Building a digital presence online
A strong and strategic digital footprint is important for competitive edge
In order to compete strategically online, your business needs more than just a website these days. Sure, a website is a very important part of your “digital property assets”, but it definitely doesn’t stop there.
Your digital presence links strongly to brand awareness. When a prospective client types your business name or a service you offer into a search engine, what is likely to appear? If you’re competing in a saturated market, it’s unlikely you’ll appear at the top of those search engine results unless you have your flag firmly planted in plenty of digital real estate across the board.
Here are three digital basics to help grow your digital presence online;
Website: the obvious choice. But not many businesses understand the value of a website as a continuous work-in-progress. That’s right, a website is never quite done. Why? Because Google hates it. When crawling your website to see if what you offer will be worth presenting to a prospective client in a search engine result, Google wants to see continual optimisation and activity on your website. If it is stagnant, Google might think it’s old, not active, or is no longer relevant.
Email: even for service-based, B2B organisations, email is important. Unlike B2C there is less need to be sending weekly - or sometimes even monthly - emails, however an email list is so valuable for your business. It’s a direct line to prospective, current, and previous clients - a way for you to keep them abreast of important updates, informational news, and is a great way to leverage yourself as an expert in your industry.
Social: the more flags you plant, the more opportunities there are for visibility, right? Having said that, there will be instances where social media platforms aren’t quite right - and that’s okay. There’s no point wasting time on a platform where your target audience is not. This is where audience research and analysis is important. As a rule of thumb, LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B, while Facebook and Instagram are generally more advantageous for B2C, but there is plenty of cross-over. Analyse where your audience hangs out the most, and make sure you have a presence there.