One of my favorite podcasts is the Storybrand Podcast by Donald Miller.
Have you heard of it?
Donald Miller is a marketing expert that focuses on the value and power of the story behind the messaging in business.
He has the simplest way of looking at messaging, and the vast majority of small businesses completely overlook.
This one marketing tip is :
If you confuse, you lose.
Straight to the point, concise and true.
Every business owner should have this quote plastered above their monitor.
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Our clients only get to see what messaging we put out there. But what is obvious to us, is rarely obvious to our clients.
So, if you confuse in your messaging, you’re going to lose the client. Easy as that.
But how do you know if you are confusing your potential clients? You may struggle in booking, have a high bounce rate on your website or are just struggling to stand out in an overly crowded market.
To be able to look at your website and your messaging, you need to do it from the viewpoint of someone who knows nothing about what you do.
I challenge you to put on some “amnesia goggles” and take a look at your business.
What do I mean by amnesia googles? I mean, you should look at your website as if you were that customer. Not only are you completely new to you, but to the idea of the type of service you offer as well.
You don’t know the industry, don’t know the service, don’t know you.
They are just a person with a need and think that maybe you can fill that need.
Look at your website through the amnesia goggles and see what you notice.
Can your website answer these simple questions, or does it confuse?
• Is it clear what service you provide? Is it specific?
While it is easy to shrug this question off and say “of course!” But I urge you to really stand back and look with your amnesia goggles on. Is your website as clear as it can be?
What do you do, how do you do it and how fast is it done? And is it obvious? Like amnesia goggles obvious?
The moment you make someone have to think too hard to understand what it is you offer, they are gone. You’ve lost your chance.
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• Do you have a niche?
Being ultra-specific in what you offer and what you talk about will help clients trust you know what you are doing.
I’ve seen many photographers do this wrong, and wonder why they have no business. They offer every type of photography under the same umbrella.
For example, if one photographer says they take portraits, shoot food, weddings, and real estate…..
Um, what?
While, yes, it is all photographs.
But those are all vastly different markets.
Showing weddings to someone wanting real estate photos is only going to confuse.
If you have a company like that, you’ll be better suited greatly separate them on the website, or to have separate websites for the different offerings.
• Is there a picture of, you, the service provider on the website? And is it clear?
Like one that you can see your entire face, and preferably you are looking at the camera and smiling.
When a client is looking to hire for a service, they want to see if they feel like they can trust you. A photo of you looking down and smiling off in a different direction is cute, but that doesn’t convey that trust value to the customer.
If you are a service-based business, there isn’t an easily findable image of you anywhere on your website, they are going to be confused on who is actually going to be serving them.
They may start wondering why you are choosing not to show your face. And then they start to wonder if you are trustable. Then…poof…they are gone.
• Is it super obvious how to get into contact with you? As well as the area you serve?
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to get into contact with a business and feel like you are going on a wild goose chase to find an email or a phone number.
The only thing that is worse is when you finally get the contact info just to find out that they are in a different area or different state completely!
Make sure your email address, phone number, and service area are obvious. Bonus points if you put them in the footer of your website so it’s everywhere!
• Do you share details on the service you provide? Or does your website only add more questions in their mind?
Many service providers choose not to share full pricing on their website. There are a lot of discussions on both sides of this topic, but the worst thing you can do is not offer any info at all.
When the market is as saturated as it is, you have to give some starting point for people to understand how close you are to being in their budget.
If every detail is hidden behind a contact form or “email me” then you will end up with people confused and not wanting to waste their time, so they don’t ask. Or they assume that if you are completely hiding the price, then you must be too expensive. And, again, they leave confused, to find someone else who answers their questions.
Hopefully, you are noticing a pattern here.
Once you confuse people, they walk away.
They move on.
They decide to “come back later.”
And do you know what they do instead??? They find the business who speaks to them clearly about the topic they need help.
They work with the business who seems to really and truly understand the customers need, and who shares their info in a way that makes it easy for the customer to decide to work with them.
It is that simple.
So, take some time and put on those amnesia goggles. You may find more answers to your booking problems than you realize!
And then fix it. Make it simple. Make it super simple. And once you think it’s good and simple… make it even more simple.
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