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.
Carlos was able to affordably transform my web site from "just being there" to getting me to the top of important search engines in just a couple of weeks. My leads have improved dramatically!!
