Internet Marketing: Why Is Your Picture Important?
Why is using a picture important?
Branding.
Simple.
YOU are your business. Unless you have gone to the trouble of having a company logo designed, what’s the face of your business? You are.
And online, which is more important?
YOU are.
People trust people. People don’t trust corporations. So, even if you had a fancy-schmancy logo designed, you should still use YOUR image to instill trust. Buyers want to know that a real person is behind the offer, and they want to trust that person before the buy from them.
You should put your picture everywhere you have a presence. Twitter, Facebook — any social opportunity, really. Don’t use an avatar or leave the generic avatar. People might remember a cute avatar, but what does that matter? They won’t trust an avatar. They want to talk to, relate to, and trust YOU. So, it will take you a lot longer building that trust if you’re a cartoon. I mean, who takes them seriously, anyway, right?
But this doesn’t just apply to social networking situations. It applies to forums, to your website and your blog. You have to keep your face in front of people so that they remember you, and when they do, you’d better be on the up and up. You need to provide quality, to over-deliver on the information, and you need to show folks that you aren’t going to promise them something and then walk away.
People, in general, are still skeptical of business online, and in this time of economic downturn offline, people are being very selective — more so than ever before online. They aren’t reaching for their credit cards every time a shiny new object comes along. And remember, this isn’t just in the U.S., the whole world is having economic issues and this is a global marketplace.
If you want to make money, you have to be a friend. You have to be someone that people can rely on for help. You have to provide the information or products they need to move ahead and to make more money. You have to help them succeed, and you’ll succeed in the process. If you think of it as a kind of “friendship” with your potential customers, the money will just come to you and you’ll feel really great about it in the process.
