Well, do you know what a small business owner wants? Do you? Don’t think I’m trying to provoke you. I’m not. I’m trying to invoke some thought. I want to take a look at just a couple of items that might help you sell more of your products and services.
For years now Web Hosting companies have been pushing, well, just that, Web Hosting. Then someone came along and said lets push Web Hosting with more space, more bandwidth, more email, and more widgets. “Yeah, let’s add more widgets because we have to compete with Joe and Sam’s hosting company.” They have more widgets than we do… And so on… Guess what? I say, “so what.” Who cares about all those features? Do you? I’m sure you do. It’s your job to keep up with Joe and Sam. But tell me, what is your value proposition if you are keeping up with Joe and Sam’s Hosting widgets and driving your pricing down at the same time depleting your profits?
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This may article may seem redundant or even passé to many, but for a new start in a new year, I thought it might still have some merit. I’ll be discussing the importance of branded email not only to the service provider but from the user perspective as well. While everyone is examining Google, Microsoft, and AOL, I would like to address the basics of making sure the small business understands the importance of how email and their brand have a positive or negative impact on their end customer.
This was a hot topic a few years ago, and for forward thinkers it has been a hot topic for more than 10 years now. But as the Internet has become a daily part of many people’s lives, what may sound passé to guys in the business, should be part of their daily focus when speaking with small business prospects and clients. Without providing too many statistics, I am sure everyone knows that Email is still the most common and utilized form of communication by both business and residential users using the Web. To that end, ask your average small business owner or law office attorney if they would shoot a letter to a peer or a client without printed letterhead, business card, or envelope? No way! Although most people in small business are not using it as an effective branding or business tool.
Most people still send their ISP branded or FSP (Free Service Provider) emails and send simple HTML or text Email messages to their recipients. As a matter of small business or business in general this is just a plain bad decision, period. A small business that works hard to build a good local or regional reputation deserves to understand what the basics behind a simple domain name and email address can help solidify brand and add credibility to existing and future business. Not that is will make the user millions of dollars, but it is just the simple addition to their existing or lack of existing marketing plan.
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