The One Critical Question Your Website Needs to Answer …

Websites can include lots of important and essential information, such as a business’s location, its hours of operation, and even a description of the products and/or services it offers. But there is one essential question that your website absolutely has to answer if you hope to attract and retain loyal customers: How does your business benefit their lives in real, practical, and immediate terms?

People are online searching for businesses like yours because they want the kinds of things you offer. So if you can convince them that your business solves a problem they are having or meets an urgent need, they will always choose your business. And if you can deliver on that promise, you can make them customers for life.

Problem Solved

For example, let’s say you own a business that provides pet grooming. There likely are dozens — if not hundreds — of other pet grooming shops in your city. So how can you convince the casual visitor to your website that they should choose yours above all of your competitors?

It won’t be by listing facts like operational hours or even prices. The best way to capture their business is to explain how you — and only you — can solve their urgent and immediate problem: The dog they love is dirty and needs to be cleaned by caring, experienced professionals who will treat their pet as if it were their own.

Urgent Need Met

Most people don’t search for businesses online because they plan to do business in the future. In today’s society, people are accustomed to getting what they want right now, immediately, without having to wait. So in order for your business to be successful, your website needs to offer immediate solutions to common problems.

Lytron Web Design has helped hundreds of small businesses just like yours frame their offerings as solutions for prospective customers looking to meet their urgent needs. And we can help you, too. Call today for a FREE consultation!

If You Can’t Beat’em, Steal’em

expert analysis 3

expert analysis 3

Sometimes your competition does such a good job that it’s practically impossible to overtake them. If that’s the case, don’t spin your wheels trying to come up with original ideas. Just figure out what they do better than you and make those ideas yours.

There’s no trademark or patent on good business ideas. So there’s nothing stopping you from mimicking other people’s successful strategies. In fact, the best businesses continually monitor their competitors to see what they are doing better. Then they apply those same concepts to their business to realize the same successes.

‘Nihil Nove Sub Sole”

There’s a very old expression in Latin, “Nihil nove sub sole” which translates to “There is nothing new under the sun.” What it means is that all the great ideas your business and your competitors have applied already have been used hundreds of times before by other businesses you’ve probably never heard about. Sure, technology can change the platform and offer new ways to reach more customers more easily, but the basic tenets of business have remained consistent for generations.

Give customers what they want. Remove obstacles to their choosing your products or services. Build loyalty bonds to encourage repeat business. All of these business practices were just as important 100 years ago as they are today. And they will continue to provide the framework for successful strategies for future generations of entrepreneurs.

Just Do It

Appropriating somebody else’s good idea to your business isn’t stealing. It’s just good business. So when you find things your competitors do better than you, don’t get caught up in regret and recriminations. Take them and make them your own.,

Great ideas don’t even need to come from your competitors or even your industry. Great business owners constantly are on the lookout for successful strategies and continually think about ways of incorporating them into their own business plans.

 

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel, Repurpose It!

teamwork consulting fort lauderdale web design zoom 1

teamwork consulting fort lauderdale web design zoom 1

When the first person discovered fire, it was a miracle that changed the course of human history. But when the second person saw them do it, they simply repeated the steps and kept themselves and their family warm.

When it comes to online marketing strategies, you don’t have to watch in awe at another business’s success. You can simply repurpose what works for them and apply it to your own business. Everybody wins!

Be the Fire

Customers don’t generally care who came up with a marketing strategy first. They simply want to find the best possible product or service at the lowest possible price with the quickest possible delivery.

Once you find a way to get people to visit your page and take action — whether it’s to buy a product or service, subscribe, or simply promote your business on their social media — the critical next step is to get them to keep coming back again and again. And the best way to find great ideas for your business is to look at what works for other successful websites … then take it and make it your own in a unique way.

In other words, you don’t have to invent fire. You just need to convince customers that your business IS the fire!

Lytron Strategic

Have you seen a digital marketing strategy that works that you would like to use to promote your own business? The experienced professionals at Lytron Strategic probably already are using it. They may even have invented it. In any case, we can put it to work for your business quickly and effectively so you can reap the rewards your business deserves.

Our teams of innovative, collaborative web strategists know all the tricks to convert first-time visitors to long-term repeat customers and we can’t wait to put them to work for your business. Call us today to get started.

Why Are You Better than Your Competitors?

expert analysis 3

expert analysis 3

Differentiating your business from your competitors in the marketplace is essential. If customers discern little to no difference between what you do and what everybody else does, it’s going to be practically impossible to attract new customers or retain existing ones.

The key is the figure out why your business is better than everybody else’s, then promote that difference in your branding, marketing, and everyday practice.

Good, Better, Best

There are probably lots of reasons why people should choose your business over everybody else. Your job is to simply identify them and then transform them into selling points.

It could be the quality of your products or services. Or it may be price or perceived value. Or it could be something as simple as the power of your personality or professional reputation. But whatever it is, that needs to be the centerpiece upon which the rest of your marketing and branding pivots.

That’s because there are lots of people doing the same thing you are in the marketplace right now. New customers aren’t going to be able to find you if they can’t see you among your competitors. And existing clients aren’t going to remain loyal if you don’t give them any reason to keep coming back.

Identify and Target

Often, business owners know why they are better than their competition but they take it for granted that their customers understand why. This is usually a mistake. To keep growing — or even just stay where you are — business owners need to constantly and continually remind prospective and existing customers just what it is that makes them the preferred choice within their market.

Effective branding and marketing focus on what businesses do better than everybody else. Identify what that is for your business and you can win over customers before they choose your competitors.

Take Our FREE Business Personality Quiz

archetypes site 1

archetypes site 1

Does your business have a personality? Of course, it does! Your business’s personality is likely similar to your own. But it also has its own unique features depending on what types of products and services you offer, where you are located, and a number of other factors.

One of the easiest ways to understand your business’s personality is to match it to an existing archetype. These are personality types that psychologically link your business to specific personality factors and include categories like the Sage,  the   Explorer, the Outlaw, the Magician, and many others.

Your Business Archetype

Understanding which archetype is most akin to your business’s personality can streamline the road to your success. It can tell you what type of customers are attracted to your business, what types of marketing and promotions are going to be most effective, and which are the fastest and easiest ways to make genuine connections with new customers that lead to long-term loyalty relationships.

Lytron Strategic offers a free quiz that lets you discover the archetype that most closely matches your business’ personality. By answering a few simple questions, in just a few minutes you can gain more insight into your business and get real answers to important questions that can pave the way toward your success.

Roadmap to Reality

Your archetype is an important factor in planning critical elements of your marketing and branding. When you understand how the average person perceives

your business, you can play to your strengths and exceed people’s expectations. This makes it easier for people to want to keep coming back to your products or services again and again.

And it all begins with taking our FREE business personality test. Your business has nothing to lose and everything to gain. So let’s discover your business’s personality archetype together right now!

People Like to Put a Face to a Business

Like it or not, you are the face of your business and that’s exactly how people like it.

Most people want to associate a person with a business. When you use your image on your business’s marketing materials, collateral, and even packaging it makes it easier for customers to make genuine connections. They are more likely to trust your business when there is a real person behind it. Putting your name and face on the products and services you offer tells prospective customers you stand behind what you offer. That makes them more willing to believe in your business, too.

Goodbye Anonymity

As the owner of a business, you have to get used to the idea that you are something of a public figure. Using yourself to promote your enterprise is the fastest and most effective way to get people’s trust. It offers a fast track to creating the effective branding you need to promote your business.

People want to believe in your business. And they are more likely to do that when they can put a name and a face on it. Namely, your name and your face.

Perfect Examples

Think about the biggest and most successful businesses in the world today. Even though each of those businesses has hundreds or even thousands of employees, it’s usually just one person that you think of when you think about that company.

Apple had Steven Jobs (and now Tim Cook). Tesla has Elon Musk. Facebook has  Mark Zuckerburg. Your business has you. Get used to the idea of living in a fishbowl because the bigger your business gets, the more people will associate you with the things your business does. And that’s just good business.

So if you are shy or self-conscious about being the face of your business, get over it.

 

Top to Bottom Consistency

AMMI 1

AMMI 1

The most important element of branding is consistency. Your company’s brand needs to offer the same message, tone, even color schemes and fonts on every piece of collateral you offer — from websites to brochures to print advertising to signage.

Customers are easily confused. So when you blend your branding or offer anything less than consistent messaging, it’s going to deteriorate the overall effectiveness and reduce your overall reach. But when you offer consistent branding across every platform, it will be both inviting and nurturing for prospective customers, making it easier for them to make genuine connections with your business, your products, your services, and you.

Successful Branding

Look at the companies that have had the most successful branding. For example, Apple computers have had essentially the same logo, used the same color schemes and fonts, and offered the same messaging to customers since the 1980s with only minimal upgrades to adjust to modern tastes. But people still consistently connect with the brand because its both familiar and meaningful to them today.

Similarly, companies like Ford, Coca-Cola, Kitchen Aid, Dyson, and others have projected essentially unchanged branding for decades and still attract customers new and old. In every case, they have found something that worked and stuck with it in the long run to great results. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Lytron Strategic

If your business has found a successful brand that customers are attracted to, Lytron Strategic can help keep it consistent across multiple platforms — in both the virtual realm in the real world. And if you are still developing your brand, we can help you find one that will stand the etest of time.

Consistency is the key to successful branding. Once you discover a brand that people can make genuine connections with, it pays to stick with it.

To Create an Effective Strategy, Work Backwards

lytron team

lytron team

Have you ever heard the term “reverse engineering”? It refers to the process of figuring out how something works in order to replicate it for yourself.

For example, let’s say Ford wants to design an electric vehicle that is comparable to the popular Tesla EV sedan. Their engineers might begin by examining a Tesla and discovering what makes it so appealing to buyers, then designing their own unique vehicle based on their findings.

In a weird way, internet marketing works the same way. If you want a successful brand, product campaign, or another online outcome, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Instead, find something that works and then use it as a model for yoiur own strategy.

Work Backwards

It helps to work backward. What is the outcome you want? It could be more site visits, a larger customer base, more customer loyalty, or all of the above. The next step is to find an existing company that already has what you want. It could be in your industry or in a line of business completely unrelated to what you do.

Once you find a successful company that is getting the kind of results you want, reverse engineer their success to understand how they got there. Then all you need to do is replicate those steps by applying them to your business, making the necessary adjustments along the way, and you can achieve your goal relatively quickly.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Businesses model their success on other companies’ success all the time. It offers a fast track to success by building on what others already have done.

In the Bible, it says, “There is nothing new under the sun.” So even in the earliest times, people understood the benefits of picking the best elements of other people’s work and applying them to their own. Reverse engineering the successful results of an existing business offers a great starting point for your own campaigns.

 

Critical Measures of Success for Websites

wisefundo 1

wisefundo 1

Sometimes the way to measure the success of a website is simple: The visitor takes the desired action, such as clicking through to another page, signing up for a mailing list, or buying a particular product or service.

But for other web pages, success can be more esoteric. So how can you tell whether your website has achieved its objective when there is no obvious desired action? The answer is threefold: Time spent, visitor engagement, and sharing.

Time Spent

The amount of time the average visitor spends on your pages is a more critical engagement measurement than the number of visitors. That’s because many people are going to find your web pages by mistake, will click off immediately after landing there or will be disappointed by your content.

But when the average time visitors spend on your pages is higher, it shows they have found something of value, whether it’s your content, your images, or simply your brand.

Visitor Engagement

Another critical measurement is visitor engagement. Once people find your web pages, what do they do there? Do they spend time reading your text, looking at your images, scrolling through your products, or some other desired action?

Successful websites offer easy, inviting visitor engagement opportunities so people spend more time on the page, develop positive feelings about the brand, and come away with a desire for further engagement.

Sharing

The ultimate measurement tool is the number of shares you get from your web pages. Companies spend a lot of time and energy encouraging people to share their pages with their family, friends, and most importantly their social media contacts.

The reason for this is obvious: When people share your pages, they can go exponentially viral. Making it easy for people to share links to your page to their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media accounts is essential for your business’s success.

Real World Strategies for Building Your Reputation

lytron consulting agency

lytron consulting agency

There are lots of ways Lytron Strategic can help build your reputation online. But there also are many things you can do in the real world to make yourself and your business more well known in your community.

Building your real-world reputation is just as important as promoting your brand online. While a lot of business today is done through the internet, people still value genuine face-to-face connections with real people — especially in service industries like medicine, dentistry, construction, and cleaning.

Raising Your Profile

People will trust you more if you are a respected member of your community. And you are judged by the company you keep. Introduce yourself to civic leaders and join community organizations like your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary Club.

If practical, join the local country club or other private clubs where the most influential people in your local area congregate. Develop relationships with important people, especially those within your industry. They may be able to offer practical advice or even send business your way.

Getting to Know You

You have expertise in your industry so make the most of it by promoting it to local media. Send out introductions to local newspaper editors, radio station managers, and television news producers offering your services in stories or segments related to your field. The more you can put your voice and face out in the public eye, the more your customers and clients will trust you. Plus, being well known is good for business.

Consider writing a regular newspaper column or blog related to your field. Introduce yourself to the dean of your local college or university and offer your services as a guest lecturer.

Finally, keep track of all the public appearances, publications, and other achievements you collect so that you can promote them on your social media.