There’s a reason why sales people flock at malls, at entrances of establishments where crowds gather, outside churches, or wherever there’s plenty of footfall. Sales people must constantly fill their sales funnel, they can only do so by attracting leads. Traditional marketing dictates that handing out pamphlets bearing product information as well as company merchandise to random people can attain the desired result, which is to attract leads.
However, the chances of that working are very slim in this era. The digital age requires different tactics, it does not require your presence at malls or wherever people tend to walk by. After all, where people walk by is not exactly where they are. The data published by DataReportal showed an astounding 307.2 million internet users in the United States in January 2022. Out of these internet users, 270.1 million are social media users.
Think of that pool of prospects. There is no way that you can reach out to them just by handing out pamphlets or airing ads on tv and the radio, or the newspapers.
If they spend much of their time in the digital world, then that’s exactly where you need to be.
In this article, we are going to talk about why you should have a digital presence, the importance of having a great website, and exactly how does your online presence help your business grow.
Let’s get started.
When you are starting out a new small business, nobody really knows you and what you can offer. Your marketing efforts therefore, must be aggressive as much as possible, and while word of mouth can help, nowadays, we trust the sharing of social media posts and web links to introduce you to the market.
In this day and age, there is no denying the importance of having a great website as well as well-curated social media channels to small businesses and their owners.
Among the many reasons why you should have a digital presence are the following:
One of the importance's of having a great website or maintaining social media channels is being able to have better customer or market reach. In the digital age, people have access to the internet, and before they make purchases, they do their research. Whether they type their searches in the Google search bar or on Facebook and Instagram, having a website and social media page of your own helps you reach them. You wouldn’t even have to try so hard, as long as you curate your content and they like what they see, they’ll make the decision to buy themselves. Just give it enough time.
Another great reason for why you should have a digital presence. Nowadays, if you want to engage with your prospective customers, posting polls on Instagram draws in more views and ultimately, these views become leads and then sales. Truly, the digital age has made things easier to market one’s business.
Increased web traffic elevates your search rankings, and people do searches to find solutions for their various pain-points in life. You might even be surprised how often people search online for the simplest of things. Like the closest café to their homes, or the best taco bar in town. If you have built a web page and put in the effort to make it pretty, or to make it rank higher in terms of SEO, you’ll be reaping the fruits of the efforts you’ve sown in no time.
Sales is heavily influenced by marketing. Decades ago, businesses spent tons of money trying to market their product. These days, all you have to do is get a WordPress domain to build a website and take ten minutes off your day to create an Instagram or an FB page. Then every few days, post something cool and incorporate the right hashtags. That’s cheap marketing, right at the tip of your fingertips.
While you inform people of your products or services, you get to keep up on new, relevant pieces of information revolving in the internet. Every now and then a new Gen Z term or phrase comes up, if it’s something you can use to market your business, why not? The president said something funny, why not incorporate that in your next post and get a few hundred HAHAHA reactions. Taylor Swift has a new hit? Use a line of the song in the most witty way you can to relate it to your product. The latest trends are nothing but a chance to associate your brand with something that’s currently in the spotlight.
Going viral for embarrassing things is never good, but when you go viral for something amazing? You get free marketing. You elevate your brand time and time again.
So, exactly how does your online presence help your business grow?
You have just learned that there are plenty of ways that having a solid digital presence can help your business not only take off, but become a brand that people actually have high regard for.
There are a lot of small businesses that have become huge because of social media. Who knows, if you spend enough time and effort building a solid digital presence, your business might be the next big thing!