For your local business, having a strong digital marketing presence helps you to improve the visibility of your business, reach a wider audience, and build sales. In today’s digitally oriented marketplace, a primary way people find out about your business is via what they learn through digital platforms including search, social media, your website, and customer reviews.
A strong digital presence is important for small businesses for many reasons, including:
- Credibility: A strong online presence can help consumers get to know and build trust in your business. A well-designed website, active social media, and positive reviews can all help build credibility.
- Reach: A strong online presence enables you to reach a wider audience and extend your reach beyond those who might be able to visit your physical location.
- Marketing: A strong digital presence provides the platform for digital marketing that can be a key growth mechanism for your business. It can help you to reach new customers, generate leads, and boost sales.
- Customer Engagement: A strong online presence can help you to connect with your customers and build strong relationships.
- Reputation Management: A strong online presence is important for online reputation management. You can utilize social media platforms to deliver marketing strategies to build your reputation and respond to customer inquiries.
A survey by Bright Local found that 93% of consumers used the internet to search for and find a local business and 87% read online reviews for local business to help them make a purchase decision. What consumers find when online will inform how and where they spend their money.
What Are the Five (5) Foundational Elements of a Strong Digital Presence?
- Website: A well-designed website is a critically important component of your online presence. A website can help to establish credibility and show potential customers that your business is legitimate. Research indicates that 75% of consumers judge a company’s credibility based solely on its website. A website can additionally showcase products and services; provide social proof; create competitive advantage, generate leads; and, via search engine optimization (SEO) help consumers find your site when looking for products and services you sell.
- Social Media: Utilizing social media can help your local business stand out from the crowd, engage with and build relationships with your customers, provide valuable content, build brand loyalty, and drive website traffic and sales. As well, incorporating social media advertising can further extend your reach and introduce your company to new customers.
- Social Proof: Online reviews about your business can have a major impact on your digital presence and business success. Research indicates that 75% of consumers trust a company based on their online reviews. As well, 60% of consumers indicate negative reviews influence them not to use a business. Providing superlative experiences for your customers will result in positive reviews; and when you don’t deliver good experiences, address those reviews and engage with those customers online. Engagement and response demonstrate that your attentive and willing to work with customers to ensure bad experiences are addressed and corrected.
- Email Marketing: Email marketing is a tested digital tool that can deliver your business messages directly to consumers via their email inbox. As well, more sophisticated email marketing campaigns can target your message based on a prospect’s demographics, purchase interests, and online behavior, among others.
- Search Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO): When online users search, they reveal their intent, including purchase intentions. Utilizing search engine marketing and search engine optimization tactics can put your business front-and-center for consumers who are interested in the products and services you provide. What better way to market than to be there when your potential customer needs you.
A strong digital presence is a necessity in today’s digitally focused marketplace. Being more than just present online, to be successful you should look to create engaging experiences for your customers and potential customers, expand your reach, and interact with consumers all along their purchase journey. A strong digital presence can form the foundation of business success.
If you’re interested in learning more about the value of a strong digital presence, Sentinel Solutions can help. We have experts who will effectively develop and implement a digital strategy to align with your business goals and deliver results. Give us a call at 603-352-5896 or send us an e-mail to advertising@SentinelDigitalSoutions.com if we can be of help.
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