One of the first business principles I learned as a young man was “Caveat Emptor – Latin for ‘Let the Buyer Beware.'”
The phrase caveat emptor means that buyers often have less information about the good or service they are purchasing, while the seller has more information. Defects in the goods or services may be hidden from the buyer, and only known to the seller. Thus, the buyer should beware.
Today, I believe that has completely flipped.
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Caveat Venditor – Let the SELLER BEWARE is the new lexicon.
I see it as a simple reversal actually. Once, the “Sellers” had the power. They could make claims, often sell shoddy products, provide inferior service, etc. and more or less the consumer was stuck with it. Hence – Seller beware.
Tick off the wrong person now and the whole community knows about it. Often, within minutes.
Businesses can’t afford to screw up. Not in today’s society where one bad review can “go viral” on the internet within minutes.
Just recently, Walmart had to issue an apology to its customers about labeling a section of their Halloween costumes “Fatgirl Costumes.” Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/27/walmart-fat-girl-costumes-halloween_n_6054330.html
How does that happen? How can something so obvious be missed by multiple employees? It was a “mistake” that left many upset and had them turning to online social media platforms to vent about the awful incident. The mistake could cost Walmart a lot of customers.
So how does a business keep from making these kind of mistakes? How do businesses today gain happy customers that will always come back to their company. Easy.
Inbound Marketing
Since 2006, Inbound Marketing has been the most effective marketing method for doing business online. (Hubspot)
All businesses have a story to tell, which is why content marketing is so important. Content is the backbone of Inbound Marketing.
If you believe in your business, your service, your product, you can’t afford to use anything other than Inbound Marketing.
This type of marketing strategy encompasses videos, blogs, eBooks, e-newsletters, white papers, case studies, testimonials, email, SEO and social media to tell a business’ story.
By using Inbound Marketing, you can get all of your information on the web and those pieces of content will be working for you 24 hours a day/ 365 days a year. Visitors will be finding you in search engines and will be looking at YOU instead of your competitor.
Using customer testimonials has the potential to build lasting trust with your potential customers. By utilizing social media and engaging with potential customers via Facebook posts or Tweets, you have the chance to build lasting relationships. These potential customers will be looking to you as the EXPERT in your field and if everything is done correctly, you will be able to convert them into happy customers, and then to loyal promoters of YOUR company.
So in a nutshell, if you want to generate more clients and keep those clients, Inbound Marketing is the way to go. Don’t make the mistake of withholding information and setting your business up to fail. Caveat Venditor! Learn more about IAM here!
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Until next time,
~Jim