Jack makes widgets. As a matter of fact, he comes from a long line of widget makers. His grandfather started the factory, and it’s Jack who turned it into a multi-million dollar enterprise.
The thing is, that over the years the rest of the world began to catch up. With the advent of the Internet, there’s no real industry secrets as far as how these widgets are made. The result? He no longer has a stranglehold on the widget-making industry.
His widgets and the widgets made in Chicago, L.A, and New York are essentially the same. So what is a long-time widget maker to do?
Jack needs some product differentiation
Because the widgets are essentially the same, it’s difficult to maintain Jack’s identity. That widget-making results page on Google is crowded territory. Jack’s dirty little secret is that using widgets from anywhere else is no longer any different than using his.
Jack needs the assistance of a good designer. He needs a logo. He needs quality graphics. He needs to give people a visual look at what doing business with a trusted, long-time widget maker looks like.
Past that, Jack needs some quality content. The pages on Jack’s website ought to tell people exactly what to expect from doing business with Jack. He needs a quality “about” page that tells the company’s story going back to the days of his grandpa.
He needs quality product descriptions outlining the benefits of each individual widget. When customers shop for widgets, they want a good idea of what each one does, and what the features mean for them. The most frustrating thing in the world to widget shoppers is going to a page that contains generic content, not for the item that they’re actually looking to purchase.
He also needs a blog. For Jack to truly stand out in this day and age, he needs to become the widget making resource for his customers. He needs to give his customers tips for widget shopping. He needs to share the glorious life that owning a widget brings. He needs to provide consistent value for those looking to learn a bit about widgets.
When widget shoppers see what Jack knows, they’ll stick around to buy from him.
Once people trust Jack, and feel good about doing business with him, he can stand out again as the premier widget maker.
Matt Brennan is a Chicago-based marketing writer and copy editor.
