First Impressions Are Everything
First impressions are lasting impressions. It’s an immutable fact of life. Whether we want to or not, we make snap judgments any time we meet someone new. If he’s sloppily dressed, we assume he’s disorganized. If her clothes are top of the line, we assume she knows quality and believes in herself. Whether these judgments are accurate or not, we believe them until proven otherwise.
The same thing happens in the minds of your customers with your business. If I were to walk in your door today, what would my first impression be? Is it one you’d be proud of?
Here’s a hypothetical scenario. I have a friend who owns a store located in a not-very-nice-looking building, in a down-trodden part of town. His store is not well organized, and the appearance of his staff members leave much to be desired. His online presence is minimal, with a basic website that includes his hours and a map of his location and not much else. He’s on Facebook, but hasn’t posted in well over a year. He hasn’t used Twitter because he doesn’t understand it. He has a Foursquare static cling on his door, but he doesn’t have a special offer for checking in to his store. He also never advertises, and rarely sees a new customer become a “regular.” Based on this evidence, what is your impression of this business? It’s not great, right? Would you shop there? Does this sound like your business? What could he do to turn it around?
With just a little bit of time and attention, and some help with the things he doesn’t understand, my friend can turn his business’s first impression from dud to stud. He’s facing an up-hill battle with his location. While he’s loathe to move, a new storefront in a better part of town would help. But let’s assume he can’t afford, or is unwilling, to move. What can he do?
By taking just one hour, he could write and explain new appearance standards for his employees. By spending a weekend in the store, he would de-clutter and organize his product. He could also fix the broken shelves and racks in his store over the course of an evening. By getting past laziness and procrastination, he could have his physical location spiffed up.
His online product needs more help than he can give on his own. That’s where we come in. We can redesign his website to provide information his customers need and expect. We can work with him to develop an advertising and social media plan. We’re the experts in effective use of social media to reengage his loyal customers and help find new ones. This can help change the market’s perception of this business. Finally, by partnering with our market-leading radio stations, we can drive traffic to his store… and if he gets his store in order, those new customers won’t be frightened away based on a negative first impression, and they might just become regulars keeping his register ringing for years to come.
