Whether you are looking at starting a new business or you already own a business, your brand could be the difference between your business failing or succeeding. I know that there are exceptions to the rule. There are companies that aren’t very good at branding that have made it big but they are far and few in between. Let’s look at the shoe industry for example. When I ask you to name the top basketball shoe brand. What are you going to say? Chances are most of you will say shoe brands like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, etc. Many small business owners end up making mistakes that doom their brands from the beginning. The mistakes that they end making will actually cause people not to purchase from their brand. If you brand get’s a reputation like this it makes it very difficult to market your business.
- Not Presenting Enough Information – Many online shoppers require more information about a small business and their products than they do when they go into a brick and mortar store. If they do not have enough information about the company and or the product most consumers do not feel comfortable to purchase from that company or website. As identity theft becomes more and more of an issue, consumers will become more cautious. This is especially true for online businesses, with the news being flooded about companies being hacked. Most people think of Target but this appears to be the tip of the ice berg. That is why when you are giving information about your products you want to make sure to talk about the security on your website as well.
- Visually Looks Bad – Many small online businesses make the huge mistake of attempting to save money on their website. So they end up choosing a company that doesn’t have the skills to design or create the functionality that they require in their website. Have you ever went to a website that looked terrible? Did you purchase anything? Probably not! That is why it is so critical that you invest in your website. After all your website is the one salesman that will work twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty five days a year. A great web design company will be able to design a website that will show your visitors the wow factor. Besides this there are many other benefits of a professional web design company. So please don’t fall into the trap of hiring a web designer out of college or outsourcing your project just because it is cheap.
- Missing Client Testimonials – One of the best way to gain trust is by showing your website visitors what other customers are saying about your business. Make sure that you highlight your testimonials and ideally you should make sure that they show up on every page of your website. What people are saying about your website is so important that Google has added it into their search engine optimization algorithm. They are doing this by monitoring the comments and ratings on Google local, yelp, etc. If Google is deeming this as important you better believe that consumers are paying close attention to this.
- Errors On Your Website – It looks really bad when someone goes to your website and there are links and images broken, misspelled words everywhere or format broken. You want to make sure that when a visitor comes to your website they know that you are a professional and reputable company. If a potential customers gets the impression that you are a cheap company then they are likely to feel that whatever you are selling is going to be cheap as well. Now I am not saying if you have prices that are lower than your competitors they will feel this way if you have a website that gives off a professional look and feel customers will be more likely to trust your website. It is just like with a house. If you see a house where the yard is not taken care of and it looks really bad you are likely to get the impression that their house is a mess as well. On the other hand if you drive by a house that has a well kept yard then you are likely to get the feeling that the house is immaculate inside. If it where somebody looking to buy one of the two houses the chances are they would choose the one with the nice yard if they weren’t allowed to see inside.
- Bad Reputation Management – Word of mouth can be a great way to grow your business. However, it can be a way for upset consumers to quickly tear down your business. That is why it is so important that you manage the complaints about your business. If you own a business then there will be somebody that will complain about your business. With social media becoming so popular many of these complaints can take off like wild fire and become viral if you don’t do damage control. That is why you must stay active on social media and deal with these complaints as they arise because if you wait then the problem will become much more difficult to deal with later. This is why many business owners preach to be proactive and not reactive.
It is critical that when somebody sees your brand they have nothing but praise. This will make any marketing campaign that you are running much easier to convert the users you get to your website. If you have a bad brand it could make internet marketing campaigns like search engine optimization and pay per click useless. To make any type of marketing campaign worth your while you need to have a high conversion rate.