The Happy Place
Everyone Has a Happy Place
I’m no jewelry by any means, but I do enjoy making my own jewelry. I take out some beads and wire to begin a new project and soon I’m transported to a state of peace and happiness as I focus on getting every detail just the way I want it.
Okay, so that happens when I’m doing anything creative, not just jewelry, but you know what I mean. Creative people love to create, and with most people having fairly stressful lives, creativity becomes an excellent means of escaping. It’s “The Happy Place” that, unlike indulging in ice cream, makes us feel like we’ve accomplished something of value.
As someone who sells to creatives you already know about this happy place, in fact you make sure your sales pitch taps into it and the emotions that it evokes. But no matter how great your products are and no matter how good your sales copy is, people won’t always be wanting to buy something from you.
Unless you’re a grocery store this is a very usual problem and businesses get through it just fine by having a pool of customers, but when you're running an online store your customers are more likely to shop around for the best deal. It’s easy for someone to buy once and then never return…
Unless, of course, you are connected to their happy place.
Being a Part of The Happy Place
Here’s what I mean:
I have an attachment to certain stores in my area, and back before the pandemic I would often go to these stores and wander around dreaming of being rich enough to buy everything I saw. I didn’t always buy something, but it made me happy just to be there because my mind had connected the store with my creative happy place. The same thing happens with virtual stores (your website), but to become a part of someone’s happy place you have to put in the work.
Step #1 Your website
A big part of being a part of your customer’s happy place is a positive user experience. Make sure every aspect of your website looks good but just as importantly, works good. I can’t think of a single person who likes to waste time, and although the definition of “a waste of time” is usually in the eye of the beholder, I think we can all agree that scrolling through multiple faulty links and pages is in fact a waste of time.
And make sure to have good information. Be as detailed as possible when it comes to your product descriptions and web pages. Don’t overdo it, just make sure you aren’t being vague.
Speaking of having good information, that leads us to the next step...
Step #2 Your Blog
Just because a customer’s not buying doesn’t mean you can’t still offer them something of value: Enter the blog
Almost every business has got one, and if you’re smart you can use yours to connect your business to the customer’s happy place. Your audience will of course determine most of what goes on your blog but no matter what, the information should always include these three components:
Useful
Relevant
and Engaging
I’ve had days where I’m trying to write a post for my own blog and end up scraping the whole thing because once I took a break and read it all the way through, I realized there wasn’t any real point. Unless your blog posts are useful they won’t help you, and just like wasting time “useful” is also in the eye of the beholder so you need to keep studying your customers to see what they need/want.
Being relevant is very similar to usefulness, except it has a deadline. It’s kind of like when you’ve had an argument with someone and then five hours later you all of a sudden think of the perfect comeback, but it’s too late to do anything with it.
Sometimes it takes a while for us to think of how we can address a change in the industry or jump on the latest band wagon, and by the time we’ve got something prepared it’s old news. It’s important to get good at spotting these changes so you don’t miss out on an opportunity to tap into yet another corner of your customer’s happy place.
As far as engaging content goes, the key is to have balance. Is it easy to scan? Does it use a conversational tone and implement stories and anecdotes when appropriate?
At the end of the day it all boils down to the customer and focusing on them. What is it that will help them find that creative happy place and how can you give it to them? Answering that question is the real first step.