
We know AI influencers aren’t real – so why do we trust them?
Researchers describe AI influencers as having a ‘dual identity’. Consumers evaluate both ‘person’ and ‘technology’ identities at once.
DIGITAL MARKETING
By our News Team | 2021
E-commerce entrepreneurs are typically busy with the big picture and developing innovative products. Marketing is seldom top of mind.
Research conducted by Africa-based learning platform Heavy Chef and internet service provider Xneelo within the Heavy Chef entrepreneur community shows that 46% of e-commerce entrepreneurs rate their marketing and sales skills as poor to average.
“This should come as no surprise,” the two companies say in a media statement. “People with the vision to become entrepreneurs have probably not spent a lot of time working on their sales and marketing skills as they’ve been too busy hatching their great idea. And yet sales and marketing are an integral part of any e-commerce entrepreneur’s success.”
Digital marketing is, at its core, simply using your website as your primary marketing tool. So it’s important to ensure your website is as cohesive and compelling as possible. Luckily, there are three questions that any entrepreneur – marketing savvy or not – can ask themselves to set their business on the right track.
Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels
Why would people visit your website?
For your website to be the hub of your marketing efforts, you need to differentiate your business from your competitors and give your customers a reason to visit. If you’ve developed a content marketing strategy, where you offer helpful industry insights, top tips or advice that you know your visitors need, that could be your differentiator. If you’ve found a way to solve a problem – by aggregating information, or displaying it in a simpler way – then that could be the difference. It’s important that you can answer the question: what makes our website different?
How will they find your website?
Next we turn to value – and how people will understand your website’s value. First they need to find you, which means you need to either invest in the content marketing strategies mentioned above, in Google ads, or focus on social media to grow your reach. Remember that value doesn’t only mean price. While your competitors might have a different pricing model, you could offer them a more seamless process, a greater sense of trust, or better quality.
How does your website make their lives better?
And finally, meaning. The most important point of all. Does your website offer a cohesive brand experience that provides value to your customers? How do you make their lives better, or easier? This is when it’s essential to return to your roots and figure out why you started your business in the first place, what difference you wanted to make in people’s lives. Are you clearly expressing that on your website’s home page? Can you immediately share that information as soon as people interact with your brand, in a way that feels authentic and natural?

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