How much would you pay to bring someone to your store that didn’t buy anything?
Most people would say "nothing" and I'd have to argue that position.
Of course we want all of our sales and marketing dollars to find only paying customers. But you need Browsers to get Buyers.
Give it Away Now
I launched my new blog (wil.gobignetwork.com) specifically for the purpose of giving something away. Frankly it costs me a lot of time to keep the blog updated with new content about growing companies.
Aside from the fact that I love writing about starting companies, it’s also a tool to attract more people to my paid Web site, the Go BIG Network where people pay to post ads for their startup companies.
The Cost of Attracting Browsers
We look at our budget for marketing as not just the cost of advertising, but the cost of attracting and servicing browsers as well. In fact just about everything leading up to the sale is a cost of marketing, including the content you're reading.
Most People are Browsing, not Shopping.
Marketers make the mistake of thinking that they only want to attract paying customers. Don’t get me wrong, we ultimately need paying customers in order to stay afloat. But most people are browsers long before they are buyers.
Take a look at all the stores in your local mall. 90% of the people there are browsing, not buying. They wander from store-to-store looking at products and thinking about making purchases. Yet it’s the browsing behavior that drives all of those people to the mall to begin with.
Buy Browsers, Convert Customers
When thinking about your marketing spend, don't just focus on finding paying customers. Focus on finding interested browsers first. That way you can cast the widest net to attract the biggest audience.
Once you have a browser in your store, the next step is to focus on converting them to a paying customer.
Although buyers are your end game, you need to start with a much wider approach - finding browsers.