Build An Online Community To Support Your Products

If you are selling to small business owners it will be difficult to make a sale without having a quality website. Whether it is to learn about a company, compare pricing, or look at the features you offer, it is almost inevitable that your small business owner prospects will land on your website before making their purchasing decision.

An excellent way to convert leads into customers, generate more referrals and support your existing customer base is to develop an online community built around supporting and discussing your products. Here are a 3 suggestions to make the most of your online community:

1) Enlist your biggest fans

Get the people who are fanatical about your product on board. Give them an additional incentives to participate by offering them profiles on the site and a link back. Offer them sneak peeks at new products to come and put them on your beta testing list. Involving the die hard customers and having them show their enthusiasm for your products online will give you the third party validation that many small business are looking for before making the final purchase.

2) Have employee involvement

An online community can be a great way to learn about how your customers are using your products (the answer will often surprise you) and what new features they would like added. Many small business owners look online first before calling into your support line to find an answer to their problems. If they know that they can get a fast answer through your community from one of your staff you will earn a reputation online for excellent customer service. Your sales prospects will also see the responsiveness and be secure that if they have problems with your products they can find a fast answer online.

3) Include valuable resources

Make sure to link to valuable tips, resources, white papers, guides, and other information you have about how to best use your products. Having new resources gives your community something to talk about and helps the members better understand your products and how they can get the most out of them. By monitoring the community and seeing which are the most common types of questions asked you can develop guides and tools that are most suitable to the needs of your customers.

Small Business Word Of Mouth

Much of the purchasing power for both the United States and Canada is held in the hands of small business owners. They hold the purse strings, can make or break your company, and their difficulty to reach make blogs such as this one popular.

Word of mouth advice is how entrepreneurs end up making purchasing decisions. Sure they may have seen your advertisement on TV or in print, they have probably already checked out your website to learn more about your product, but at the end of the day, a good or bad recommendation from another entrepreneur is likely going to be what makes or breaks their decision to move forward.

How can you get the small business community to spread the word about your product or service?

1) Identify and support your champions
With any product there will be champions - the hardcore users who love using it and tell their friends about it. They are seen as experts by their peers and are often called for advice on which company to choose. The good news is with today's technology it is easier than ever to find and support your champions. Who is blogging about your company / industry? Whatever size your industry is, there is somebody who is blogging about it. Support these people with new product information, special events, rewards, recognition, and a personal connection into your company. Make them feel important and give them the information they need to show off your products - and they will!

2) Follow up with existing customers
With their smaller budgets, SMBs will not have the same number of transactions with you as their larger counterparts. Depending on the product you are selling it could be years between purchases. Do not forget to follow up with your existing customers regularly. Make sure they are enjoying your product and let them know of any new specials you are offering. If they are not ready to buy again yet, they will have the knowledge when their peers ask them about which provider to use. If your product has broken down on them and they have not heard from you in years, you are not likely to get a warm recommendation.

3) Ensure proper damage control
While positive word of mouth will spread as you establish as solid reputation in the SMB community, negative word of mouth will travel even faster. Almost even conversation I have with small business owners at one point ends up on a negative tone as they attack a company who they feel has done them wrong. Whether it be their phone provider, bank, or accountant small business owners tell their friends about their bad suppliers. If you have a negative experience with a customer or even have to let them go, make sure to leave them with the most favorable impression possible of your company. If it requires making an apology, giving a discount / credit, offering a refund, shipping a new product, or any number of concessions, the cost will be more than worth the negative word of mouth your company will receive otherwise.

Get Your Customers Talking About You!

Word of mouth marketing is one of the best ways to target small business owners. Many B2B decisions are made through referrals as SMBs heavily weigh the opinions of their peers when purchasing a new product or service.

So how do you get your customers talking about you?

Here's another great idea from the BIG marketing for small business blog: Profile Your Customers. The idea is simple - every business wants to get noticed so why not create a profile page where you highlight some of your new or best clients? Your clients will appreciate the exposure, stay loyal to you, and tell their friends about how they got linked from your webpage. As an added bonus, testimonials and case studies are great selling tools and build a greater sense of trust than marketing material direct from your company.

Here is how the BIG marketing for small business blog describes the opportunity:

Many are craving added attention and profile, but simply can't afford it - their is value and opportunity in that - so get moving and make it happen. New prospects will take notice when shopping around. You'll be seen as more customer-centric and focused on their success as oppose to just your own. They will also see the greater value of dealing with you, knowing that you'll provide them with greater profile through your customer-focused marketing endeavors. You can start by doing one simple addition to your website. Create a landing page dedicated only to profiling your customers with a link to the page appearing on your home page. Include their picture, business name and logo, product/service description, and links back to their web site. What do you think the first thing your customer will do when they see their profile on this page? They'll send it to their peers, friends, staff, mom and dad. They'll likely add a link back to this page from their site (an added bonus which increases your search engine optimization efforts). All of a sudden, this simple addition has brought you added traffic, exposure and a happy customer for all of $0.

Have you empowered your customers and given them opportunities to talk about your company by profiling them off of your website and in your marketing materials?

Get Your Message Out Online

Depending on which report your believe most, 40-85% of purchasing agents and buyers go online to do product research before making a business purchasing decision.

With so many of your potential customer base turning to the web for answers does your company have a strong presence to provide them with quality, timely, and accurate information or is your competition outdrawing you?

TradeBlog recently put out a list called the 10 Point Internet Marketing Plan. It includes:

1) Create a detailed, professional website in English that is fully optimized for search engines

2) Develop a dynamic email marketing program to attract new customers and keep existing customer's informed, excited and loyal

3) Provide free product specifications, images, 'white papers' and other information to help educate customers and build my online profile

4) Be certified by a leading international business agency and ensure my products meet industry certified standards

5) Publish customer testimonials, success stories and relevant company news online, to build confidence and trust

6) Buy keywords on leading search engines in suitable global markets

7) Purchase advertising on leading B2B trade websites

8) Have the software, staff and materials necessary to reply promptly and professionally to online inquiries

9) Partner with related, non-competitive businesses to extend the reach of my online marketing

10) Develop an affililate program that rewards internet publishers and business professionals for promoting my company's products

Online marketing is highly targeted can be effectively measured, and hits prospects while they are making purchasing decisions. Is your company missing the boat?