Business Blogging in 2020 is all about relationship building and creating trust.
Even though as bloggers, we work alone most of the time, we need to hone our communication skills, and build relationships with website visitors, subscribers, prospects and customers.
This is a critical key to successfully building a long term profitable business that really helps people… Build relationships with your prospects just as you would do in business offline.
Know What Your Market Needs And Create Trust First. Build relationships with your visitors.
Hypothetically, if given the choice, wouldn’t you rather walk into an insurance agent’s office where you were greeted with a friendly hello and the staff called you by name, or would you rather walk into an office where the staff acted as if you were an interruption, and a waste of their valuable time?
If you are like most, you will find that people want to do business with people they like. And they would rather buy from people they know and trust.
When they are comfortable with you, they will purchase from you… so be right there where and when they need you.
If you are there just for the quick sale and then move on, they will sense that and you may not get the sale. Take the time to establish a relationship with a customer, and you will notice that your customers become loyal to you. Build trust first.
They will begin to see you as an expert in your field. And… they won’t even think about doing business with anyone else because they trust you.
Keep in mind that establishing relationships with people takes time. They won’t develop overnight and it takes work and genuine effort.
Here are three things to always keep in mind if you want to develop quality relationships and build trust with your customers. You will find that I like threes. Three of anything is enough to focus on, but not too much to cause overwhelm you.
1. Be authentic. Offer your sincere help. Your visitors are coming to you for a reason. They need something, your expert information, or your product or service.
Don’t act like you are doing them a favor by providing that product or service.
Do offer them your most sincere “thank you for stopping by”, and offer them your sincere help with their needs.
Instead of thinking about what you will get, think about how you can help them, what you can do for them. If someone visits and is just looking for advice, give them the answers they need.
Always meet them at their needs, and be there when they need you and you will be rewarded with their business. The Law of Reciprocity is a strong motivator for people, most will want to do something for you too when they can.
2. Be transparent. Let them see the real you. Yes, it is important to present a professional image if you want to be taken seriously, but you don’t want to seem so professional that you intimidate your customers.
They want to feel as if you are just one of them. Let them know that you are human, and that you occasionally have a bad day and yes, days where everything seems to go wrong.
If people can see that you are “one of them”, your chances of a sale go up.
3. Be available. Communicate with them. A key component of any relationship is communication. Keep your prospects and customers updated on a regular basis through your blog, newsletter, or website.
If someone has recently purchased a product or service from you, and has a question or needs assistance, answer their email truthfully in timely fashion or get someone to take care of it quickly.
When your subscribers or customers feel appreciated and valued, you will find them buying from you consistently. And, these are people that will be less likely to be subject to low price competition offers.
They know the value in your products or services. But more importantly they know the value of doing business with YOU.
Over time they will become fiercely loyal, and satisfied loyal customers are more likely to send you lots of referral business. Yes. Word of mouth from influencers is still the top marketing tool in the digital world.
You want to create raving fans that are singing your praises to everyone they know! That should be the goal of every business…