7 Ways to Tell Your Small Business’ Story Online

When you manage a small business, attracting
and maintaining a loyal customer base is crucial
for overall success. By letting your customers
know about your business and what you offer
through different, engaging avenues, you have a
better chance of earning their trust. Offering
products or services that your audience needs is
one step, but promoting the overall brand and
story of your business is important for bringing in
repeat customers. Here are seven unique ways
you can share your business’ story online.
1. Create an engaging ‘About Us’ page. A page
that explains who you are and what you do is a
great way to quickly and easily inform your
website visitors about your business and what to
expect. However, keep it interesting. Include the
basic facts as well as unique parts of your
business’ story – such as a historical timeline or
photos – to create a bond between you and your
customers. Play around with different ways to
present the information like in an infographic or
photo story to make it stand out.
2. Manage an interesting company blog.
Maintaining a blog for your business allows you to
regularly update your audience on upcoming
events, promotions, etc., but also keeps your
website relevant from the point of view of search
engines. What you write about creates a
“personality” for your business that customers
can connect to. By using the blog as a way to
discuss everything from industry trends to
company events, your story comes across to the
audience in a consistent and engaging way.
3. Don’t ignore social media. In this day and age,
it’s impossible to ignore social media, especially
since this platform is where many audiences are
the most active. No matter how great your
website is, it is likely that your customers spend
more time on sites such as Facebook or Twitter.
By maintaining regular updates and establishing
relationships, you can build customer loyalty and
tell your business story.
Related: 5 Ecommerce Mistakes to Avoid: A
Newbie's Guide
4. Introduce your team! Make your company
more personal by including a page on your
website that gives visitors a chance to see the
faces behind your business. This tactic shows
your potential customers that there are real
people behind your brand who care about your
products and services. You can even encourage
your employees to write their own biographies to
add splashes of personality.
5. Add email marketing to the mix. As with blogs
and social media channels, email marketing is a
great way to retain your audience’s attention.
Company newsletters and new product
announcements keep your customer base
interested while giving you another opportunity to
talk about your company on a proven platform:
Their email inbox.
Related: 6 Ways to Retain Ecommerce Customers
6. Produce a short video . Never underestimate
the power of a short, well-produced video for
telling your business’ story online. This is
something that could be featured on your website
– either on the home page or on the ‘About Us’
section – that creatively describes who you are
and what you do, and why your customers should
care. Show before and after projects, tours of the
facility, how-to videos, or one-on-one interviews
with employees and customers.
7. Let your customers speak for you! Finally, one
of the best ways to tell the story of your business
is to let your satisfied customers tell it for you! By
featuring customer testimonials on your website,
blog, or social media channels, prospective
customers can see how your business operates
and treats its customers. Consumers put a lot of
trust in peer reviews, so allowing them to paint
the picture of how you operate is a great way to
gain future business and get your message
across. DANIEL YOUNG ADVERTISER
1&1 INTERNET, INC.
CONTENT MANAGER, 1&1 INTERNET, INC.