No matter what your industry, building relationships with current and prospective clients is essential in keeping business and securing new sales. If users of your goods and services look to you as a trusted industry resource, the likelihood of them turning to you when they are ready to purchase is much higher.
Your online presence gives you an excellent opportunity to be a valuable resource in your marketplace. Whether it is an industrial purchasing agent or an individual who needs new tires for the family sedan, online researchers most often begin by gathering information that will help them make an informed purchase. As an expert in your field, you have something extremely valuable to offer these folks – knowledge and experience. Think of it as offering customer service before the sale. If you have a website, you can provide this service to prospective buyers in the form of good quality website content.
A Question of Opportunity
The Content Marketing Institute recently published an article with some great ideas for using Q&A content in a content marketing strategy. It suggests finding ideas by researching online sources for popular consumer questions showing up in social media or blogs. When you find these, you can also use the opportunity to interact on these platforms by providing answers to the questions.
Answering your prospects’ questions on a relevant online forum will be helpful, but as the Content Marketing article notes, “you’ll probably achieve the best content marketing ROI by answering questions on your own website.” A Frequently Asked Questions page/section on your website provides the perfect opportunity to do this. In addition to researching commonly asked questions online, a highly valuable resource for FAQ material will be your own sales team. They know what customers ask, and will have an excellent perspective on questions relating to your specific product line.
Making Your Website a Resource
Your website’s FAQ page does not have to be, and probably should not be, a simple list of questions. It may be most advantageous to divide it into an FAQ section based on product lines, services, instructions, or technical topics. Some frequently ask questions could even be developed into new “about” or “resource” pages. More in depth questions may benefit from the addition of visual content such as photos, diagrams, or a video. When developing your FAQ section, consider getting input or feedback from some of your best customers, who may see opportunities you’ve missed or offer valuable suggestions for improvements.
The key to developing an effective FAQ section will be making it a valuable information tool for your customers and prospects. While you will want to include a call to action on these pages, keep the sales pitch to a minimum to promote a comfortable, educational environment for visitors.
The Bottom Line: If your website is a valuable resource for your prospects, it will also be a valuable resource for growing your business.