Each morning, Ms. Smith grabs a cup of coffee and sits at her favorite table, scrolling through her social media feeds, the local news, and the latest celeb gossip. At some point, she glances downward and notices her worn out floors. She envisions the beauty and value she could add to her home with an update.
At that very moment, she entered your sales funnel.
She eventually googles flooring stores near her and finds your website, Google business page, social media, reads your reviews, and starts picking up little pieces of your story on each.
Then she remembers your logo from an ad in the local paper, your table at a community event, and your sign from driving by your store all those times. She revisits your website and social media, looking to be informed and helped. Later, she looks up a flooring product she heard of, and finds your listing on the manufacturers’ dealer locator page.
In other words, the route to buying flooring isn’t exactly linear.
You never know where someone may find you (or be reminded of you), and that’s why it’s important to have a presence everywhere – but also to shape that presence in your unique way.
Ms. Smith is following the breadcrumbs you’ve laid out – this is an example of inbound marketing at work. But is she understanding how you’re different than the big box stores? Or is she getting only promotional content? Is she learning that you’re a trusted local flooring business who is part of her community and has the best value for her?
If you’re not sure, now is the time to check.
Stay the course
If a local bar advertised free beer, that would likely generate an immediate response. Buying flooring however has a much longer and more complex path to purchase. This is why your content is vital.
Awhile back, we likened your basic marketing mix to a set of building blocks. Consider your content the mortar. If you constantly provide the helpful information the consumer is seeking, and remain authentic across every touchpoint, you are developing a sense of authority and trust.
Remember to have patience. It takes time, but your genuineness will resonate, and that enhances the positive experience for your customer.
Let’s be honest; you can’t compete with the advertising budgets and reach of the big box stores. But you can differentiate yourself from them through your autonomy, customer service and flexibility – so leverage those. If your message echoes those qualities uniquely and consistently throughout the different channels people discover you through, it can lead them right down that funnel to the purchase point – which is the hopeful end to Ms. Smith’s buying journey.