Over the last few weeks, I’ve been involved in a couple of discussions about foreign imports and getting customers to “Buy American”. Some folks believe that it is time to raise trade barriers or otherwise limit imports, but look where that idea has gotten GM. Decades of protection and insulation enabled the Big Three to defer innovation and avoid maximizing efficiency to the point that they have struggled for several years to regain market leadership, and are being pummeled by the current economy.
What the woodworking industry needs to do is begin educating their customers. What YOU want to do is to teach your customers to look beyond just the price tag and recognize the value of your products. They want to buy American. They want to buy locally. You need to show them why it is a better value to buy from you.
Your first informational contact with your customers is likely to be your website. They may look at site after site with beautiful photos of other people’s kitchens. Some will gain inspiration and ideas from that, but you need to offer more. A quick Yahoo search for “Kitchen Cabinets” resulted in nearly Ninety one MILLION hits. Even if a couple visits a few dozen pages of sites, can your site will make them remember it and return? This is not a tutorial of improving your search placement, many folks are better qualified than I to teach you that. No, what I’m getting at is giving your customer something for visiting your site.
They are searching the web to find ideas, figure out options, decide on hardware and features. There is some really innovative and cool stuff out there. You know about it. They don’t have a clue. So educate them. Do you offer undermount self closing slides? A fifteen second video clip on your website can show your customers how they work. You can add a similar clip showing a blind corner trolley unit being pulled out. With an inexpensive digital video camera and editing software you can quickly add informative clips to your site.
You website should feature links to materials providers, hardware companies, design websites, along with books and videos on kitchen design. These will provide your customers with much useful information. Set up affiliate links with Amazon and some of the other websites, and you might even make enough to pay for your site. Remember that lots of free information on your site will drive repeat traffic, create buzz and get you some attention.
Your site needs to be more than just nice photographs. You need to explain why the materials you use are superior, how your construction lasts longer, why your design skills are more innovative, whatever makes you the better VALUE than other options.
Next post, I’ll discuss some intriguing (and cheap) ideas for getting attention for your business.
As always, I invite you to comment here or by e-mail on this or any of my posts. rbagnall@consultingwoodworker.com
I can be reached through Linkedin as well: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphbagnall
