Creating Great Content, Keep it Real

I firmly believe that your web marketing goals should be to build a community around your product or service, and that your web presence should be the “clubhouse” for that community. Making your site a place where your community can come to chat, show off, learn and play means that they will visit regularly. This is far more powerful for you than hoping that they remember you next time they want to buy, or spending a lot of money and effort to artificially improve your SEO rankings. Nothing will improve your SEO better than having great information that your customers comment on and share with their friends who need your services. It’s not about getting unique visitors to your site, it is about getting engaged, interested potential customers to visit over and over. Providing great content that is targeted toward your customer’s wants and needs is the foundation of creating this destination website. My 7 Rules for Great Web Content are the basics I have learned in providing content for my own website as well as a number of major players in the woodworking industry.

Rule #1: Keep it Real

These are the rules for GREAT content, not the rules for lots of SEO keywords. Trust me when I tell you that the first time your website shows up at the top of a customer’s Google search and they are dissapointed to find some generic piece that either does not answer their questions, inform them in some way or entertain them, they will never click on your link again no matter where you appear on Google. Here is an example of what I mean. The headline is: “Where to Find DIY Woodworking Plans”. It only takes a few seconds to realize that it is a marketing piece with no real new information. The over use of keywords makes it read like the author’s command of English is not great, and a potential customer that chooses to click the link on your recommendation is likely to feel cheated. You may never have the chance to regain that lost trust.

Worse yet, Google and other search engines are constantly upgrading their algorythms to detect this sort of thing and penalize sites that use it. So Keep it Real and provide your audience with relevent, interesting and useful content. If you are a cabinet shop, what cool storage solutions can you show? If you sell to the woodworking hobbyist, what tips, tricks or skills can you provide that help them make their work better or easier? If you sell B2B, what insights can you share with your clients to improve their sales or profits?

Take a look at Lee Valley’s Woodworking Newsletter. They are very strict with themselves about not directly selling in the newsletter, but by providing a mix of how-to articles, what tool is this? features and general interest content keeps readers coming back. If Lee Valley tools are shown in the hands of craftspeople making beautiful things, that is just a bonus for them.

This needs to be your goal. To provide a place where your customers can go to explore and learn without being innudated with sales pitches and certainly without feeling that they have wasted their valuable time. Give good value for the time they are “spending” with you and they will come back again and again.

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Administrator, January 31st 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized

Home Depot Does Social Media and Customer Service Very Right

We love to complain about them, we bash them, and especially in the Woodworking community we refer to large home retail chains as “The Borg”. But to give credit where it is due, Home Depot this past week went all out and did it all right, and I think you should know about it.

Just after Christmas, Home depot decided to clearance a very popular tool sharpening system, and listed them at about 25% of the normal retail price. As you might expect, word got out on the woodworking forums, and a number of people placed orders with Home Depot. (read the original thread here) I’m not sure what the mistake was on HD’s part. It was a sale to reduce inventory and should have been limited to stock, but somehow folks were able to back order the item at Home Depot’s online store. When stock ran out, Home Depot cancelled the back orders without explaination. New threads were immediately started on the forum complaining and calling “foul” on Home Depot.

One member of the forum who’s order had been cancelled emailed Home Depot’s CEO, Frank Blake. (Read thread here) Not only did Mr. Blake read the email, he forwarded it to Tish Pollard, Home Depot’s Resolution Manager who contacted the customer and overnight shipped him one of the sharpeners for free! But Tish and Home Depot didn’t stop there.

Tish ended up signing up to be a member of the woodworking forum, and posted an apology on the board! (Read Tish’s Thread) In her post, Tish also stated that HD had made a deal with the sharpener manufacturer to aquire enough stock to honor all of the original back orders at the advertised price!

As a consultant who works with several large retailers in the woodworking retail space, my hat is off to Home Depot, Frank Blake, and Tish Pollard. Mistakes were made, but Home Depot took full responsibility, and demonstrated an unusual understanding of the social media space to correct the problem. This is a model your business should study and your CS team needs to know about.

Ralph Bagnall
www.consultingwoodworker.com

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Administrator, January 3rd 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized

Out of the Woods?

After a long Summer hiatus, the Consultingwoodworker Blog is back.
Monday’s Wall Street Journal had a feature article on companies that will emerge from the recession as “winners”. Those profiled shared certain traits: The first was having their finances in order. Ford may be hurting like all the automakers, but because they had reformed their finances before the recession hit, they are emerging stronger and government bailout free. Having a plan and sticking to it during hard times was another indicator.
Innovation was another common factor. The times have changed, and I think for good. As the economy recovers, I do not believe things will return to the heady days of the past. Consumers are likely to be saving more, and demanding more quality spending instead of conspicuous consumption. Is your business model ready for this new reality? How can you make it so?
If you have survived the recession intact, there is good news for you: Historically, those companies left standing after a recession do very well the first year into the recovery. Pent up demand drives business, and there are fewer surviving players to meet the demand. The housing market will take some time to really recover, but as your customers feel better about the economy, there will be a lot of repair and remodeling business that had been put off.
Maintaining contact with your customer base is more critical now than ever before. You want to stay “top of mind” so that when they start shopping, your company is on their list. Be ready with information and suggestions. Keep them up to date on the latest products. Show them timeless design instead of the latest short-lived trend. Educate them about what makes your work better than the competition. Are you using better materials? More durable hardware? Your customers should know this. They should know this now. Today. You want, when they begin their search, to already have you in mind.
And this is the time to be innovating in your shop as well. Have you been putting off a new equipment purchase? This may be a good time. Interest rates are low, vendors are still dealing, and it will make you more efficient than your competitors.
So schedule some time in the next few weeks to review your market, marketing and production. If needed, bring in some outside help. Take the steps necessary to get your operation ready for the recovery. A rising tide lifts all boats. Make sure yours isn’t leaking.

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Administrator, September 2nd 2009 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized

The Brass Ring

I was going to write some more on using Social Media to connect with clients, but have decided to put it off a bit in order to share with you a unique experience I am having this week:

I write this from Kingston, Jamaica. I am down here working with Jamaica Fibreglass Products, my first and still favorite clients. This time, I am staying at a beautiful new facility in New Kingston. What makes this all notable is that I helped JFP create this room 18 months ago.

Back then, I was down here helping JFP figure out how to improve their CNC output and streamline much of their assembly. We began working toward a single unit production schedule, looking at new tooling and processes, and implementing the Lean Manufacturing techniques that I have been discussing in this blog of late.

The owners at JFP were also preparing for a meeting with clients about providing furniture for an upcoming hotel opening. While JFP is highly experienced at restaurant style seating, this was a pretty big departure from their normal business. Also, the client really wanted solid wood, and JFP is not really set up for large scale production in solids.

That is when the owners of JFP really started to impress me. They knew that getting the hotel project was a long shot. They could not offer the solid wood, and had no prior hotel work to show. They took a bold step and began prototyping the hotel room in full scale. When I arrived, they already had several pieces pretty well done, and were walling off a section of their lobby to replicate the room dimensions. I was able to contribute to the project by showing them how to use their CNC to miterfold the furniture parts, and adapting some of the designs to maximize the benefits of miter folding.

The clients, where ushered into the hotel room they had envisioned, sat on the bed, tried out the chairs, and really got the feel of the room. JFP did not have to convince the buyers that miterfolded furniture would look like solid wood, the clients could not ignore the parts they were touching.

Eighteen months later, I sit in the hotel and type this blog. I hope that you take the proper lessons from this unique company:

They decided to get the sale first, then figure out how to build the job. They could take this risk because they have structured their entire business to remain flexible. They know they can find a way, either in house or outside. That’s the second lesson:

JFP certainly does not suffer from “Not Invented Here” syndrome. They are willing to pay for outside expertise, and quick to respond to the fresh ideas presented to them.

And the last lesson is that they were ready to run with their plan. Completely on spec, they designed the furniture and began prototyping it. Since I was already there, they enlisted my help in detailing the construction to best utilize their capabilities. The client was presented with the exact design JFP was prepared to build. By the time the clients had finished moving the pieces around in the “room”, the deal was pretty well set, and here I sit.

This incident was not a fluke. JFP has gotten several large jobs since I have been working with them in the same manner. Does your company have the corporate mindset and will to go for the brass ring this way?

Isn’t it time?

JFP: www.jfpmfg.com
See the room here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/furnituremaker/sets/72157615520823654/

Ralph Bagnall
www.consultingwoodworker.com
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Administrator, March 18th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized