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1. Share Basic Business Information
People use the Internet often trying to find quick answers to basic questions. What are your opening hours? Do you offer payment plans? What is your phone number? or something else. These are the days of "Inquiry Marketing"; so get a website if you do not already have one, and make sure that people can actually find it in the search engines and directories.
2. Inquiry Marketing: Be Found – Period!
A major advertising conference mentioned recently "advertising is dead". Interruption marketing does not work as it used to, due to video on demand, TiVo, the Internet ... The consumers are more and more difficult to reach. Instead, they are in control; they are searching – on the Internet. It is inquiry marketing. Search and be found, or fail to be found and lose the customer.
3. Improve Branding
Branding is a way to differentiate your product, service or company from its competition, and create loyalty. The content of a website, its style and tools allow for many ways to differentiate yourself, make the visitor feel good about you, and build loyalty. More worrisome: if you do not do this, a competitor may snatch not only your prospects sales, but also their loyalty away from you with their website! Eat, or be eaten!
4. Reach Local Market
More and more people use locally defined keywords in the search engines, which indicates that they use the Internet do find local information. but mentioning a website in a local ad may do wonders in terms of converting a reader into a customer. Whatever niche market you may service, a website will expand your possibilities of promoting or selling your product or service – wherever in the world your prospects may be.
5. Save Costs - A Sales Tool Outside The stores
By integrating systems and automating certain tasks you may be able to actually save costs. For instance, by integrating your on-line order system, will save some kinds of effort for your employees time for taking orders. You can provide downloadable documents on a website rather than mailing them out, paperless, no shipping no handling, etc. The opportunities are endless.
6. One-To-One OR One-To-Many
Conventional marketing tools allow you to do 1-on-1 promote or sell . A website can cater to many prospects at the same time. An effective website will also help you build a buzz: word-of-mouth promotion.
7. Offer Service 365/24/7
This may not be of great value to you (it may even be a burden ...), but to your customers it is very empowering and important. The Internet puts the web browser in control – and if you are not there, you will be more and more passed over in favour of an online competitor.
8. Solicit Feedback From Customers
A contact form on a website can provide you with a lot of valuable information from customers, prospects and other interested people. You may even get them to take an online poll – especially if you say they can win a prize as a reward. And if the stakes are high enough, the free word-of-mouth promotion will start automatically ...
9. Answer Frequently Asked Questions
Answering the same questions over and over again can be a great waste of money and employee morale. A carefully crafted list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), posted on a website, can reduce the stream of repetitive questions so your Customer Support department can actually start supporting customers, and your Sales Department can really devote their time to selling!
10. Increase Customer Loyalty
These are the times of inquiry marketing, and anything-on-demand. The customer wants to be in control, and websites are a perfect example of that. The customer decides what they want to see, and when, and if you do that right, you will have acquired a loyal customer.
11. Make Life Easier
Websites can make you customer’s lives easier – and yours! Look at online banking, or ticket ordering. Whole new industries have emerged because people want to be able to do things themselves, from their home or office – because it is easier. So: what will make your customers’ lives easier?
12. Sell Your business
Whether "selling your business" is a figure of speech (to convince people) or a true selling effort, a website can be considered a very valuable asset to your business.
13. Already Play With The Big Guys
Many small companies successfully take on the big Guys. Websites can be relatively inexpensive (compared to running a brick-and-mortar store), and with proper usability and search engine optimization your website can be as good as your larger competitors, or even better!
