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Use Your Website to Prove Your Industry Leadership
November 18, 2013 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Prospective customers are looking for companies that are experts at what they do. And talking does not count anymore, because prospective customers can go to the Internet and look for proof.
Saying you are an industry leader means nothing. Prove it.
Where will your prospects will go for proof? Your website. But most websites in this industry are stale. Traditional thinking says a website is a necessary evil, updated every year or two.
Well, here’s my message for all of you that think that way: If you're going to act like you're just a commodity, don’t be surprised at how the market treats you.
Here's what some of your forward-thinking competitors out there are doing: They have websites filled with information and ideas that prospective customers can use. And that doesn’t mean an equipment list, and a couple of hilariously vague testimonials from “Steve in the Aerospace industry” and “Julie from a large Medical Devices company.” It means in depth, constantly updated expert opinions on technical issues in your industry. Updated every week, not every two years. (As an aside here, I overhauled my own website this past summer for $600. Are your finances so shakey that that kind of money scares you?) If I can get this type of interesting, instructional, informative content and ideas from five of your competitors, why would I ever call you?By the way, this points to the role of social media--it's an opportunity to showcase snippets of your expertise to a huge audience, and use it to direct audience members back to your website where your expertise is on display.
I know that many of the old school types will balk or laugh at this whole idea. But look at it this way: Someone looks at your website and sees an equipment list, capabilities list, some nice pictures of happy staff, and boilerplate biographies of the company executive. On my website I have all that plus a list of frequently asked questions and answers, a blog on common design problems and fixes that is updated weekly, and several giveaway documents on the problems in designing for manufacture and how a customer can work with my company to solve them.
The prospective customer looks at your website, then looks at mine. On your website, you are telling people how good you are. On my website, I am demonstrating how good I am.
I win.Bruce Johnston is a sales consultant specializing in social media and especially LinkedIn. He has over 25 years experience in high-tech sales and management. He can be reached at brucej@practicalsmm.com or through his profile on LinkedIn.