It’s second nature to refine your product until it’s the best you can possibly offer. It’s second nature to ceaselessly pursue the best possible experience for your customer. But is that enough to bring people to your brand? How do you make sure the message of your online marketing in Orange County doesn’t feel canned or inauthentic? Is your product great, but you still struggle with managing your online reputation? No matter what your business, no matter how long your doors have been open, the missing piece to your brand’s message is validation.
Is your business valid? In so many words, this is exactly what potential customers are asking themselves when deciding between you and your competitor. Without hesitation, everything your brand communicates needs to say, “Yes, you can trust us.” In short, your message must offer validation; you’ve got to tell those potential customers that you have the ability to execute what you say. Let’s take a closer look at what validation in action can do for you.
Validation answers the important questions
When people are shopping around, they’ve got questions, and many times, they don’t even know what those questions are. Bolstering your brand’s message with the story of the company or product provides the necessary information to differentiate your brand and product from everyone else. This real human history is one of the best ways to add validation to your brand because it gives a true story to help that potential customer make their decision.
Recently, an essential part of most brands’ validation efforts is online comments: managing your online reputation. Humans are hard-wired to listen to others, and more than ever, the internet is what helps us do this. Having an online presence with a robust amount of positive comments answers questions about your company from the perspective of customers on the ground.
Validation shows you care
Maybe you don’t have the luxury of a long history as a means of validating your product. It’s the task of your brand to show that you care by looking professional. Most people have had the experience of looking at a business online, only to see that their website looks terrible. This bad first impression is often enough to make the customer skip to the next business on their list. Websites are so important because they very often serve as that all-important first impression. If your site looks like some stock photo-filled hybrid between the DMV and some public school from 2003, it becomes really difficult to convince somebody that you care.
The website is only one way of giving validation and showing you care. Validation can come in a variety of forms, like clean, new-looking uniforms, a professional brand video explaining why you’re passionate about your company, or a unique way of packaging for your product.
Validation shortens your sales cycle
Validation does wonders for your sales cycle—the time it takes a customer to decide to buy your product after that first impression. Some products like ice cream have a very short sales cycle—it’s not a high-risk decision. Other products, like cars or contract services, can have longer sales cycles because they are high-risk, and people want to know what they are getting. Considering your sales cycle is key to increasing sales, and cutting down that decision-making time means you’ll be making money faster. Validation builds faith. You want your customers to have faith in you and your product, and with validation reinforcing your message, you’re establishing that faith even before the customer has experienced your product. Show the awards you’ve won. Show the exact amount of money customers have saved with you. Show your 99% customer satisfaction statistics. With trust established, there’s nothing holding the customer back from going all-in.
We could say that validation is the missing piece to your marketing campaign; but in another sense, validation is your marketing campaign. Without validation, your message lacks depth, personality, and authenticity, and simply fades into the noise and static. Before starting out on with online marketing in Orange County, sit down and make sure that your message is one of validation, and you’ll be sure to stand out from the crowd.