One of the most important concepts to understand and apply to your online marketing strategy is the fact that your web site isn’t about you, it is in fact, about your customer! Everything you do should be centered around this fact, because if you get this right, you will be successful.

Let’s look at what a typical customer wants and needs when visiting a web site. I have broken it down into four key terms, listed in the customer goal matrix in typical order of importance, these are WHAT, HOW, WHY, and WHO. Below you will find a breakdown of why these terms matter to you and your online marketing strategy.

“WHAT” – The broad explanation of this term is; when a visitor comes to your site they only care about their needs and what they want. So it’s up to you to very clearly and prominently tell them right away what you have to offer. Tell them you have what they want, and they will stick around long enough to find out the “HOW” of your offering(s).

“HOW” – This term encompasses several important customer questions, “how do your offering(s) provide a solution to my needs?”, “how will your offering(s) meet my goals”, and “how will using your offering(s) impact me?”, are just a few customer “how” questions that might come into play. Once you have them hooked with how your going to satisfy their needs and goals, they will move on to the next term of “WHY” choose you.

“WHY” – This is where the sales part comes in, at this stage you have already told them you offer what they want, and how it will impact them. Now it’s time to tell them why they should get it from you versus any other source. There are tons of ways out there to accomplish the why, and I recommend you use as many possible to insure your visitor they are making a wise choice in choosing you. Some of these tactics are things like: testimonials, case studies, online demos, references they can contact, white papers, and of course content specific to all the reasons why your the perfect choice. These are just a few ways to help enforce the why, there are literally hundreds of ways, and you must choose which ones work for you, but the point here is for you to understand the importance and place of the “WHY” and how to incorporate it in your online marketing strategy.

“WHO” – This is a tricky term, because it’s all about you and your organization, BUT it’s not about you and your organization. Let me explain. A typical customer doesn’t care about getting to know you on a personal level, but they do want to know who you are on a professional and ethical level if they are going to be doing any transaction with you. Keep this in mind and apply it where applicable. I think we have all been to that small business web site that has an “about us” page going into detail about the owners personal life, how many kids he has, wife’s name, how long they have been married,  hobby’s, etc…, this is not a good way to address who you are on a professional level, a better set of content would include facts about you company and it’s customers interaction; like your customer service, why you’re a leader, expert, or pundit in your industry, how long you have been around, anything that enforces with the customer that your a solid company that stands behind it’s offering(s), and that you will be there for them should they ever need you.

To summarize, make sure to put your customer first in planning out and applying your online marketing plan. Follow their need and concerns in the order of importance, the order I listed is for typical online customers, your customer may be different, but you can still easily make a customer goal matrix like mine, and then follow it in everything you do. If you can apply this concept, you will have a key ingredient for success.

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