At Stenson Wolf, we love the ‘Hub and Spoke’ model in helping our clients build successful marketing systems. It is likely the easiest model to understand with only two main elements.
The Hub: A Proper Business Website that sells your business to the right customers.
The Spokes: The channels and activities that are driving traffic to your website.
All roads lead to a website that can turn strangers into potential customers.
The Hub – a proper website
The ‘Hub and Spoke’ model is only truly successful when the website at the centre of the system really differentiates you from your competitors.
A proper business website looks right and sounds right
Most people focus too much on the first part of that statement and forget the second. But, words matter, your message is what makes it easy for the right customers to choose you.
Investing in a website that really speaks to the right people, that talks to them in their own language, will be more valuable than you can imagine. The words used on your website can also be used across every marketing channel, in every conversation you have, and in every sales proposal you ever submit. At every stage you can remind potential customers why you are the right choice for them.
A proper business website will not just list products or services, it will make it clear why a customer should choose your business over all their other options. Unfortunately very few of us are in a monopoly position of being the only option available, so we not only need to clearly explain our offering but also strike a chord with customers emotionally.
Before they will even think about buying from you, your customer wants to know what’s in it for them:
- What problem does your product or service solve for them?
- How will you make their life easier, save them time or save them money?
- Have you done this successfully for other people like them?
- What will you do differently than your competitors? Miss any of these questions and it’s likely that your customer will go elsewhere.
Miss any of these questions and it’s likely that your customer will go elsewhere.
Copy is a direct conversation with the consumer.
Shirley Polykoff
How it works in real life
You are working hard to get your business in front of potential customers, at networking events, on social media or even search advertising. But if your website doesn’t look right and sound right a lot of this hard work will be wasted.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes
When you hear of a new company, whether on the advice of a trusted friend or from a piece of online content, the first thing anyone does is Google them. And, all being well you land on their website. You make an immediate assessment of that business, one that is very difficult to alter.
Why would your potential customers be any different?
You may not win the sale on your homepage but you can definitely lose it there. Your website can’t be an afterthought, there because you know you have to have one. It needs to be the centre of your marketing efforts. The strong hub on which you build a powerful marketing system that reaches potential new customers and persuades them to consider buying from you.
Create a proper website for your business
We’ll help you:
• Write it
• Design it
• Build it
• And promote it
The Spokes – confidently marketing your business
Imagine that you now have a website that you know sells your business as well as you can and converts strangers into right-fit customers consistently. Why would you not do everything you can to get as many of your target audience onto your website as possible?
This is where your ‘marketing spokes’ come into play.
The spokes are different for every business we work with. Some of our clients have a team of dedicated marketing professionals that can plan, create and manage marketing material consistently across countless channels and campaigns but this isn’t achievable for many businesses.
The beauty of the Hub and Spoke model is that it works for every business, no matter the size or resources available. If you don’t have a dedicated marketing team, the number of spokes in your system can be scaled back to a manageable level and you will still see positive results.
Turn the tap on
Paid traffic can be turned on and off like a tap when the time is right. And paid traffic is often more cost effective than investing in longer-term tactics such as SEO or organic social media activity which can be a drain on resources and take time to produce significant results.
We live in a world where every social media platform is an advertising powerhouse that can identify and reach your target customers. Google Ads have the power to direct potential buyers to your website based on buyer intent in search terms.
Just remember that your website is the centre of all your marketing activities. All roads lead to your website because that’s where you can really sell your business.
Make sure ‘it’ is working
Do you know what ‘it’ is? What activity is driving customers to your website? Are you wasting your time on a channel that you may feel comfortable in but it’s doing nothing for your business?
A proper business website will help save you time and money.
With a clear target audience in mind and conversion goals in place it becomes possible to provide the answer to those questions. We provide every client with a live data report that allows you to see at a glance which channels really are working for your business.
A proper business website evolves with your business
Your business isn’t standing still so neither should your website. The information you discover in these reports is fed back into improving the website and the effectiveness of all your marketing activities.
