How to develop your business presence online

How to develop your business presence online

Digital marketing have grown exponentially over the last few years, these days the majority of Big companies have already developed an online presence and tapped into social networking in one way or another, big companies can be found everywhere over the web, if your company is considering to get on the web as well and take part in the conversation, these are 6 ways you need to develop your online presence.

1. Website: your company website must be centered on your users, researchers have found that 61% users will leave if they have a bad web experience therefore your website must be designed in a strategic manner with a clear call for action, Avoid the use of flash in your website and choose HTML5 for coding. 
2. Social Networking: you need to determine the best social networks for your business, this highly depends on your target audience, networks like LinkedIn are good for B2B business, networks like Facebook and Twitter are better for B2C business, other platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are good too for B2C as well as E commerce, all your platforms must be designed in one integrated communication theme that also reflects on your offline activities, you want people to perceive you in a certain image and you do not want to risk being perceived as inconsistent. Be careful, once you go on social networks you are obligated to continue to produce content that adds value to your audience, if you stop generating content you may be perceived as weak or worse; a slacker, so sometimes not being in at all on social networks is much better than starting and stopping.
3. YouTube: the most preferred search engine for many people, you should consider developing a few short 1-2 minute videos about your business, products, operations, projects and expertise that will further enhance your position within viewer’s mind, these videos are useful as they can be embedded on your website, they can be used in future training seminars, exhibitions or conferences as they convey a stronger message than any written word.
4. Blogging: hiring bloggers to write articles and reviews about your products, services or solutions is one way to increase your brand presence and awareness over the web, blogs are a good way to generate content and channel traffic to your website, these articles can be shared with other business and news websites which will increase your reach further and allow word of mouth to spread among readers and their network.
5. Search Engine Optimization SEO: Optimizing search engines to your advantage is a continuous process, it has now become well known to many that the majority of people will not check the second or third page on google, therefore you need to ensure that whenever someone within your target audience uses google, Bing, Yahoo or whatever search engine of preference searches for keywords that relates to your business, you are always there on the top of the search results page.
6. Frequently asked Questions FAQ’s: More and more online users are no longer using Keywords when searching for a certain topic, life is too short and they require a quick answer, so they ask the question directly to the search engine, (e.g. what is the best car to drive in the Middle East? Which is better for hot climates a Mercedes or a Toyota? Etc.). This is where you should be to intercept, with a continuously updated FAQ’s page on your blog integrated with your website, you can be there whenever someone is asking the question related to your products or service to answer it, this would drive more traffic to your website and portray you as an expert reference to your followers and readers. 

The advantages of Web 2.0 will not be quick to gain, however on the long term it will help you build a strong image among your network.

Want to know more about Marketing? check out this article Why the 4E's of Marketing are replacing the old 4P’s? 

Do you know other ways to enhance Online presence? leave your comment below so we can share the knowledge.

Why the 4E's of Marketing are replacing the old 4P’s?

Why the 4E's of Marketing are replacing the old 4P’s?

The world of Marketing have clearly changed, many of the tools and assumptions that we grew up with, many of them are out of date and no longer valid, realizing this fact, The Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy One Worldwide, Brian Fetherstonhaugh, advocated the replacement of the traditional marketing mix – known as the ’4 P’s’ with a modern day version – the ’4 E’s’. 

According to Fetherstonhaugh:

• Product has become Experience
• Place has become Everyplace
• Price has become Exchange
•  Promotion has become Evangelism

 From Product to Experience

Rather than focusing your marketing efforts on the products that your organization provides, of which for one reason or another we may change at a later stage, Experience focuses on the end to end customer experience (customer journey), you are no longer selling products/ service; you are now offering solutions that satisfies a customer’s need.

For a company to survive in today’s highly competitive global economy, it has to be flexible enough to transform its scope of work when the time, otherwise it will face the threat of bankruptcy, although most of us do remember Atari and Kodak, who were the pioneers in their technologies in the 80’s and 90’s, most of the younger generations will not be able to make that connection or remember these two giants.

Companies that focus on promoting their company brand on the other and adopts an experience approach to their customers, such as IBM and Apple, who over and over again were able to transform their scope radically and grow stronger, they realized the importance of this transformation which reflects in the way they promote their brands.

From Place to Everyplace

‘Everywhere’ reflects consumers’ ability to access your solutions at their own convenience, business developers need to learn how to ‘intercept’ their customers rather than ‘interrupt’, customers must be engaged when they are more likely to be receptive to you, knowing how hard this can be, your marketing efforts must be designed in a way to make sure that when the right time come, you are there on their minds. Therefore a strong presence needs to be developed both Online and Offline

From Price to Exchange

The evolution from Price to Exchange highlights the need to recognize value, In today’s world, Price still matter yet you need to demonstrate the value you are offering your customer in exchange for what he is paying, although most people think that the majority of the market are price oriented, if this was true then everyone will be buying their products straight from China! There are plenty of cases were customers will not go with the lowest price rather choose to the solution that offers the highest value.

So as long as you justify your price to your customer by highlighting the value he is receiving in exchange, your chances will be higher in being able to close the sale.

From Promotion to Evangelism

These days it is not only important to promote the products you are selling, you must learn how to things one step further by turning your customers into brand evangelists, If you are promoting a technical solution, take it further by educating and training your potential customers about the technicalities of your solution, when you provide a training seminar for X company or Y Contractor, offer useful information about the solution and educate your guests (add value), you will be able to build rapport with them and seize the coffee break time and lunch time to build personal relationships with them, This will produce a positive impact on your business.

Now that they are trained by you, they are more likely they will buy your solutions as they will feel more related to what you do, they will start promote and advocate your solutions within their own networks, colleagues and concerned people for many reasons, they now know you on a personal level, they have built a relationship with you based on trust and they are certified by your brand as experts within the area of your training; they will include the training certificate on their CV and even add it to their LinkedIn profiles, all these steps would only create a positive impact on your sales as it will allow word of mouth to spread far more than any other marketing tool.

Also, participating in Exhibitions, Conferences in  and networking events can further enhance your brand awareness and presence, however, you must be careful when using such approach as participating will require you to be prepared; you will need a well-designed booth, Brochures, Catalogs, a comfortable environment and a big screen that plays your corporate videos, participating without preparation will not add any value to your brand image and will only be a waste of your marketing budget, booking a seminar session within the exhibition to raise awareness about your solutions to participants allows you to know who your target audience is as the the majority of the attendees are those who are most likely to be interested in your scope of solutions.

Applying the new 4E’s of marketing rather than the old 4P’s will produce a better impact on your brand image and eventually translate into revenues to your business.

References:

Fetherstonhaugh, B. (2009) ‘The 4 P’s are out, the 4 E’s are in’ Oglivy & Maher website [Online] Available at: <http://www.ogilvy.com/On-Our-Minds/Articles/the_4E_-are_in.aspx>