companies like Avon and Tupperware pioneered home-based direct selling models, empowering women to become entrepreneurs.

    Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries

    Personal Computers and the Internet – The rise of personal computers and the internet in the late 20th century revolutionized home-based work, enabling businesses in fields like software development, writing, and online retail to flourish.

    Gig Economy – The growth of the “gig economy” in the early 21st century further contributed to the popularity of home-based work, with platforms like Uber and Airbnb connecting workers with tasks and opportunities outside traditional employment structures.

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    Present Day

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    COVID-19 Pandemic – The pandemic-induced lockdowns and shift to remote work further fueled the rise of home-based businesses, with many people transitioning from traditional office jobs or starting new ventures from their homes.

    It’s important to note that these are just general trends, and the popularity of home-based businesses can vary depending on specific regions, industries, and economic conditions. However, it’s clear that throughout history, people have found ways to be productive and entrepreneurial from their homes, and technological advancements and changing societal norms are likely to continue to shape the future of home-based work.

  • Time to Grow Your HBB

    Time and money

    Treasure vis-a-vis pleasure!

    If you are a home-based business (HBB) owner you probably find yourself spending more time, money and energy promoting and advertising your products/services than your fellow business owners who operate in a commercial/retail space and derive exposure benefits from their sidewalk stores being readily accessible to “walk-in” traffic, and the owners’ personal interaction (physical handshakes?) with customers/clients and potential customers/clients.

    HBB owners in general spend their busiest hours creating content for advertising and promotions, as well as content for their websites/blogs in order to drive traffic to their business website; but just saying they’re creating content is a bit too simplistic, because content is required in so many different formats, variations and expressions that its creation becomes a time-consuming task. HBB owners – for the most part – are sole proprietorships, small partnerships or single member LLCs which, when translated, means that they have to complete tasks themselves or pay professionals to do the work so that they can attract buyers.

    So if you are a HBB owner who has been spending hours creating content for your business website or blog, instead of developing product ideas and methods to help your business be profitable (more profitable?), you may want to reduce the time spent on creating content (and not pay huge sums to promotional/marketing pros) by looking into private label rights (PLR) and private label resell resell rights (PLRR) products. The very nature of these products – by design – is to free up the bulk of their user’s time, which can then be devoted to growing his/her home-based business, and you can derive the same benefits. PLR products can be a valuable asset to you, personally, and to your business based on the following benefits which can be derived from their use.

    Content

    PLR users have instant access to a wide range of high-quality content that is ready to use, saving them valuable time and effort in content creation. They can choose from a variety of formats including e-books, articles, graphics, training, PDFs, software items, templates, audios, images, and videos, allowing them to create diverse and engaging content for their audiences.

    PLR and PLRR products are delivered with licenses that will permit users to customize and rebrand them and match the new owners brand, giving him/her the freedom to create a unique and professional image for his/her business. But perhaps the most attractive feature of these products is the minimal cost at which they can be acquired, because prices are the lowest found in the digital marketplace, making it cost-effective to build your content library and provide value to your audience without breaking the bank.

    Make these tools your tools!

    Also, keep in mind that you are almost certain to access many PLR and PLRR products free of charge so you can get started using them without any financial commitment, allowing you to test the quality and suitability of this type of content before making a purchase. You can find a solution for different content needs, and whether you require website/blog content, PDF reports, or email content, there are PLR products for all your content creation requirements.

    Valuable info

    Also, it should be mentioned here that, PLR and PLRR products can easily be repurposed and remixed to create new and fresh content, enabling you to continuously engage your audience with valuable information. Users can stay on top of industry trends and topics by accessing regularly updated PLR and PLRR products, thereby ensuring that their content remains relevant and timely.

    So with the use of PLR & PLRR products, you may be in the best position to avoid the stress of writer’s block by having access to a vast library of pre-written content, allowing you to consistently publish content and maintain a consistent online presence for your business and accomplish the primary goal of freeing up chunks of time to focus on other aspects of your business. Think of it as, outsourcing content creation to PLR and PLRR products at minimal cost while freeing up your time to work on strategic initiatives and growth. Best wishes and good luck to you!

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  • Sell Your Private Label Products Via Classified Ads

    Opportunity

    The internet is filled with millions of business opportunities. Many of these opportunities are legitimate, but others are not. One of the opportunities that you may find online involves buying private label rights to certain products, selling the modified products and keeping all the profits. Unfortunately there are too many people who mistakenly believe that this business opportunity is a scam; but the reality is quite the opposite. The buying and selling of private label rights products is a real, legitimate way to make money.

    If you are interested in purchasing the resell rights to a private label product, you will first have to find a product to purchase, and there are a number of different products available. However, many of them are either for e-books or software programs; but once you have found the type of product that you would be interested in obtaining the resell rights to, you will then have to narrow down your search to a specific product, its owner/publisher and the terms pursuant to which the purchase could be made. For instance, if you are interested in purchasing the resell rights to an e-book, you will have to find an individual who has his/her e-book resell rights available for sale.

    Minimal cost

    Once you have found and fully examined a product offer, you can then proceed to purchase the resell rights. Keep in mind that the amount of money you could expect to pay – prices usually run in the range of $100.00 to $200.00 or so – will depend on the person who is selling the rights to that product. This may seem like a fairly large investment, but when compared to what many other business opportunities will cost, it is really not.

    It is also important to point out here that you can easily recuperate your investment in a Resell Rights business if you promote and market your product effectively. This is because once you have obtained the resell rights to a product, it is yours to alter and to sell in any manner you deem most effective. You can get some great free tips on private label products at PLR treasures where you can download a number of ebooks and other content types free of charge.

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    When it comes to selling a product in which the resell rights were legally obtained, some aspiring product sellers do not know where to start; but there are a number of different ways a new product owner can go about selling his/her newly obtained product, whether s/he created that product or not. One of those ways involves the use of classified ads, and if you are interested in using this method, you will want to learn how to make the most out of classified ads by visiting and learning more about websites like AdLandPro.com and other similar sites.

    Reselling

    Traditionally, when we thought about classified ads, the local newspaper often came to mind, and may still be a great way to market and sell a product, even though such media may not be as effective with software programs or e-books, because these types of products are most commonly marketed to internet users. So the best medium in which to promote your Web-based product is via the many Web-based classified ads sites.

    With online classifieds you will find that most are free to use, which is another reason why online classifieds are a great way to market your private label product. Unlike many other advertising methods, they do not require any additional expenses. If you are interested in finding more free classified websites, you can simple do a standard internet search which should produce a number of results with links to online classified websites.

    Maximum potential

    Your first impulse may be to place as many free advertisements as you can, but you may want to rethink that thought and take the time to research the market that offers maximum potential, thereby saving yourself a lot of time. For instance, many online classified websites only allow you to post local ads, which means that you must select a specific city for your advertisement to run. When doing so you will want to pick cities that are not close to each other since many residents not only search their local ads, but others as well. This will prevent your ad from appearing as if it is spam.

    As previously stated, you will find that a number of online classified websites are free to use, but not all are. In your search it is likely that you will come across classified websites that want you to pay them for running your advertisements. It is your decision as to whether or not you want to incur that expense, but it is important to remember that you can do the same thing elsewhere, free of charge. Buying and reselling private label rights products is an amazing opportunity, but you need to know how to make that opportunity work for you. By keeping the above points in mind, you should be able to make money by selling a product that you didn’t even create.

  • Using a Website to Market Your Business

    There are many different ways to advertise your business on the Web. Placing banner ads, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and tactfully mentioning your business on industry related forums and message boards are just a few of the popular options for Web marketing. Another Web marketing strategy involves creating and advertising a website to promote your business. You can use your website in a number of ways.

    Some of these ways include providing more information about your business and the products or services you offer, letting potential customers know how to reach you and even selling your products and services via the website. This article will highlight the advantages of using a website to market your business and will outline some of the ways the website can be useful.

    One great advantage to using a website to market your business on the Web is that you can place descriptions and photos of the products or services your business offers. This is important because many consumers use the Web when researching products and services. Having an online presence gives your business an advantage over the competition because consumers are much more likely to select your products or services over the products and services offered by your competitors who do not advertise online.

    Another advantage to marketing your business on a website is you can use the website to not only market but also sell your products directly. Again this can give you an edge over the direct competition. Consumers who use the Web to research products and services are often very anxious to make their purchases and they would be more inclined to select a retailer or service providers who offer the opportunity to purchase products or services online over a retailer or service provider who only allows for purchase in a store or via phone.

    Still another advantage to using a website to market your business is the ability to reach a large, worldwide audience. The Web essentially knows no boundaries and advertising on a website means the business owner can reach competitors around the world instead of being limited to their general location. Advertising via other medium such as television, radio and the print media is somewhat limited and may only reach potential customers in a relatively small geographic area.

    Adding to the advantages of using a website to market your business is the fact that Web availability is 24 hours a day around the world. This essentially offers you a storefront which is open 24 hours a day. While your competitors may be limited to their regular business hours, your website will enable you to reach your customers at any hour of the day.

    This is especially important for reaching potential customers in other time zones and for reach customers in your own area who are simply too busy to shop for products or services like the ones you offer during regular business hours. Many potential customers work long hours and appreciate the ability to research and shop online after hours.

    One final advantage to using a website to market your business is you can actually generate a profit from your website in other ways than through sales to customers. You can also use your website to generate income by selling advertising space to other business owners who are marketing their own products and services on the Web. However, care should be taken when advertising on your website.

    First of all you should not sell advertising space to direct competitors. This is important because this may cause you to lose potential business if potential customers opt to purchase product or services from competitors who advertise on your website. An ideal advertiser is one who offers products and services which do not directly compete with your own products or services but would be of interest to your potential customers. You should also take care not to place too many advertisements on your website. This is important because too many advertisements may detract from your business and may cause you to lose potential customers.

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  • The Home-based Business Phenomenon

    Present-day American dreams

    Present-day American families have the same dreams shared by families a few decades ago; buy a home, provide for the health and welfare of their children, and send those children to college. But the price tag for fulfilling these dreams climbs higher and higher every day, making it much more difficult to achieve the same standard of living that families enjoyed in past decades.

    It used to be that a husband went off to work in the morning and the wife stayed home doing household chores and taking care of the kids; but the days of one-income households are long gone and both parents must now go out to work – when they can find it.

    However, as the old familiar adage suggests, “necessity is the mother of invention” and accordingly, many enterprising single moms & dads, and even husband & wife teams are finding ways to stay home, and still earn a living via opportunities that are springing up all over the country as a result of the tremendous growth of an industry that makes work at home possible.

    The (HBB) industry has made it possible for anyone with some basic skills, a computer and Internet access to start a business at home. For example, an individual with a background in word processing can create his/her own in-home word processing business.

    Getting started

    Before you begin your however, it is important to do your research. Find out what kind of software program will be most suitable for the type of business you intend on doing. You will also want your computer system to be compatible with your clients and customers.

    Next, look at the make-up of your industrial area. An arts community, or a thriving business area? By checking out the demographics of your area, you can make a decision regarding the type of advertising you want to use.

    In the beginning, you will want to try all sorts of advertising. Neighborhood newspapers are an inexpensive way to advertise, but they usually only published on a weekly basis and that may not be enough to keep the clients rolling in. You can put your name on the bulletin board at your local supermarket and pass out flyers door-to-door in large office buildings or other business complexes.

    Although it may be more expensive than neighborhood newspapers, you may want to run an ad in your local daily newspaper (in the business services section). Church bulletins and university newspapers that sell advertising may also be a relatively inexpensive way to go. You should also get your business cards printed up right away; and don’t let a client walk out the door without one or two business cards. Repeat business and word-of-mouth may well be your best advertising tool.

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    Whatever methods you choose to employ in your advertising, do yourself a favor and track the responses. Put a check list next to your telephone and whenever a call comes in (whether you get hired or not) ask the prospective client where s/he found out about you. It won’t take long for you to discover where your most cost-effective advertising comes from and when you know that, you can punch it up and drop the ones that aren’t doing anything for you.

    Do your homework!

    One telephone call will be the only opportunity you have to sell your service. If you hesitate when asked a price for a particular project, you will probably lose the job so do your homework. Call the competition and ask what they are charging. If the competition is out of your immediate geographic area (and you are therefore not a threat to their livelihood), you may want to be straight with them and tell them you are starting a in their field and ask for their input. You may be surprised to find them willing to help out with important information.

    Keep in mind that there are myriad of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to establish the fundamental operations of your new home-based business. Whether you expect to get clients from the Internet or not, it is necessary to set up your business in a manner that will accommodate local clients/customers. So business letter heads, envelopes, forms, business cards, invoices and other paraphernalia will be necessary.

    It will also become necessary to establish your pricing policies and have them available upon inquiry. Depending on your business, you could set a basic rate which can be a flat rate or a percentage.

    For example…

    …Using the business of word processing for a pricing example, a prospective client may call asking what you charge for 4 single-spaced pages. Your answer might be $45.00 per page straight text and then when the client comes, you discover that what s/he has is 4 pages of extremely complicated tables – definitely NOT STRAIGHT TEXT.

    By not making firm pricing commitments over the phone, you will have the flexibility to charge a more accurate price when a client brings you something other than what you were expecting.

    Elaborating further on the word processing example, to some clients a resume may be a single spaced page, but it takes a lot longer to type than a business letter and you will want to charge more for resumes. You will want to establish an hourly rate for tables, transcription and other more time-consuming jobs.

    Always keep in mind that your pricing will change as you become more familiar with what your clients demand, and you may find yourself doing a lot of list maintenance and merge letters, or you may be doing work primarily for doctors, or attorneys; so you need to have a good basis for your pricing… but be flexible.

    There are several models you can choose from, each one giving you the same flexibility to create your own USP (Unique Selling Proposition), as well as your own operational balance sheet. After all, the income & expense aspect of any business is usually an excellent indicator of that business’ prospects for success or failure; and truth be told, no business – new or old – start out with failure as an aspirational milestone. Therefore, it is success to which they aspire and choosing the type of home-based business to launch could make all the difference.

    Choice of business types

    The two business types that came to mind – based on my own – experiences are: Promotion and Distribution. You can choose to be a promoter or a distributor in addition to all the other choices that are available; but I have provided a glimpse of each vocation with the help of two other publishers whose knowledge of the topics is unquestioned.

    According to a What is Promotion? article published to the Slide Player website, “Promotion is any form of communication a business or organization uses to inform, persuade, or remind people about its products and improve its public image. Product Promotion: 1) Explains the major features and benefits of its products (especially in relation to competitors), 2) tells where the products are sold, 3) advertises sales on those products, 4) answers customer questions, and 5) introduces new products…”

    …And Distribution is described in the following manner: After a product is fully developed and offered at a competitive price, it must be delivered to an identified target audience. The place element of the marketing mix is where product production and distribution channels are decided and planned. The decisions made in this step directly affect the types of communication that are used to tell the target audience about a product.” This description is provided in the article, What Is the Difference Between Place & Promotion in the Marketing Mix? Written by Tim Burris for the Chron website. And there are so many more!

  • To Write or Not to Write Articles

    One of the most important requirements for owning, running and maintaining an internet-based business or a website is the ability to write and publish articles. Plain and simple, everyone who has a website knows this. Even those who don’t have a website or blog but are frequent internet users are aware of this requirement. Articles are to information and knowledge seekers as cold, clear water is to thirsty people. Plus, the articles provide many other benefits for your website.

    One of the benefits provided by articles is putting a website high in ranking on the SERPs (search engine results pages) for keywords and keyword phrases that pertain, or are relevant to, his or her website. They also provide an attraction to website visitors who appreciat them and are linked to your website from another website or newsletter. Articles have been proven to increase the confidence and trust levels of users who visit your website and online business page.

    Benefits of articles

    Articles have also been considered as beneficial to both the business via increased traffic. When readers like your articles, they would are usually inclined to tell more of their friends, family and peers in an effort to recommend your website to them which, in turn, provides a larger volume of traffic. You derive a bigger sales volume if traffic to your trusts and believes in you; and your product and/or service would be much easier to sell when your website viitors (traffic) know you, know what you are doing, and what is discussed on your website.

    So, it is reasonable to assume that we have established the importance of articles to a website and/or business page; but it is also necessary to point out that articles play a crucial role in helping you, the website or business owner, keep ahead in the Internet marketing (IM) game. Said differently, since a website must have traffic to be considered relavent, and a well-written and compelling article is, more often than not, a traffic magnet, the article is therefore deemed imperative. That having been said, there is one dilemma: Not many people like writing articles.

    Many website owners would rather spend their time on something other than writing articles, and unless you’re a big time company, you don’t have the necessary resources to use on a pool of article writers. Plagiarism or copying of other articles is frowned upon (illegal) and could easily get you into trouble, the kind of trouble that often results in a hefty fine and/or jail time. So what are your other options?

    Public domain articles

    Well, for starters if you hate writing articles and you can’t afford to hire people to write for you then it seems that your only other choice is to get free articles; but you might ask, from where? And the most credible answer to that question is, the public domain which is the first most website/blog owner look at for free articles. With public domain articles you won’t have problems with copyright infringement and the possible penalties and fines if you get caught committing plagiarism.

    Public domain articles are articles freely given to the public for public use and once they are given you can do whatever you want with them. You can publish them to your site, claim them as yours, place them in a newsletter, or any other use you deem suitable for your own purposes. It’s you decision! Always remember, however, that you will have to choose articles that are very relevant to your site’s topic.

    The downside to public domain articles is that since they are free for everybody, many of your competitors may have access to them as well; and since every site needs to feature original and unique content even though they may have the same niche, this could present a predicament to you and the other site owners utilizing public domain articles. To eliminate such a predicament it will be necessary for you to edit the articles a bit and even place more keywords and keyword phrases in them to improve the quality, uniqueness and originality of such articles.

    Sites with similar topics

    Another way to get free articles is to allow other sites which has the same subject or topic as yours to submit articles to your site. This would be only to augment your existing content or else all your articles would be leading to other sites since resource boxes containing redirect links would be placed at the bottom of these articles and therefore direct your readers to their sites. That’s why it is important to have your own articles which you could use to link your site to other sites in a similar fashion.

    But, to truly feel the impact of what a good article can help you accomplish, it is best to get original ones. There are many article writers who do part time and freelance article writing jobs for which they charge only minimal fees. You can have good (if not great) articles written that contain all the keywords and keyword phrases you need to attract the people are looking for them.

    The investment you make for these articles would be worthwhile because you could use them to promote all the benefits you have to offer. You hold copyrights to them and you will be able to use them anyway you want. As your articles help you in building your business and your website, you will have more articles to write and maybe then you won’t be forced to entertain second thoughts about articles.

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  • Customers: The Entrepreneurial Blueprint For Marketing Success

    TPJaveton WebNet welcomes past readers and supporters of the Web Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs Website!

    As you may already know, the content of Web Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs was recently merged with TPJaveton WebNet in our efforts to consolidate the various Internet properties owned and operated by TPJaveton & Associates into one comprehensive site. If you experienced any inconvenience during your efforts to find the content you’re used to reading at WMTfE, we extend our sincerest apologies. However, we will try to bring you content that is qualitatively as good as what you’ve become accustomed to at WMTfE. Thanks for visiting again!

    Customer discovery

    The headline to this article that Customers Are The Entrepreneurial Blueprint For Marketing Success is a rather obvious statement. However, it is being emphasized here to express the point that what is obvious or may seem routine is oftentimes the very thing that is neglected in entrepreneurships and businesses all over the world, and invariably leads to the failure of those businesses. Thus the question…

    How well do you know your customers? a little introspection can get the ball rolling in you getting a pretty good idea of who your customers are and exactly what is the primary reason your they (customers and/or clients) come to your website, product page or – if your business is offline – your business establishment? What is the primary reason your customers purchase your product or service? What is the Number One problem you solve for them? Do you know? Are you certain? If you don’t know or are not certain, your marketing could be missing the mark, and you could be missing out on sales.

    Uncovering Your “Key Selling Point”

    This is the Single Marketing Message that is central in all of your communications about your business, product or service. You might say it is your Unique Sales Proposition. It can be difficult for small business owners to determine what their single marketing message or USP should be. Why? Because they are too close to their business; And, because they are viewing their business from their side of the desk, or counter as the case may be.

    That having been said, how are you keeping your marketing customer-focused and dealing with the challenges it is most certain to present? And even if you, the forward thinking business owner have figured out how to meet such a challenge, have you considered looking at your business from our customers’ perspective? We both know it’s often easier said than done. It very easy to many business owners to get caught up in all the amazing features of our product or service and the reasons WE THINK our clients are attracted to or buying from us.

    NAVAN Global, the REAL SEAL!

    But sometimes our vantage point is clouded by our own perceptions and beliefs. And those perceptions and beliefs may be inaccurate. So how do you pinpoint the real reason customers are attracted to your product or service and the true reasons they are choosing to buy?

    The easy way to stay on track

    Very simply, YOU ASK THEM! Okay, I know it seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how often we don’t think of the obvious, a sentiment expressed earlier in this post. Your prospects and customers (and yes, even your non-buyers) can provide great insights about the benefits they value most in your product or service and why they chose to buy, or not buy, in the case of the non-buyers.

    Let’s get straight to a very integral part of every entrepreneur’s duty – yes, I said duty – which will bring things more into focus: Research! You don’t have to have a large customer or prospect base to do some research and see if you are on track; because even if you only have a handful of clients or customers, you could contact them and ask them what they like most about your product or service.

    Talk to your Clients or Customers

    1. What is the one thing that got them to purchase?
    2. Have you delivered on that promise?
    3. What do they like least about your product or service?
    4. How could you improve your product or service?
    5. What else (in your business category) do they have a need for?
    6. How else could you help them be successful, be happier, or solve whatever problem your product or service solves for them?

    Talk to & survey your non-buyers (This have been done very successfully by a number of eCommerce companies) – find out why they DIDN’T buy.

    • Ask them what product or service they bought instead of yours? And why?
    • Ask them what that competing product or service offered that yours did not?
    • Ask if there is anything you could do to get their business in the future? Product or service changes, additions, deletions?

    Talk to your Prospects

    Do you have a list of prospects – those who have expressed an interest in your product or service but have not yet purchased? Perhaps they have subscribed to your newsletter or ezine.

    • Ask them for feedback on your newsletter or ezine content.
    • What topics are they interested in learning more about?
    • How can you help them to be more successful, happier, etc?
    • Find out what they want and who they are.

    And in all three cases — Clients/Customers, Rejecters, and Prospects — if it seems appropriate, ask for a little information about who they are. Age, gender, profession, where they live, how much they typically spend in your product or service category.

    This will help you get a better understanding of your target audience and you’ll know if you are attracting the kind of people you thought would be interested in your product or service. And if you need to change your marketing strategy to reach a different audience, or to perhaps change your target audience, doing so will help you better serve them.

     

    The more you can learn about your prospects and customers the better you can serve them. And the more effectively you can market to them. You may be in for a surprise, but customers and prospects will tell you why they are buying from you or not buying, if they are asked. What you hear surprise you.

    Very often what you hear can help you zero-in on a Unique Selling Proposition that you never thought of. And because it came from the mouths of your customers you know it is compelling and effective, but don’t change everything based on a few opinions.

    My only caution is if you only have a handful of customers or prospects to survey, don’t make any major changes or decisions until you are able to validate your findings among a larger group of people… Or at least test any changes you do make before making a final decision to overhaul your entire business or marketing plan. Common sense is the rule here. Just use your own good judgment and don’t over-react to comments made by only a handful of people.

    Don’t be afraid to ASK

    There are any number of ways to collect research from your prospects and customers. You can telephone them, email them, mail them a written questionnaire, or you can meet with them in a group (called a focus group) to collect their opinions. You can be as formal or informal as is comfortable for you, while also making them as comfortable as you possibly can. Typically the larger number of clients you survey, the more formal the survey. If you have only a handful of people to talk to, simply pick up the phone and call them.

    Don’t be afraid to ask for opinions on your products or services or how you can serve your clients better. What you find out could be extremely valuable in helping you to build and grow your business; And…

    Don’t forget to say the magical word(s): “Thanks” or “Thank you”, as the case may be.

    You will also want to consider offering an incentive to encourage your prospects and clients to participate or respond. A bonus, such as a special report, or a discount on a future purchase is a nice way to show your appreciation for them taking the time to respond to your survey.

    Read more about the entrepreneurial experience and business-related topics take a look at some of the following articles published right on this website:

    Digital & Electronic Products – Unbeatable in Quality and Price!