Yesterday, Windows declared that my hard drive is full and I must delete stuff now or the computer won’t work. Yikes!!

I got a couple things deleted, but now it’s time to finally face the music and shop for the new hard drive. In the process, I discovered a marketing lesson along the way.

While hard drive shopping, I decided to make myself completely aware of my own buying process, which in turn helps me get into the head of my prospects and clients. Computer Consulting is a great category for this exercise as there are many different prices and skill levels of installers and a few inept people along the way.

The first place I turned was my local network. I went to the Rainmakers website and looked to see if I could find someone who does this kind of work. I didn’t. I did remember meeting a couple people a few years ago who do this work, but I’ve lost touch with them, so they weren’t considered.

Lesson #1: Follow up! If any of them had sent me a birthday card, a hello email or even friended me on Facebook, they probably would have been considered.

I am following one computer repair shop on Twitter, but I haven’t had a good enough interaction with them on there for it to be a major factor. It did help slightly with branding since they are also on tv.

Lesson #2: If you are using Twitter, put real content to engage people, not just ads.

Next, I went online to research who here in the South Dayton area would be able to help. I loathe using chain stores like Best Buy for this type of work so they weren’t even considered. So, I did a Google Search for Computer Services 45449. I’m certainly not along in this. Numerous studies have shown that the majority Americans use the internet to research local businesses before making a buying decision.

Anyway, after I typed in Computer Services 45449, no Google Map popped up. This was a major missed opportunity for someone. After that, I got the list of local websites. On the pay per click side, I did see an ad for a company that was advertising on tv (the same one from Twitter), so I clicked on their ad. Their site did look nice, but it was unclear as to whether they even offered what I needed or their pricing. They did offer a “Saturday Special” price on their website, but I’m not sure what their prices are the rest of the week. How much of a discount is the “Saturday Special”? I don’t know! So, I back buttoned out and moved on.

Lesson #3: Make your website clear with good content.

Finally, I did find a company I liked. Decent layout and the hard drive upgrade was listed along with the price. Even better, they had a coupon on their site, which I printed. Nice move with the coupon since at that point they were at the top of my list, but I was not ready to call. I probably would have forgotten their name in 10 minutes if I hadn’t printed the coupon.

Lesson #4: Use coupons. They used the free ones from Google Local Business Center.

This morning, I called the company on the coupon and will be going there later today.

Interestingly, you may notice that I didn’t mention the Yellow Pages at all. I used to use them a few years ago, but now I barely even use it. I did find some Yellow Page online sites, but the information on them was sparse and was not a factor in my decision.

Lesson #5: Maybe you should reconsider that expensive Yellow Pages ad.

I DID however, seek out review sites like Yelp before I called the company that I did choose. I really just wanted reassurance that they were a legit company. Definitely monitor those sites.

Lesson #6: Networking and referrals are still the #1 place to find someone. For someone like me, the internet is #2, well ahead of any other form of advertising.

I hope you enjoyed this marketing lesson. Try it yourself next time you make a major purchase. You will learn a lot about your own buying cycle in the process.