Over the last few weeks, I have been working on a little project with a friend of mine. Without getting into too much detail, it will require the importation of a food item to get things up and running. With New Zealand being the country that it is with its strict biosecurity laws, you can’t just import at will. That said, I went online and took a look around for information on what requirements need to be met in order to import food.
I found quite a bit of information but after absorbing all that I could, I still wasn’t 100% sure on what needed to be done to meet customs requirements. Instead of just going ahead and doing what I think was right and maybe facing the risk of a shipment having to be destroyed for not filing a document or two, I decided to approach a business owner who currently imports.
I set up a meeting with a gentleman who operates an ethnic grocery store that sells food from various South East Asian countries. After explaining what I had in mind, he briefly explained what steps needed to be taken and for me to get in touch with his freight forwarder for more detailed information. He then wrote down the name, contact person, address, phone number and email address of the freight forwarder who processes all of his imports.
I left that meeting with the contact details of a business where I could get all of the information that I needed and engage their services if need be. But, before I contacted the freight forwarder, I found myself going online and doing a search for the business. Why did I do the search? I wanted to see what (if anything) about the business was online. Lo and behold, they had an online presence where their website showed up on the first page of Google’s search engine results page as well as a Google My Business listing with their business details and customer reviews.
Seeing their online presence and more importantly, customer reviews made me feel more comfortable about getting in touch with them about the possibility of engaging their services. Statistics show that consumers are more likely to trust recommendations about various products and services from family, friends and colleagues (see: 40+ Word-of-Mouth Marketing Statistics That You Should Know). 1 in 4 of these people then go on to research recommendations online and from there make a decision on whether or not to engage the services of or buy products from a business.
A recent Xero podcast: why digital marketing makes small biz better also touched on the importance of word of mouth businesses having a digital footprint (Podcast also available on iTunes).
If you are a word of mouth business and haven’t gone online yet and aren’t yet in a space to create a website, getting online could be as simple as getting onto Google My Business (Get your small business online for free with Google My Business) and then building a digital presence from there.
Do you think it makes business sense for a word of mouth business to be online?
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