Getting to Grandfather Mountain
How to Connect with Your Customers Through Your Website.
I mentioned the other day the difficulties of connecting with your customers on the web. The problem is, really, that you need to start a conversation and establish a relationship with someone BEFORE you can ever directly communicate with them. That’s a tough thing to do, and one that many highly paid marketing firms fail at (miserably) every day.
The good news is that it CAN be done, and it is often done best by small groups and businesses that are used to dealing personally with their customers. They understand how to communicate with their audience because they do it every day, and they carry that experience over to their websites with a lot of success.
A great example of this is the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Association, a small non-profit established to preserve Grandfather Mountain, near Linville NC, as a park and educational resource. For those of you not familiar with this amazing park, it features incredible mountain scenery, a mile-high swinging bridge, wildlife habitats, hiking…. It has been called the “Alps in the South,” and it is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
I have fond memories of visiting with my family as a child, and, since we will be in the area for vacation already, I suggested to my husband that we stop along the way with our two kids. So, I did what I always do when planning a trip, I turned to my computer and found… an amazing website that really connects with potential visitors.
In fact, the Stewardship Association has more trouble than most connecting with potential visitors. Besides the obvious barrier of the web, they apparently face obstacles in the form of narrow, winding mountain roads and GPS units that weren’t made for back-hills navigation. So, this is a group that understands that if they don’t connect with their audience before they have an opportunity to welcome them to the park, their visitors may never arrive.
The result is a fabulous “Getting Here” page that really demonstrates how to successfully connect with your customers on the web. Here is an excerpt:
We recommend against relying on a navigation system or other form of computer generated directions. Computers are machines that do not get car sick traveling curvy roads. Their software programs do not always recommend the quickest, simplest and most-traveled routes. They frequently default to the shortest mileage between two points (often sending drivers through remote areas over very narrow country roads).
Please read through the directions listed below for the route that A REAL HUMAN BEING recommends to get from there to here. We want you to have a good experience at Grandfather Mountain, and that starts by having a good trip to our front door.
Yes, you CAN connect with your customers on your website. And you don’t need to be a high-powered marketing firm to do it. Have a conversation with your customers and interact as “real human beings,” the same thing that you are already doing successfully every day.
As for me, I’m even more excited about our trip now that I have visited their site. And I’ll definitely be bringing along these driving directions and turning off the GPS!