If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m a big fan of social media for small business marketing – but I haven’t always been. While I don’t have a Twitter following like some people and I’m not a big believer in “promiscuous linking” on LinkedIn, I believe that social media is going to revolutionize marketing for small businesses. Never before has it been so easy, and so affordable for a regionally-based small business to get prospective customers to know, like and trust them.
But starting any new endeavor a challenge – and social media is no exception. You don’t really know what to do at first. Should you trust the people and the information they’re providing? How do you start to build trust?
Many of the new social media sites and software-as-a-service sites give you a free trial or tour that allow you to familiarize yourself with their offerings at your own pace. (Twitter allows you to take a tour, so does Flickr.) Basecamp allows you to create a free project. Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers a free trial. Getting people to TRY is a critical first step.
Your customers feel the same way when they are thinking about working with you. They don’t know whether to trust the information you give them, or worse, they don’t know if they even need you! So, think about ways to give your prospective clients a way to get to know you. A sales pitch disguised as a free consultation is often too big and scary. Give them a smaller, less threatening way to engage.
Do you give your customers a “free trial” or a bite-size appetizer? Can they download a free whitepaper, or join a free webinar, before they have to commit to working with you?
Giving your potential clients a way to ease into working with you is one of the quickest ways to gain their trust and alleviate some of the fear. Next time you are wondering why a customer has reservations about working with you, think about it from their perspective. You are a big scary new thing - they want to test the waters before jumping in with both feet. Figure out a way to let them do that, and you’ll have a much easier time proving your use.
What other ways do you use to give your customers a way to ‘test you out’? Do you trust companies that let you ‘look around’ more than those that don’t?
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