Top 5 Things Online Businesses Can Learn from the Ottawa Apple Store

When the Rideau Centre Apple Store opened in Ottawa, it was a quiet revolution for Mac and iPod fans. Finally they would have a place to go and worship their favourite consumer electronics.

But more than a place for nerds to drool over glossy 27-inch screens and the latest multi-touch devices, Apple stores, especially the one in Ottawa, represent a larger strategy for a company that can often seem based in the distant lands of California and the Internet. And it’s a strategy many online-only companies can learn from.

1. Give your company a face. I don’t know a single Ottawa Apple store employee, but I know what one looks like: Smiling face, colourful T-shirt, and name-tag lanyard. Putting the faces of your employees on your website can reflect a positive image in consumers’ minds. (We do a pretty good job of that here at MB.)
2. Give your company a location. Even in today’s digital economy, where many businesses are internet-based, giving your company a physical location can increase consumer trust and loyalty. Unlike your website, they can depend on your store, warehouse, or home-office being there tomorrow. List address information, or, better yet, include a photo of where you work on your website.
3. Make it shiny. Even if your store is small, it’s got to be eye-catching (that goes for your website too). People wander into the Ottawa Apple store all day long because of its unique layout; bright, open design concept, and grand, all-glass storefront. Potential customers will spend more time on your website if it’s visually appealing.
4. Don’t be afraid to sell your own product. If it’s good enough for the Internet, it’s good enough for the streets of Ottawa. One of the reasons Apple opened its retail chain was because it felt other retail businesses were not doing a good enough job of highlighting its products. If you believe your product or service isn’t getting the recognition it deserves, stepping outside the confines of the Internet can increase your product visibility.
5. Educate everyone. Sometimes it seems like Ottawa Apple store employees are simply there to promote products they believe in—the sale comes later. This ‘soft sell’ can educate customers about your products or services and implant positive selling points in their minds that they will recall later.

This is, of course, a simplified version of just some of the techniques that Apple retail stores employ and no one seems to be doing it better. Incorporating all or just some of these tips into your online business can increase consumer trust and loyalty, and improve brand recognition.

5 Useful SEO and Web Marketing Articles by MB

Okay, okay. I'm only linking to articles on MB's home site, MarketingBreakthroughs.com. These articles have been around for awhile, but I think readers of the Daily Breakthrough should be checking these out.

• 6 More Tips for Improving the Copy on Your Website

• How to Search Engine Optimize Your Website

• 7 Easy Ways to Improve the User Experience in Your Website

• Turning Your Website into a Money-Making Webstore

• How Good is Your Website? Take the "MB Test" and Find Out!

More articles are available, of course. Check out the MB Knowledge Centre now.

We've Launched Our New Website!

Our new site has launched and is officially live at MarketingBreakthroughs.com. Visit it now; tell us what you think!

Thanks to the kind folks at Envision Online Media for all their helpful work.

Six Questions to Ask Before Your Build Your Website

When you build a website, or when you begin any traditional or web marketing campaign, you should carefully consider what your end goals are. Who is your website targeted towards? How do you position yourself against your competitors? You should know the answers to these questions like the back of your hand before you begin building any section of your website.

1. What are my competitors doing?

Take a look around the web for your competitors. What are their websites like? How can you stand above them and really blow them out of the water? What elements do all your competitors' websites have in common that you'll need to incorporate as an industry standard? You should know exactly what your competitors are doing, and how you'll be positioning your site against theirs upon launch.

2. What's my Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Your website USP might be different from your regular USP. What does your company offer online that no one else does? Carefully consider your positioning before you start writing the web copy for your website. Do you offer a best-in-class solution? A low price? Unbeatable customer service in an industry filled with faceless corporate entities?

3. Who will be updating the website?

If you're building a website for a client that doesn't know much about website design or coding, you'll no doubt want to hand them a Content Management System, or CMS. This lets them edit their own content in a WYSIWYG editor, without worrying about breaking the website. Blogging software such as wordpress is an example of a CMS, and many non-blogging websites are designed using this high-powered software.

4. What are my website SEO plans?

Beyond just dumping a bunch of keywords into your meta tags and creating a site map link off the home page, you need to know what your "go-forward" SEO plans are. How will you get link backs? Is there a section of your website to load on keyword-dense SEO articles? A section for linkbait?

5. Who are my website User Groups?

Before you begin planning your website, you should understand who exactly will be using the website. What are they using the website for? What information do they want? How much do they know about your products and services? Are they technologically savvy?

6. Where will my call to actions be, and how will users "buy"?

It's important for the user to be able to buy (or contact you) from every page on the website. How will this be done? Where will the call to action take them? If you sell one product, that's easy. If you sell a variety of products, you should have a "Your cart" and a "Checkout" option located conveniently for the user (see Amazon.com for an example). If you don't sell anything online, a call to action might be a button that says, "Contact Us Now."