Photo by Aphrodite

When you run and market your business entirely on the internet, the effectiveness of your communication becomes even more crucial to your success because you naturally lose that face-to-face, ‘watch their reaction and respond’ aspect that comes with in-person dealings in business.

It’s been an interesting time in Dubai this past month as we have picked up some business and actually had to do this in person (shock horror).

It’s highlighted the difference between communicating with and selling to someone in person versus doing this on the internet/via phone and also shown us just how far we’ve come with our online business, from the days of dabbling with blogs, testing out google adwords and writing effective copy for our sites that makes the job of closing the deal by email or on the phone that little bit easier.

These days we have an ongoing stream of prospects who contact us about the strategy, branding & online marketing services we offer at our company – Project Woodward – which primarly come from our website, blogs or online (and offline) networking efforts.

Here are some of the key things we’ve learned about the importance of communicating more effectively when you run your business solely on the web…

Tell & Sell Your Story

If you travel permanently, run your businesses 100% online and service clients in multiple countries, then you need to be clear on communicating this “story” to new prospects.

Whilst the way of the web worker is becoming more popular, it’s still not as mainstream as many of us think – particularly in the ‘real’ world. The fact that we are location independent and run our businesses entirely online is quite inconceivable for some of the ‘offline’ people we’ve met and we’ve had to address their natural concerns before they’d consider working with us and tell them our story so it all makes sense.

It’s all part of the “getting to know you” phase of a client lifecycle anyway, but just be aware of the following additional concerns that prospects might raise…

• The difference in time zones
• Ease of payment & cost of international financial transactions
• Ability to get in contact you & your availabilty if you’re travelling
• Whether they can trust you & how you demonstrate this

What To Say…

Tailor content to your target market

As with all good marketing materials, the content of your website/blog should be tailored specifically for your target market. When somebody comes to your site – whether from adwords, blog comments you’ve left, forum messages etc. – they’re likely to visit because the context in which they found it, is interesting to them and they’like to know what else you have to say or offer on the subject.

Ensure therefore, that the content a visitor/potential prospect finds when they come to your site, is what they’ve come looking for.

Be aware of cultural differences

Clearly, one of the benefits of running an online business is that it literally opens up a whole world of potential prospects for you. You could just as easily be targeting prospects halfway around the world from you as you could prospects in your town.

If you are targeting prospects in a foreign country using a website as a key marketing tool, then ensure you’ve considered the following:

• That the imagery you use is appropriate
• That the language and content you use is relevant and understandable to the market
• That you avoid using colloquialisms in language which are unlikely to be understood
• That the pricing you use if appropriate to your target markets (e.g. you include your prices in the relevant currency, you’ve set your prices with an idea of the ‘local’ market prices and you address why yours are different, if they are).

Provide all the information a prospect needs to make a decision

When somebody comes to your site because you’re offering a solution that sounds interesting, what are they likely to want to read about? There is a good chance that they want to know the real basics: the who, what, why, when, where and how.

At the very least, they’re going to want to know that what you offer is what they’re looking for – which means two things:

1. You need to know what they’re looking for
2. You need to ensure you communicate and demonstrate this

What does this mean in practice?

It means ensuring you provide all the information on your website that a prospect is likely to want to know about, in order to make a decision to purchase….including price.

A word about including your prices: Too many businesses don’t include prices on their website, fearing that it might put people off or assuming that if someone is really interested, they’ll call or email to ask about it.

In some cases, this may be true but in many cases it’s asking your prospects to jump over one too many hurdles just to find out whether your solution is what they’re looking for.

If you can’t/won’t give a set price, then at least give a range of values (e.g. “from USD 1,000″ or “between x and y”) so that the prospect knows whether your solutions are in their ballpark range.

How To Say It…

Keep language simple and clear

Whether for the copy on your website, content for your blog or the profile/forum messages where you network, aim to use language that is as simple and clear as possible.

Rather than trying to be too clever with words, simply say what you mean.

It’s amazing that even when you think you’re doing this, you’re often not! If your website is your main portfolio/marketing tool, then always try and get someone else to review what you’ve written – ideally someone in your target market or failing that, someone whose judgment you trust – and ask them if what you’ve written is clear and easy-to-understand.

A little bit of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) goes a long way

When I first completed my NLP Practitioner course a couple of years ago I went a bit mad littering my websites with NLP-ified language and compelling phrases. Feedback was great (”Oh your website is very compelling” – score!!) but it didn’t sound like me, nor the way I usually talk.

However, understanding some of the basics of NLP can improve the way you write in an instant – primarily because it’s all about how what you write or what you say changes the “state” of mind someone is in.

Here are a couple of very basic examples of NLP-type phrases:

1. Most people would love to be able to travel the world, earning an income as they go and live their dream lives, don’t you think?
   - The addition of “don’t you think?” at the end – designed to have the reader saying “yes” to themselves as they read the phrase – is a simple example of how to leave someone in a “yes” state of mind.
2. Imagine the feeling of sitting under a palm tree, gentle tropical breeze blowing through your hair, the sound of the ocean waves gently lapping in the distance and the smell of coconut suncream on your hands. Can you remember how that feels?
   - NLP recognises that people communicate on different levels – visual (images), auditory (sound), kinesthetically (touch), gustatory (taste), olfactory (smell) – and that to more successfully communicate with somebody, you can do this by identifying their primary method of communication. I’m a visual person, for example, which is why I can’t stand listening to podcasts/audio downloads and would far rather read or watch something. The phrase above touches on more than one sense and also clearly directs the reader to “go back” to that experience.

For an introductory guide to NLP, Neuro-linguistic Programming for Dummies is surprisingly useful.

How To Lay It All Out…

Plan out the information hierarchy on your website

How many websites have you visited where the information is a jumbled mess? Either there is far too much of it, you have to click too many times in order to get to where you want to go or you simply can’t find the info you’re looking for.

When planning out the information on your site/blog/online profiles/online portfolio, aim to structure it in a logical way that would make sense to your prospects and doesn’t require them to search hard for what they’ve come looking for.

Use diagrams as well as words

I am a big fan of using visuals, diagrams, tables, illustration and process maps to demonstrate or share information as they can often convey what you mean in a neater, tidier and more readable format than a bunch of text.

Consider offering different delivery options

In recognition that your audience will be made up of visual or auditory people, consider offering your content in mutliple delivery formats such as audio downloads or video downloads.

When it comes to closing the sale, you should also consider whether you need to offer a phone call option to speak to prospects in order to make the sale – this is often more relevant for high-value products/services.

In summary…

As a web worker, running and marketing your business solely online presents unique opportunities but also unique challenges when it comes to attracting new business.

Effective communication becomes even more crucial and gaining a prospect’s trust should be your primary goal. Whilst your website, blog and online profiles can go a long way to attracting new business, never forget that the more personal touch of a phone call or meeting in person (when & where possible) can still work wonders!

P.S. If you do need help creating effective online marketing tools for your location independent business, then check out what we offer at Project Woodward :-)

Share This...

Hide Sites