Building a Brand: Why it is Important to Have a Strong Digital Presence

In this digital age, a strong digital presence gives your brand an ideal platform to communicate with consumers. It gives you the opportunity to set the narrative on who you are as a brand and set yourself apart from competitors. 

More than just your website, your online presence expands to all the touchpoints a consumer may have with your brand online. While this does indeed include your website, it can also include areas outside of your control, such as the conversations about your brand on social media and online reviews. In order to put your best foot forward in front of consumers, consider bolstering all aspects of your brand online.

The time dedicated to building a digital presence for your business is time well spent.

Here are five reasons why it’s so important to build an online presence, especially if you’re a small business owner:

An Online Presence Enhances Accessibility - For your company to remain competitive in the market, potential consumers need to be able to easily find your website and all your product and service information with just one click. When a customer wants more information about a product or service, they’re likely to do their research online. It’s an effortless way for them to browse prices and compare all services with a simple click. A Google search should provide them with all the information they need.

Enables your business to reach the widest possible audience at a single click. By linking to your website from social channels, you can exponentially increase inbound traffic and increase your customer base. This is because it makes it easy for your company to be found by people who don’t yet know about your business but who are interested in what you do.

A Digital Presence Reaches a Wider Audience - An online presence allows potential to come to you. Even when you’re closed, your customers will be able to purchase goods and services online. Basically, they’re doing your work for you, even when you’re not working yourself. There’s no better give and take for a business than that. You’ll be able to reach a wider audience, such as people who are unable to make it to your physical shop for whatever reason, be it disabilities, lack of transportation, or even because they’re in another country.

Enabling your business to reach the widest customer base possible will only be beneficial. The best part? When customers like what they see, they’re willing to share the news of your products and services with others. Allowing these secondary customers to see that your site is up-to-date will ensure that you come across as professional. To enhance this, having active social media accounts will allow your products and services to be shared easily between customers, and then you’ll have even more customers coming to your website. 

It Enables you to Showcase your Products and Services - You can easily spark and hold the interest of potential customers by showing what your business offers and by sharing testimonials or success stories from happy customers. It is an easy way to let people know what you have to offer. With a few simple clicks, your potential customers can see what you’re all about.

It provides affordable and effective marketing. An online presence is a simple yet effective way to get people interested in your company. You can advertise your products and services for free across your social media sites and on your blog. An added bonus is the “shareability” of social media, which allows your customers to easily spread the word about your business to all their friends and their relatives.

An Online Presence Enables Effortless Marketing - Selling your products and services becomes an effortless process thanks to your online presence. The consumers will be able to browse your products and ensure that they’re happy with their choice without feeling pressured by sales associates. And, as we said, you don’t have to be there for this entire process to take place. Even at night, customers will be buying.

Not only is the process no longer limited, but it’s also never-ending (in a good way!). Marketing yourself online can cost as much or as little as you decide. You don’t have to mail out coupons or flyers; you can simply share them with the click of a button. You can advertise your products and services for free across your social media sites and on your blog. And, if you focus on improving your SEO, then the search engines will work in your favor.

It Helps to Improve Customer Service - Instant access to feedback from your customers helps you immediately address complaints and/or resolve any issues at hand.

Show you what works – and what doesn’t. Tracking metrics of your site and social media accounts helps you gain valuable insights. Being able to see the numeric proof of what works and what doesn’t allows you to make improvements in every aspect of your business.

The digital age is here to stay! And a strong online presence can potentially skyrocket your business. The sooner you begin using this immensely powerful marketing tool, the more leads you can generate and nurture. So, take the leap, invest the time, and reap the many business rewards being online can provide!