When it comes to branding your business, remaining static won’t do you any favors. If you want to promote growth, it’s time to try something new. Doing what you’ve always done can steer you away from opportunities and blur the path to greater success. So, if you’ve been in your comfort zone for far too long, it’s time for a change.
One of the best ways to improve your brand is by building an effective online presence. Although, it may sound fun and exciting to venture into the virtual landscape until it occurs to you that you aren’t a tech-savvy entrepreneur or an iGen. No idea where to start? That’s okay. Refer to this key guide to boost your brand.
Build a Website
Most small businesses and startups begin their online presence with a website. Your own site serves as your home base, so it should be the foundation of your online strategy. It’s where people can visit you to find out more about your company. Your website traffic can come from users who want to contact you, engage with your content, and purchase your products or services.
You can start by choosing a web publishing platform. We suggest WordPress. Remember to design your site based on the user’s perspective. With that in mind, here are a few things to consider…
- Does your site provide an excellent user experience?
- Is it mobile-friendly?
- 100% secure?
- Visually appealing?
- Is your site loading quickly?
- Does it clearly represent your brand?
Not all entrepreneurs can make their own professional website, so if you’re pressed for time, it’s best to work with a skilled web developer and web designer.
Be Customer-Centric
A business is more than a mere money-making machine. Of course, you need to make a living, but if profit is your only goal, you may be less likely to succeed in your industry. It’s important to consider the needs of your customers if you really want to boost your online presence.
When branding your business, think about who you’re serving. Are you targeting a specific age group? Gender? Location? Simply put, define your target audience. Target marketing allows you to focus your marketing efforts on people who are most likely to buy from you. This is an effective way to reach potential customers online.
Master SEO
Almost everything on the web fluctuates, so keep that in mind. An effective tactic to build your presence on an ever-changing platform is to learn how SEO works. SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization.’ Ultimately, it helps your business to be found by users when they search the Internet. SEO can also improve your site’s ranking on search engines like Google.
To begin, you can master SEO in two different ways: on-page and off-page.
On-page SEO is mostly integrated into your content. It’s all about search intent, keyword research, metadata, and more. Off-page SEO, on the other hand, is on the technical side of things, which involves link building, guest post outreach, local citations, and more.
There are free resources that offer a general overview of how SEO works, but for the best results, work with a reputable SEO company that can provide tangible, data-driven results.
Create Content
Establishing an online presence includes showing up on search engines and social media. But for that to happen, you need to produce your own content.
This is not about posting whatever you like online. Rather, you’ll need to come up with a plan that aligns with your brand’s strategy. Think about the platforms you want to show up on. Where does your target audience hangout? Are you planning to create a Facebook page, or Instagram account? Next, brainstorm ideas you think would help your potential customers. What would they find interesting or useful? Go back to your target market. What are their motivations and pain points? What information do they need to learn more about your services or products?
Once you get through these essential questions, post content that is valuable in some way, as well as easy to read. Most people prefer information in smaller increments because they’re busy. The key here is to publish content consistently. Ideally, you can post once or twice a week. Also, try to feature interesting topics and different content types, like videos, infographics, and ebooks for versatility. After all, blogs and social media posts are only two of the many kinds of content you can share in the virtual space when branding your business.
Join Social Media
There are approximately three billion social media users around the world. So, you’ll definitely find your target market on these platforms. Creating an online presence through social media improves your branding. It’s one of the first things people do when they look for a business. So, if people can’t find any profiles or accounts under your brand, you’ll probably lose out. A social media presence can be used to build trust in your brand.
So, choose the best platforms to help boost your strategy. Showcase your brand, considering your content, appeal, and entertainment value. Then, engage within the community. This is how you broaden your online presence while branding your business.
Do Email Marketing
Unlike social media, email marketing seems to be outdated. But experts say that this is not true. Sending emails still remains a surprisingly effective form of communication, and many people send a lot of things through this platform every day.
Are you concerned that your emails might go directly to a potential customer’s spam folder? There’s nothing to worry about if you master email marketing. Strategize by organizing your customers into groups. Then, when sending out emails, customization is the key. You definitely want to include information that will pique their interest and offer value to them. With email marketing, find the right timing, and target a number of emails to be sent over a certain period. Make sure that you don’t sound too salesy, or you might just lose a potential customer.
Build Relationships
Don’t put all the weight on your shoulders. You can expand your reach on your own, but it’s not going to be enough until you build relationships with others.
Take a look at it from a different perspective. You don’t have to rely solely on your team by hiring more employees to do the work. There are a lot of people in your industry who can help you solidify your online presence.
For example, if you know some content writers, podcasters, or Youtubers in your industry, you can reach out to them for a feature. Who knows, you might even get a chance to post a guest blog on their site, or get featured on their virtual show! Keep in mind that this is a give-and-take tactic. You should also offer something in return that will benefit them as well.
Be Competitive
When branding your business, take a look at your closest competitors, too. Being competitive also means learning from the competition. This includes their mistakes and failures. What are they doing to drum up business? How much traffic is their site receiving? After all, you and your competitors are in the same industry. You might as well analyze whether their strategy is doable or not for your business model, so you can learn something.
Of course, this doesn’t always mean that your competitors are ahead of you. Aside from identifying their strengths, find out their weaknesses, too. What’s missing? What do they lack? Once you find the answers, do your best to fill these gaps. Launch a project or an idea they’ve never showcased before. Sell your products in a unique way. Find out what works and what doesn’t.
Keep Track
When branding your business, how can you know what works and what doesn’t if you don’t track your progress? Creating an online presence for your business is just the beginning. The end goal is to make it effective for you and online customers.
Once you’ve already started to apply a few of these tactics, think about the metrics that you want to measure. If you’re mainly focusing on your website, you should look for some SEO metrics, like bounce rates, click-through rates, and session duration. For social media, you can track your impressions and engagement rates, referrals, conversions, and more. For email marketing, keep an eye on your number of subscribers, open rates, conversions, and so on.
Take note that some metrics can be easy to track, while others might be more challenging. Despite that, be consistent with following your results. This will help you in improving your business strategy.
Be Patient
The virtual landscape can offer vast opportunities to expand your reach and create a solid online presence. But successfully branding your business doesn’t happen overnight. It can take weeks or months to generate the desired results. Remember, consistency is key. It’s important to be patient and continue to move forward. As long as you have a strategic plan, your efforts will pay off. Build a strong foundation to launch your online presence, create content that helps people get to know you, and be present when potential customers reach back.
Build an Impressive Online Presence
These are some of the most effective ways to help your business thrive online. Although it might seem overwhelming and complicated to build your online presence, these steps can help you get started. D-Kode Technology assists business owners in creating data-driven strategies that work in the digital world. We offer web design and development, as well as digital marketing services to boost your success. If you want to learn more about what we do, call us at (925) 336-0000. You can also schedule a free marketing session at calendly.com.
