Improve your marketing: 5 reasons why you can't get new clients & customers

At HVD Studios, we'd like to give you something to think about by providing 5 doses of reality that many of our clients have gone through at some point.  How many of these points can you say "yep, that's me" to?  

If I'm new in town and looking for a barber, the first thing I'll do is go to my smartphone and google search "Barbers in my area".  Seems pretty logical, correct?  The next step is combing through the results.  I'm looking for reviews, location, and most important pictures of the barbers work.  Barbers who really get it have a website, reviews, and up to date gallery.  They have enough information for you to learn who they are, what they do, and how much they cost.  

Very experienced barbers will have a Youtube channel with tutorials, an online reservation system to book clients, and may even sell organic and homemade hair products in the store.  They don't stay content with making just enough money to pay the bills. They think big and bring on other barbers, stylists, and have a shop with regular operating hours.  This is the mindset of a true business owner.

If you are still using Instagram/Facebook or Craigslist to operate your business, you would fall into the "Just like everyone else"category. We get it and understand, trust and believe. Money is tight but if money is always tight and you've been doing it this way for years that's gotta tell you something isn't working quite well with your particular business model. The question is, what is it and what can you do to fix the problem?

You can use the example of the barber and apply it to your own business.  You are very likely to come off as credible when visitors can get a firm understanding of what you do by evidence of your carefully worded services, testimonials, images, certifications, education, experience, and of the knowledge you possess of your field.

Don't take this point the wrong way.  Here's what we mean...If you do have a website does it reflect YOUR personality and what you like or does it cater to your customers? From a design standpoint, it should cater to your customers and shouldn't have your personal touches on it. Using darks because you like black or certain types of animations because you think it looks cool may work for you but to others, it will certainly become a distraction.  

If you have a website that has a ton a movement, pop ups on every page, or begging a visitor to "join your email club" do yourself a favor and disable these features or use them sparingly. We're not going to just "give" you our email unless we like what you offer.  Don't try so hard to make new friends.

A little movement is okay (we use animation ourselves) but to animate every single item on every single page is enough to make your visitors dizzy and may also cause your website to load slower than usual. Keep your website static, simple, and clean. It's not just a design trend, it's the best way to present your services and portfolio to your clients.

We get it. You don't have the budget to hire a professional to make a website so you did it yourself. As designers, it's very disturbing when we visit websites that are poorly made, old, outdated, or have poor navigation.  

This is generally a result of the business owner using a do it yourself website builder without having the knowledge of spacing, functionality, and the overall understanding of how important a website is to brand credibility. If a visitor happens to find your website, clicks on the link, and is welcomed to grainy and blurry images, graphic design made using your phone, or poorly written text, there's a 90% chance they'll leave. We call this a bounce rate and it's devastating to building clientele. We call this "having a dirty house"  Clean up your house immediately.

We recommend using a landing page (also known as a coming soon page) to get basic information out to the public and collect leads, while you develop a cohesive plan to make a website behind the scenes that is easy on the eyes, easy to navigate, and appealing to your guests, clients, and visitors.  Keep it simple and remember to use a large, clean image of what you do. It's amazing how important imagery is in conveying a message.

Once you tackle this challenge, then you can remove the landing page and open your business to the public. If you decide to go this route, make sure, bare minimum, that you place social media icons on your site so that are are able to promote your pages and increase your followers.

Let us know by sharing it with a friend using the buttons below. Need help with developing a brand that reflects who you are?  Contact us to learn more, or visit us at Studio C (for Start Ups), Studio B (For Growing Businesses), or Studio A for Professionals.