Get ‘em while they’re hot!

It’s well known that the best time to get a customer to comment on a service you’ve provided them is when it’s right in front of them (or at least when it’s still fresh in their mind), so it makes sense that allowing someone to leave a review, comment or check-in while they are in your establishment is an easy way to a glowing testimonial.

Clearly, if this were to happen, most people would be using a smartphone – just like I was recently when I went to do the same at a cafe in Currumbin on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, there was no mobile coverage, meaning I couldn’t leave a review of the rather nice club sandwich I was eating at the time.

Mmm, bacon…

The Set-Up

So I got to thinking, how could you turn a negative into a positive? Well, first things first, let’s get an internet connection up and running, so that we can offer free wi-fi to your customers.

Yes, I said free. Because going to a cafe, buying a coffee and a ticket, for 30 minutes of internet time is an idea thought up in the 90′s. Where it deserves to stay. (If you’re thinking of charging for it – please, please, PLEASE don’t. Just don’t, OK?)

Now, there’s a few ways you set this up – but my recommendation would be to call your local IT company, tell them you want to set up a free wi-fi connection for your customers.

If they know their stuff, they should be able to install a device on your existing connection (if you have one, and want to use that), in such a way as it and the customer wi-fi are entirely separate – because you don’t want some smart 14 year old sitting in your cafe hacking into your back office computer.

Tell Everyone!

Next, you want to be publicising that you offer free wifi, and publicise it hard. I’d suggest adding something to your both your Google Places and Facebook pages, and maybe team it up with a launch offer as well.

The goal here is bums on seats (no-one likes an empty cafe!), and getting those same bums to leave great reviews, check-ins and hey, maybe even writing a blog post about their favourite coffee shop!

:)

Like many in Australia, I live just far enough outside the urban sprawl that local and independent businesses are often preferred over the big retail chains. Generally, you’ll find these areas have a strong word of mouth network, and personal referrals are the main business driver.

With the rise of Facebook, Google Places and other social media and review based sites, the word of mouth network finds itself challenged, as it was when those retail chains first started their rise to popularity, and local businesses can again be easily overlooked:

“Hey, you hear there’s a new Target store opening 2 hours up the road? Wanna go?!”

Having read a bit of Marcus Sheriden’s blog lately, the idea of answering your clients’ questions as a content and lead generation strategy has been resonating strongly with me. The #1 objection I hear from businesses when I mention content marketing is “but what do I write about?”

Idea

Of course, this wouldn’t suit every business, and putting the idea into practice might not always be as easy as that. Unless you happen to be my local coffee shop – Kartel Espresso Bar.

While in the store recently, I heard the owner chatting and laughing with a regular about an idea they’ve had to promote the business.

I should explain first that Kartel isn’t your regular boring old coffee shop – it’s a quirky, hole in the wall, standing room only, hip-hop music playing, locals’ art gallery, home-made food serving slice of beachside sunshine. (Can you tell I like the place?)

Simple

The idea they were discussing was so simple, so easy to put into action, and suited the business so perfectly, I was having my own party of one just standing there in the queue.

Only problem was, they had no inkling that what they were talking about could be a gold mine for them.

Thinking about it later, I came to the conclusion that if even if you’ve only a small footprint in your local community, and for whatever reason haven’t yet started a blog, but think that you should (yes, you should!), it’s perfectly OK to look beyond whatever product you’re selling to build your profile.

Reviews

It may seem a strange idea at first, but in those areas with strong word of mouth marketing, in today’s age of smartphones, it’s not hard to turn those local referrals into reviews. And more reviews gets you more exposure, and we know where that leads… ;)

(Image Credit: A Tale of Design)

Now I’m passionate about what I do, and when it comes to small business web marketing, I see many basic mistakes that because they are so easy to fix, get me more worked up than they should!

I was chatting with a friend recently who runs a Gold Coast IT Support firm, and (happily for my sanity) I found I’m not the only one with this passion. What am I talking about?

Domain Names

Let’s take this scenario: you run a small business, spending a tidy sum on advertising your business in Yellow Pages, the local classifieds, and maybe even some online advertising. You might even have a nice website for people to come and look at, and your car or van has one of those one-way-view stickers across the back screen.

Sounds good so far? Problem is, on all of that brand promotion, your email address looks like this:

yourbusinessname@hotmail.com

And your potential customer sees this: UNPROFESSIONAL.

Harsh I know, but this is your brand, your image, your professionalism you are representing. And by using a free email address or one supplied by your internet provider, your business looks as professional as a Saturday sausage sizzle.

There is of course another reason to get your own domain name: when the day comes that you want or need to change your internet provider (and it does happen!), that address and all the sometime clients that may have used it in the past?

Good luck with that…

So if that’s you in the scenario above, please get a domain name! It’ll set you back a couple of cups of coffee, and if you need help picking and setting up the right one (yes, it still matters!), I’ll be covering this in future post.