A great product is not enough for you to thrive in today’s marketplace.
Don’t misunderstand, must still have an amazing product. But that product needs to be found by people who are interested in it.
Customers also need to be assured that your product will be consistent over time, and not disappoint them if they make it part of their daily routine.
The marketplace is crowded with competition. You must define how you are different from everyone else. Knowing what your best customers are looking for will help you focus on growing the parts of your business that serve them.
Marketing Your Product
Human culture is built on top of storytelling.
Marketing uses storytelling to raise awareness of your product and the need it fills for your customers. Your story needs to be in places where your customers look on the web. Your website has to tell the story of your products and show customers why they should try them and keep coming back.
Social media is another place to tell that story, and build a community around your business. Your website is the hub, and marketing channels like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and email newsletters are spokes that point customers back to your site.
Finding social platforms that highlight your product and are actively used by your target customers is vital to successful social marketing.
That said, it is better to be active on three or four social platforms than to be inactive on six or seven. Social media is great because you not only raise awareness of your products, but you can build loyalty through your community and get feedback directly from your customers.
Email marketing is even more effective than social media in promoting your products. Customers who subscribe to your list are acknowledging that they want to hear more about your product and are more likely to hear what you have to say.
Social media can be like a fire hose of information, blasting away at people in a steady stream. Email works as a marketing tool because most people still look at everything that lands in their inbox. After that, they decide what to do with those messages.
There are other ways to let customers know about your products. These include YouTube videos, producing useful content for your site, pay per click advertising, attending industry and community mixers, and sponsoring local events. Deciding what marketing strategies will work for you depends on factors like budget, time, manpower, and audience.
Minimizing Risk
Minimizing risk to your high-ticket customers is crucial to growing your revenue. People make large investments in a service to have peace of mind that nothing will go wrong when it counts most.
Imagine your business is a bakery, and you have a regular customer that comes in every day for an almond croissant and coffee. They have come to rely on the consistency and quality of your products. Now their daughter is getting married, and they need a wedding cake for the big event in the summer. Guests are flying in from all across the country.
The bride has dreamed of this day for years. Her parents have planned the event for months. When the wedding day arrives, your team delivers in the clutch, the cake is perfect, delivered and set up on time. That is a scenario where your customers need you to minimize risk, and they are probably willing to pay a little extra if it means they have peace of mind. There are certain situations where your product must be right the first time. Make sure you alleviate your customers’ fears and reduce their risk.
Reputation
Reputation is more important than ever when anyone can leave a review of your business online. Will people vouch for you? Will they recommend you to a friend? Are you top of mind when people have a need for your specific service or product?
Word of mouth is a great form of earned publicity, but usually takes a while to build up. Take care of your early customers and they will become evangelists of your brand.
Getting momentum going into your product launch can be nerve wracking. Make sure you are doing everything you should to earn good reviews, customer referrals, and a solid reputation.
Experience
Everything is for naught without great customer experience.
You may run a bakery that bakes the finest pastries, a web development shop that builds the greatest websites, or a coffee shop that brews the most robust French roast. Your customers can still have a negative view of your product if the rest of their experience is unpleasant.
Having the best product is only half the battle. The customer experience must also deliver.
When customers communicate with you online or in person, their experience should match the quality of your product. Ultimately, it is about how your product makes your customers feel. Your product becomes a part of their daily routine when it makes them happier.
Everything you do should work towards that goal.
Creating a killer product is necessary to start, but paying attention to the other ingredients in a successful business will put you ahead of the competition.
