Are You Leaving Clues that Would Cause
Your Prospect or Potential Client to Question
Your Credibility Rather than Enhance it?
The devil is in the details, so they say. So often, entrepreneurs get caught up in worrying about the big, highly visible things, that the small seemingly insignificant but critical details get overlooked.
Take for instance, a typical interaction with a prospect or potential client. We've made sure we look our best, shoes shined, hair groomed, and top of the line business tools.
When we meet, we exchange information about "what we do", which usually boils down to "I'm a consultant" or "a Physical Therapist" or the like. Then we exchange business cards and move on with our day.
Now, there's not so much unusual about our encounter. We've done everything right, haven't we? Usually not. This is where the devil shows up – in the details.
If your prospect or potential client has any interest in you or doing business with you, he'll want to find out more about you – and when he does, what will he think? Have you left clues that would cause him or her to question your credibility rather than enhance it?
Here's a list of things you should consider that will help you manage your identity online and offline.
Your Email Address
Everyone has an email address. What does yours say about you? Literally and figuratively?
If you use a public email address from yahoo.com, hotmail, or aol.com for your business, you should really consider changing it. Getting your own domain is very inexpensive and easy to do. Would jane134@aol.com or Jane@mycompany.com be more credible? Just as every established business has a telephone, what would you think if a business just used the corner pay phone instead? It's just like that.
Your email address is also the key to a lot of information about you online. If someone were to Google you what would they find? Take a minute and type your email address into Google and see what comes up. If you've ever posted to a forum, newsgroup, or a blog, you can bet it will show up. If you're a consultant, would you want a prospect to find a post on a forum where you whined, complained about someone, or lost your temper?
How about a prospect finding a thread where you talked about your uncertainty of starting your business 10 years ago as a "newby" in your field? Yes, they do last that long. If you have those kinds of ghosts in your closet linked to your email address, consider changing it. If it's not on your business card and you don't currently use it, it will likely be forgotten. Your name, however, is a completely different story.
Your Website
What does your website say about you – again literally and figuratively? If you don't have a website, then get one – even if it is a single page website.
It's important what you decide to say about yourself or your business, but just as important is what's "said" by how your website looks. It doesn't have to be perfect, costly, or fancy. It just has to be congruent with your image, your brand, and your marketing message.
If you're a single person business and it's obvious you did it yourself – that's okay. But if you're highly paid consultant, expert, or professional – having a website that looks like you did it yourself creates the impression that you're tight on money.
Your Business Cards
Just as with your website, your business cards don't have to be costly or fancy. They just need to be congruent with your image, your brand, and your marketing message. Home-made, self printed cards may be ok if you're a single person working from home, but if that's not the case, get some nicely printed cards.
What do you say on them? Have you thought much about that? What do you call yourself? President, CEO, Owner? What address do you use? Do you include your website? Your email address? – Again, you should be congruent with your marketing message, your brand, and reality.
Other People's Websites
Other people's websites are places you'll leave clues that will enhance or detract from your credibility. Press releases, forums, blogs, and article sites all have publicly available information – usually created by you.
Press releases and articles, of course, are usually designed and written for the sole purpose of getting information about you or your business out to the world. But forums and blogs can have the same effect – for good or bad.
If you are a well known vegetarian health expert but post to a forum or blog asking for recipes for fried chicken (for your grandmother), what does that do for your credibility?
There are some times you just want to remain anonymous. Just like having multiple email addresses for different purposes, you should also be careful about revealing your identity online – even if it's simply to find a recipe for your grandmother.
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Dane W. Shakespear
Marketing & Publicity Strategist
http://www.daneshakespear.com
