9 Reasons Why Your Business Needs an Online Presence
Adapting to the latest technologies in today’s digital era, consumer behavior has changed. For instance, the thick yellow pages that were once popular during the ’90s, are now replaced with online directories with the advent of the World Wide Web.
Today numerous people use the internet to search for businesses, and yellow pages, are long forgotten. Which means, if you’re interested in growing your business with the right audience, you will need an online presence – in other words you must have a website to begin with. But before we step into the reason WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS AN ONLINE PRESENCE, let’s take a look at what is a digital presence.
WHAT IS A DIGITAL PRESENCE?
Digital Presence can be defined as the way your business is seen on digital platforms. It is the information and details that people find while searching for your business online. This includes controllable and uncontrollable factors. Controllable factors are:
- The website
- Social media accounts – Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc
- Listings in business directories.
- Your store or office location – Google maps
- Digital ads – Google ads, social ads, etc
- Media mentions
Uncontrollable content includes customer feedback, ratings and reviews.
Now that you’ve understood the meaning of a digital presence, let’s move on to the benefits of having an online presence in 2022 regardless of the industry you are in.
The internet is the most effective way to market business to a wide range of audience.
REASONS WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS AN ONLINE PRESENCE
When people face any issues or have a problem, they ‘Google’ an answer; in other words, they search for a solution online. If your business has a digital presence, it will draw customers to you. However, if they are unable to find you, you are losing out on business. Customers usually do their research beforehand and would want to know the following before investing in your brand.
Here are the four W’s that are searched for:
Who: Who does the business belong to? Are you a franchise or a family-owned business? What made you reach your current position?
What: What are your services or what do you sell?
Where: Where are you situated? Are you an online business or a brick-and-mortar location?
When: When are you open? What are your timings? Are you closed on holidays?
The content you write on your website or post on your social accounts will answer all these questions. You can use your digital presence to inform your prospects while increasing your sales. Below mentioned is an in-depth guide on the benefits of an online presence.
1. INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS AND VISIBILITY
Did you know that around 78% of marketers invest actively in content marketing? Ever wonder why? It is because it allows them to stay visible to their consumers and increase their brand awareness.
Content marketing is an effective way to create brand awareness. You no longer need to take a speaker and announce the small updates of your brand in the market. All you must do when you start a business is to create a strong online presence. At present a great volume of your target audience relies on their electronic devices, so it is quite beneficial for businesses today.
2. RETAIN MAXIMUM CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
A well-planned digital strategy can enhance customer engagement by many folds. With the right marketing strategies, You’ll get hold of all the customer insights and trends very easily. Here you can actively ask your consumers to provide feedback for your brand. This will help increase the business’s credibility and build consumer trust.
So, draft your content plans according to the customers’ requirements and demands. Studying and mapping out their purchase history is pretty easy with the help of digital marketing.
3. A MEMORABLE AND IMPACTFUL FIRST IMPRESSION
People are known to make impressions in about 17 milliseconds. So, try to make a website that will captivate your audience’s attention and make a good lasting impression. Even matter if your products and services are the best, people won’t have faith in your business until you assure them of your quality with relevant information.
Many people do a thorough research of the kind of products and services they are willing to purchase. You will only receive a positive judgement for your brand when you make a good first impression online. Digital marketing is a fair game as it gives all business a fair and equal chance. It doesn’t matter if you run a one-man business or a multinational business with thousands of people. All you require is a strong online presence.
4. USEFUL FOR DIRECT MARKETING
A strong online presence is advantageous in promoting direct sales. You must be wondering how? Well, on an average 22% of people make a purchase influenced by transactional emails. Direct marketing ensures that you will receive all the profit margins and your customers will benefit too.
5. IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICES
It was revealed that more than 70% of customers mostly recommend brands with good social media service experience. If your customer service levels are high, your customers won’t hesitate to buy even premium products. Your digital presence not only ensures good profit margins, but also promotes loyalty and customer trust.
6. PULL MARKETING TAKEOVER PUSH SALES
Digital marketing values customer perspective unlike traditional marketing, it doesn’t fill their minds with promotions all the time. It involves putting information regarding the brand’s services or products to a wide audience and seeing what eventually clicks with them.
Digital marketing doesn’t push sales directly, it rather appeals to the audience with credible information. Thus, you need to deliver the company’s message very clearly and tap into the customer’s mind.
7. PROMOTE YOUR SERVICES OR PRODUCTS
When your business is online, you don’t have to buy posters, banners, and standees that cost millions just for getting your product name out there. With digital marketing, you can consistently show off your products and services online. Once you have made a service online, it remains online forever. Work to establish an impactful digital presence online to consistently boost your products and services.
8. REDUCED COSTS
If you compare the cost of designing a website, annual fees you spend on renewals (domain & hosting), website maintenance to the cost you spend a year on printing out brochures, billboards, flyers and many others; you’ll realise that the latter costs more. Thus, having a website helps you show the same ads and guarantees a wide market coverage.
9. MAKE YOURSELF ACCESSIBLE ALWAYS
Are your customers always able to reach you? A prime example is the pandemic situation. Businesses that already had an online presence could connect with their customers and continue marketing their businesses. Those who didn’t have an online business found it difficult to connect with their customers.
Building a strong online presence means you are always available to your customers 24/7 no matter what is happening in the world. Consumers can easily go to your website to find information about your company.