Why You Should Concentrate on Being Helpful

To be frank, your business exists to turn a profit. Whilst many companies think that the way to achieve this is by constantly shouting about their product or service, many others realise that there are numerous layers to doing business, one of which is being helpful. As with any professional activity, you need to find the right balance that’s appropriate to your brand; once you’ve achieved this, you’ll discover that it’s very easy to maintain long-term.

Being helpful can take many forms, and in digital terms it includes creating useful content, offering free resources, answering FAQs on your website, having responsive and friendly social media, replying to emails quickly, and providing regular industry insight to anyone who needs it. This activity has two primary benefits, internal and external, which are then split into different areas. Below we’ve listed two for each.

INTERNAL

Recruitment

When listing job opportunities, you should provide as much information as possible so that candidates know what they’re applying for. As well as the usual job description and requirements, you could also include full details of the working environment, company philosophy, and case studies for the types of projects they’ll be working on. This reduces the risk of time being wasted on both sides as a result of unsuitable applications.

Employee advocacy

If you’re dedicated to helping others to succeed, such as offering free how-to guides on relevant topics and spreading awareness of worthy causes through social media, your staff are far more likely to talk positively about the company outside of office hours. Employee advocacy is a powerful tool, as ten members of staff sharing your digital content on their own social media channels can sometimes have an even greater impact than your own activity.

EXTERNAL

Client retention

Just because you give your customers what was originally agreed, it doesn’t mean that they’ll stay with you indefinitely. Additional services and content go a long way, so if a competitor offers a free online support service and weekly video tips, you could find that your clients migrate to them. Take a look at what you give your customers and think about if there’s anything that can be added that’s easy for you and valuable for them. By being helpful, your business relationships will become stronger, last longer and prove even more fruitful.

Public relations

People notice when a business is proactively helping others to do more. Whether it’s a case of building an army of loyal followers or getting the attention of the press, trade journals and professional bloggers, being helpful can go an awfully long way and get you the kind of PR that money can’t buy.

We’re here to help

If you need support, advice or even a FREE website audit, get in contact with us today on 0800 998 7502 or fill in our contact form. We’d also like to offer you a free E-book which explains how to turn your website into a marketing hub that will encourage enquiries and convert leads into sales.