Twenty years ago when you started a business, one of the first things you did was get a telephone. Without it, no one could contact you! It was pertinent to your company’s success. Today, there is a new must have for all businesses – an online presence!

With 81% of Shoppers Conducting Online Research Before Buying (via Social Times Infograph) your company needs an online presence so shoppers can find you! People no longer pick up the phone to call and inquire; instead, they look at your website, find you on twitter, read reviews about you, etc.

Here are the top four ways to boost your reach and launch your online presence!

• Let People Know You’re Around! An online presence can help you spread the word easily! An online presence can be created and maintained with four major aspects:
  • Social media platforms pertaining to your business or connecting you with your target demographic. (For example, if you sell t-shirts for teens with quirky sayings on them, LinkedIn won’t be for you but Instagram sure is! Yet, an interior designer will find LinkedIn and Twitter fantastic for connecting)
  • A blog where you share your expertise and announce products or services. (must be updated on a regular basis)
  • A website congruent with your brand and on trend for design and functionality. (ensure you have analytics set up to track activity)
  • Email marketing to keep you top of mind and keep users engaged.
• Get Supported Locally! A big way to quickly expand your reach is to find people and businesses who already know you and then connect with them!
  • Friends and family – make sure they know what you’re up to. They can be big supporters for your new company and their reach can extend further than you might guess. Find them, follow them and their businesses or the companies they work for.
  • Local businesses – visit local businesses you support on an ongoing basis. Tell them about your new business. Find them online, follow and share their local promotions or content – do for them as you hope they might do for you as well. By supporting them, you will find it will also benefit you! Building your “online” presence doesn’t mean stopping “face to face” connections and relationships.
• Do Give-Aways and Promotions! Once you have a good network base from the first two steps, begin to promote your business by giving away free services or products. This will further engage the networks you’ve created and get even more people involved and talking. Encourage your winners to spread the word for you by posting a pic with the product or tagging you in a post to show their appreciation.
• Build An Email List! Once you have customers and product users, it’s VITAL to capture their information. This will allow you to contact them with future promotions, sales and services, keeping you top of mind for future purchases!

Online Marketing Calgary

Your Online Presence does three things:

• it creates a space for your product or service
• it creates a place for the consumer to find you and determine you are a viable option
• it creates a platform for them to spread the word about your great product or service

Remember, since 81% of shoppers conduct online research before buying, your online presence can highly influence their purchase decisions in your favour!

Building an online presence for your business is time well spent. Make your plan and be smart on your strategy. Contact us for consultation today!