Aligning and Empowering Your Storefronts

by | Jul 15, 2021 | Branding, Marketing Strategy | 0 comments

Knowing the specifics of your target audience and being able to communicate with them doesn’t happen by accident.

It isn’t a “given.” If you sell houses your ideal client shouldn’t be “anyone that needs to buy a house.”
Will you sell a home to anyone that wants to buy one? SURE YOU WILL! And you should. But if you’re going to spend money on marketing – and every business does – on reaching your audience, you’d better be sure that you have narrowed the scope on who you’re talking to. So, here are some helpful tips:

 

Aligning & Empowering your Storefronts

This is something we talk about all the time here at Matchlight Creative, and it’s something that will continue to lose your company valuable customers until it’s addressed.

First, let’s define “storefront” for you.
Any place that a potential client can experience your brand for the first time is what we call a storefront. Most often, we look specifically at three different storefronts:

1. Your traditional brand presence

Many local business owners fall into this trap: “It’s a logo. People recognize it, so it’s good enough.” What that business owner fails to realize is that this becomes a matter of trust for the potential client. You see, 90% of buyers actually make their buying decision subconsciously. Think about it. The last time you were up late at night and decided you were going to purchase something, the majority of the time, something happened that “triggered” with you before you clicked “buy now.” It’s the same with your potential customers. Now, couple that with the fact that people form a subconscious opinion about your brand in less than TWO seconds. That’s all you get. In less than two seconds they will see your brand, ask, and ANSWER the question: “Should I trust this company?” So, look again at your “good enough” logo and ask yourself if that’s worth losing potential clients.

2. Your website

Over 80% of customers will experience your brand for the first time online (and of that 80%, 82% will experience your website for the first time on a mobile device). Gone are the days when your website could just be “okay” and you’d still get clients. Anymore, if your web presence doesn’t show immediate integrity – your clients will go elsewhere. Think for a moment about the last time you were contemplating making a purchase online, and maybe you encountered a website that looked old, or unmaintained. Odds are, you didn’t put in your credit card info. Take a hard look at your website, and ask yourself, “If I were a potential customer, would I put in my personal information on this site?” If that question causes you hesitation – even for a second – you can guarantee that you’re losing potential business because of this storefront‘s appearance.

3. Your social media

Most local business owners know that they HAVE social media, but that’s where their expertise ends. And of course that’s the case! It’s hard to find a more busy professional than a local business owner. They are professional multiple-hat-wearers and plate-spinners. One of the last things they have time for is maintaining a beautiful and powerful social media presence. That being said, social media is often one of the first places that people who are researching your business will land. Because of SEO operating the way that it does, your company’s Facebook will be right up there in search results. It HAS to look just as beautiful as your showroom floor. We’ve all seen social media that looks as though it was thrown together. Blurry photos. Poorly cropped images. We’re going to work with you and make sure that your brand is beautifully presented across all of the platforms you and your team are using. That’s not where it stops, however. Are your bios optimized? What are the hashtags you’re using on instagram and Twitter? Are you on the right platform for your ideal client’s demographic?

 

By now you’re likely asking yourself, “How do I know if my storefronts are losing business for me and my company?”

I’m glad you asked. Here at Matchlight we want to help you answer that question, and we believe that you shouldn’t have to pay. That’s why we offer completely complimentary Brand Report Cards. It’s a 20-pt inspection of your brand across it’s storefronts. Think of it as a professional audit of your brand’s first impressions with absolutely no strings attached. Of course, we want to earn your business, but if you take the report card and use it without us, that’s ok too! At the end of the day, we want local business owners like you to win.
Reach out to us today to schedule your report card, and stop wondering if you’re losing potential customers because of the where and how they find your business for the first time.