Now that you’ve gotten people’s attention, what are you going to do to entice them to do a deep dive into your business? How are you going to get total strangers to click on multiple links, read your content, leave you their email addresses, etc.?
Know Who You Are Talking To
First and foremost, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience. This is one of the most important parts of online marketing because everything you do should cater to these individuals. Don’t make the mistake I made when I was designing my first site. I wanted everything tailored to my personal interests.
You only have one chance to make a first online impression, so your color scheme, the structure of your website, your content, etc. should speak to the interest of the people that are most likely to become paying customers.
For example, on an elementary level, you wouldn’t want to use dark colors and aggressive language on a website that children are going to visit. However, on an advanced level, such as a B2B website, it can be a bit more challenging.
That’s why most successful business owners hire professional designers and copywriters to build their websites. They respect the fact that a professional will put them in the best position possible by using the appropriate color schemes for their audience, write content that not only speaks to their target audience but also with an SEO agenda in mind, easy to navigate, etc.
Quickly Answer Your Prospect’s HOW?
As the internet becomes more flooded with content and more distractions, the prospect’s attention span decreases. We only have a small amount of time to give them something that entices them to stay on our website and explore.
Website visitors are usually looking for one of three things,
- To be entertained
- To be educated
- To answer a question
The quicker you can tell your prospects How you’re going the help them, the better your chances of keeping them on your site. This explains why so many business owners use information sliders or videos on their homepage.
They are trying to quickly showcase their expertise and capture their visitor’s attention. Studies show that people are more inclined to watch a video than reading.
Tastefully Toot Your Own Horn
If there is ever a time for a humblebrag, it’s when you’re trying to win someone’s business. It’s okay to lead with your accomplishments.
Some business owners like to have a video on their homepage explaining how good their product or service is and why you should buy from them.
Many others like to let their customers speak on their behalf. For example, if you’re a personal trainer and you have testimonials from happy clients, show them. If you have positive customer reviews, put them on display.
Be A Valuable Resource
Consumers like to be nurtured before they spend money. They enjoy researching products so much so that in many instances the prospects are just as informed as the salespeople. To keep them interested in your product or service, one of your goals should be to become a valuable resource that they can come to time and again for information about your industry.
To become a valuable resource requires that you are constantly providing pertinent information. This may be in the form of:
- Blogging
- Videos
- E-books
- Emails
Blogging
Blogging is a great way to establish yourself as an industry expert. In addition, it helps you keep fresh content on your website that’s great for SEO ranking.
Videos
Videos have become the preferred source of content consumption for consumers. Studies show that buyers like to watch videos about products they are interested in buying more so than reading about it. Videos also allow you to use the second biggest search engine in the world, YouTube.
Email Marketing
Having a strong email list is one of the keys to running a successful business. Email is one of the best ways to stay in contact with prospects and continue to market to them. When someone gives you their email address, they are letting you know that they value your opinion. These individuals are expecting you to reach out to them in the future with even more valuable information. It may come in the form of:
- E-books
- Company updates
- Special promotions
- Newsletters
- Etc.
I’ll dive deeper into email marketing in a later post. I believe subjects like ‘Writing Compelling Subject Lines’ or ‘How to Leave Your Email Readers Wanting More’ deserves more attention.
Social Media
Social media has become a very integral part of digital marketing. Your social media platforms give you another avenue to build rapport and essentially stay on your prospect’s minds. Social media also give you more freedom to be creative.
Depending on your industry, you may not want to experiment too much on your website, but with social media, you can. The cool thing is that different platforms allow you to express yourself in different ways.
One thing I highly recommend is not to sway too far away from who you’ve presented yourself to be on your website or through emails. It’s okay to be creative but, don’t do or say anything that’s going to turn potential clients away.
Extra
Some other things we can do that will help keep people’s attention starts before prospects even get on your site. Something as simple as your load time can affect whether people decide to stay on your website. Statistics show if your site takes longer than three seconds to load, the abandonment rate goes through the roof.
Something as simple as a caching tool may be the difference between a prospect becoming a client or deciding to go with a competitor.
Conclusion
Building interest for prospects is one of the most difficult tasks of the sales funnel. Distractions are coming at us from every direction and people are so easily sidetracked.
One thing I see television companies and streaming services like Netflix do; that I think we can all learn from, is keep us anticipating more. Anticipation is the best way to keep interests high.
Think about it, have you ever started new series on Netflix, with intentions of only watching one or two episodes, but at the end of each episode, they show you a clip of the next one? Also, what if you’re scrolling through Netflix and you don’t know anything about a show and then the sneak preview starts out of nowhere. Now you’re hooked.
At the end of the day, keeping your business on your prospects’ mind is a tough but fun task. It allows you to exercise your marketing muscle and showcase what problems you can solve for potential clients in numerous ways.
What do you do to stay on the minds of your prospects and build interest? Leave a comment below.