The storefront of your business is your website and social media presence. So many companies have incredible products and service, but I think you’ll agree that first impressions count. A customer’s first evaluation of your place of business was the storefront: how the sign looked, the condition of the store, how friendly your employees were. Now, the tip of the spear, for anyone, is your website and social media activity. The first thing people do before buying anything is Google it/you. And 90% don’t make it past the first three results!

I can’t tell you how many websites I’ve seen that are poorly optimized for a smartphone. If it’s hard for that prospect to get the info, they’re looking for, you have lost that customer to a more tech savvy competitor. To call you, find out what you do and sell, should take 0-1 clicks. Most people leave a screen after 3 seconds if they don’t see what they are looking for. You have to help them. Hold their hand. You must make it as easy as possible to get them on the phone or in your store. The typical frazzled consumer doesn’t have the attention span because of all the demands on their attention.

So now you have a great mobile-friendly site. But, you’re not on the front page of a Google search. You’re still getting beat. This is where proper social media content comes into play. With more finger’s pointing to you, the higher you rank when someone is looking for what you sell. This can get quite complicated, but these “fingers” are called “backlinks.” These are what bring you to the top. It’s especially important that the links are in large numbers and from credible sites. Many marketers will try to spam a search engine to finagle to the front. But Google is smart, and will quite literally slap you off its pages if you’re not cautious.

If you aren’t collecting emails, you are losing. Your site is beautiful, you’re on the front page, and people are going to its pages. But they leave. Window Shopping. They may not even think of you again unless… you drip them with proper email marketing. Even better, with Facebook advertising, you can load a piece of code onto the page of your site that remembers that visitor. You then create an ad, insert the data from that code inside, and voila, you are remarketing directly to them while they watch funny videos on their newsfeed. Sales close after 5-12 touches(contact). Emails are precious! The lifeblood of your company. Being able to re-present yourself to someone who was already mildly interesting in you, is so much more efficient than constantly selling to new people. It’s a typical human bias, which what we’re exposed to over and over, is much more appealing than something different and new that we’ve only seen once. Especially in sales.

Yellow pages, billboards, and TV commercials are out. You can’t even get someone to look at the road, let alone your silly billboard. You must follow where consumer attention is, and place yourself there. The younger generations, with eyes and ears out for these types of things, should be some of the most influential people in your company. They will keep your business alive because technology and the way people consume media are changing rapidly. It may be anecdotal, but younger generations are much more comfortable with a constantly changing landscape than an older one.

Thank you for your attention.