The Success Map

The Success Map is an outline of your strengths and weaknesses in key areas online. These key areas will make or hurt your web presence.  They also affect the strength of your brand’s credibility and will also determine what kind of traffic you will attract or send away. Your integrity becomes visible in these key areas as well. 

I include a list of long- and short-term objectives to keep you focused in the right direction, and a step-by-step guide to get you started.  The Success Map is something I designed as a blueprint for your success.  Every business has different needs, and because of this, cookie-cutter programs or “package deals” yield little return.  The idea is to cut out all of the waste and focus your budget on the main pipeline of quality traffic from people looking for your business. Potential customers and quality workers will be looking at you online. Don’t you think your best is worth putting on display? 

Your Brand’s Overall Identity and Strength

The internet is a level playing field for anyone who knows the rules of the game.  Like everything else in life, if you know how to play the game, you will win and win often.  Online, you can look larger than life.  You should take advantage of that opportunity.  Because if you don’t, someone else will, and they can take customers out of your market and into their doors.  But this can only happen if their brand is better established online than yours.    

The 3 key areas that make up your overall web presence are your online reputation, your website, and your brand identity. 

Reputation

You may have a good name with your regular customer base, maybe even the whole local community.  Online, you look much different.  If you want to tap into the untapped potential, you will be judged by a different set of eyes.

Word of mouth comes in the form of reviews in the age of information.  Everyone has a digital device, and most people keep their faces buried in them.  Building your reputation online will require responding and connecting with your audience on a human level.  Your reputation can only be established with credibility.  What better way to earn that credibility than by sincerity and humbleness?

So, be very mindful of this before you start responding to a bad review with a hot head. You may want to hire a skilled writer to do this for you. A bad review can work in your favor, if you respond correctly.

Advertising Benefits and Blowback

If you are advertising and aren’t ready to be in the light of exposure, you could actually be paying to send people away. This is all too common, as most digital marketing firms only think of their own bottom line…not yours. Many of them outsource their sales methods to call centers around the country and abroad. A telematketer will say anything to get you to sign up with them. In the end, you won’t see much in sales, and you will harm your brand in the process.

Ads are more annoying than they are helpful, unless they have the ability to connect on a human level somehow. Ads that can connect well enough to make someone laugh have the potential to go viral. Great ads take time and skill to produce.  These great ads will also emboss your brand into the minds of your target audience…if your ads are clever enough. We’ve all seen some very good oned during the Super Bowl! A great ad campaign can really help establish your reputation.

Your Website

The website is the only place where you have full control of everything.  It’s also the hub of the entire marketing vehicle.  A strong website takes time to build and longer to build onto. Some people say that websites are obsolete, or Google and Facebook ads work just fine. These people clearly don’t understand the purpose of the website or how your web presence is impacted without a strong hub where you control everything. To establish web authority, you will need credibility, and you will need your website to carry most of the weight.

This website that you are viewing is constantly maintained and updated. The content is carefully analyzed, scrutinized, and optimized. I want to give you my very best, because I won’t get another chance at a great first impression. I know my own abilities but you won’t, until you view my work. A strong website requires work and that takes time and skill.

Strong Messages Attract Quality People

Articles and blogs will set you apart. When everyone is doing little to nothing and you and only a few others are sharing your knowledge, you appear as more interesting. when your entire web program is uniform and sends a crystal clear message, you’re more likely to attract quality buyers and employees. Low-balling and price matching shows that you’re desperate for work, and doesn’t do much to establish your brand’s value. To establish value, you will need to stand out. Do You?

What Message Are You Sending to Your Target Audience?

There are always going to be bargain hunters and window shoppers. The serious buyer does homework. He/ she will read your reviews and click into your website to take a look around. Your message will either be: Welcome to our home we were expecting you! or This website was the cheapest we could get away with…good luck finding anything. I think you get the idea. The website is your stage to the world, and you are the star of the show. Take advantage of that.

Your Brand’s Identity

Building brand credibility requires a level of commitment and consistency. Without a clear brand identity, establishing credibility becomes difficult, in most cases impossible. Also, if your brand identity is unclear or inconsistent, what kind of message are you sending the potential prospect about your brand, your product or the quality of your work? Brand identity is important. This could be the reason why you aren’t able to reach the high ticket jobs or even attract quality employees to your business.

Define your brand clearly and set a consistent brand image. Using social media platforms is a requirement for reaching out to your local community. 

EVERY SINGLE ONE of your missed opportunities are on social media. Learn to use technology as a human… make contact with other humans.  Be the brand that is different.  STAND OUT.    

From this evaluation I will put together the map.  We work from that map and make adjustments when needed to meet every goal we set together. 

The Success Map is a Great First Step

As you can see how these areas complement and support each other. Falling short in any one area will affect the other two. The Success Map is a great way to a strong plan. All it will take to get started is taking that first step. There are other areas outside your web program that will affect your overall success. We can discuss them in detail when we meet, but taking the first step will require you to take action.

You can call me, or schedule a short meeting so we can discuss your goals, and the challenges that you are experiencing that is keeping you from them. The Success Map will give you a good idea of what is happening online and how to position yourself better. Sometimes all we need is a better perspective.