Long ago, marketing companies would create and distribute ads on radio, television and print media. People would watch or listen to the ad or read the ad and want to go buy the product or service. In those ads, you could give information that would change customers’ thinking about a product or service. You would create a need or a desire for that product or service. About 20 or 30 years ago, that type of advertising worked, but that type of advertising doesn’t work today to change how customers think about your product or service. To be successful in 2016 and 2017, you have to have an online presence and use tricks of the digital world to reinvent customer thinking about your product or service. You also want to try these tricks to helping you reinvent customer thinking with an online presence.
- Have great website – Before you begin selling your product or service, you have to have a website. SEO doesn’t work unless you have a great website that is found when people are searching for what you sell. You have to have the right keywords and relevant content to attract the search engines to your site. You want pictures and videos on your site. You should have a call to action, usually a phone number or button to click to get people to buy from you.
- Write compelling blogs – If your goal is to reinvent customer thinking, you have to be writing a blog regularly. Blogs should be written at least once a month, but more often is better. They should be between 300 and 500 words and should be a topic that is interesting to your customers. In these blogs, you can change customer thinking by presenting information they didn’t have or by showing your product in a different light. However, blogs do not have to be solely about your business. For example, let’s say you sell a product for pool-cleaning. During December people are searching holiday shopping. Therefore, you can write a blog on about holiday shopping for people who own pools at their homes. That will connect your business to what people are searching. The blog would be interesting too because it would be different.
- Use online ads – Even though radio, television and print ads are not as effective as they once were, they still help to reinvent customer thinking. However, the better move is to use online ads. These are similar to the old commercials, but they are now online. You can use the 30 seconds in the ad to reinvent customer thinking about your product or service. When you use Google, Facebook or Bing ads, you also increase your SEO for local and national searching. These ads are targeted, which makes them more effective.
- Post on social media – Most companies understand the value of engaging customers through social media. You can reinvent customer thinking many times using social media networks. You should research the sites and choose the one that is best for your company. Not all media work for every business. You don’t want to waste your time on sites that won’t work for you. In addition, you want to stay away from controversial topics and posts that aren’t related to your product or service. These can have the opposite effect. You want to post pictures and videos too.
- Create videos – Reinventing customer thinking is easy with YouTube videos. These can be demonstrations, testimonials or commercials. People click on videos, and they rank higher than other media or content available. Search engines pick up on videos regularly. They also are shared in social media more often than other content and opened when e-mailed to prospective customers.
- Share online surveys – Retailers are reinventing customer thinking through surveys. They create a five-question or 10-question quiz that gets people thinking and discussing the answers with friends, especially if the survey is fun and unique. However, customer surveys about how they liked their service also are helping reinvent customer thinking because they have to think about their answers. The surveys are giving retailers insights into what works and what doesn’t. Retailers can change how they engage their customers and what services or products they offer.
- Find the forums – To reinvent customer thinking, you should be using online forums regularly. You should post in these and listen to what groups are saying about your product, service or industry. You can post ideas to change customer thinking about your product and service. You can list properties of your products that are better than others in the same industry. You can feedback on what people want and offer them. Then, post that you are offering something new. Customers soon will be thinking about your products or service differently and share the information with friends.
- Contests – Online contests are becoming popular in reinventing customer thinking. You can allow them to be creative. You could create a contest that asks customers to show ways of using your product in a different way. This will engage the customers and get them to thinking about your product and service. They will change their thinking about how to use your product or service effectively. In addition, you engage your customers and get valuable feedback on how to change your practices. When winners are announced, you are able to reinvent their thinking because they can see what was selected as the best.
Having an online presence is a must for companies that sell a product or service in today’s world. You have to find ways to engage customers and reinvent their thinking about your product or service. You have to be mindful of search engine optimization for better online presence. To be the best, you would want to hire search engine optimization consultants. When you reinvent customer thinking about your product and service, you will get more people searching for you and more people who will eventually buy from you. Use these ideas to reinvent your customer base and grow your business.
