Design and convenience are crucial when running any brand, but several other requirements have to be in place when getting through a process. Marketing any brand is one of the most important reasons why they stay relevant. Having a good product or providing good customer service is one of the best things any brand can have, but they can be shoved into oblivion if they do not market properly.
Living in the digital age means all brands and companies have to have their website. Even if they do not have a product or service that is beneficial to the audience online or sold online, they should have an online presence. Having a good social media presence is primary when getting the brand known. A recent study showed that 24% of small businesses do not have an online presence because they believe it would be an additional expense instead of an investment. There could be enough benefit from running a Facebook page, done well, which is a lot better than not running anything at all. Furthermore, creating and running a Facebook page is free, with some considering it better than running a website since there is no price point attached to it.
Companies that do not do their best to stay relevant online find it difficult to compete in a world where people get attention and awareness for their brand and company online. 59% of people prefer purchasing products or services from brands that they are familiar with. Whether they have worked with the brand in the past or heard the brand name a lot, they would be more likely to work it. Branding and marketing are just making sure that more people know the name of the brand or company. In today’s world, with everyone spending the majority of their time online, marketing to get their attention is a smart way to go about the process.
Getting an online presence
Here are some steps that assist companies to stay relevant online, even if they believe that an online presence is not their forte. For a frame of reference, the best way for a company to begin the process of understanding whether the online marketing approach works is to track the interactions, sales or even leads they receive offline and online. Going through the leads coming through the internet to see a significant improvement would drive home the fact that online marketing helps. Companies and businesses that were around for decades might have people at the helm who have no idea how to work the interwebs. They can outsource the work to a team that might be in a better position to assist with the online presence and maintain a website and in some cases, the social media accounts as well.
Through the pandemic, with the number of people staying indoors and not leaving their homes, people learnt about marketing trends, companies and everything else through the internet. According to a report by BBC, COVID-19 changed the way that people were shopping. For the most part, they were getting everything online. More than 17% of people made their first online purchase during the pandemic. Additionally, to assist the masses, groceries and other supplies were now available online too. People were getting everything online.
Most companies advised that others should consider hiring teams to assist with their online marketing and platform management instead of outsourcing them to handle it because they were coordinating and passing around a lot of personal company information. Employers had to go through background checks to make sure they were getting the right people on board. They wanted to know of their previous experiences working in the same line, as well as, whether they had a criminal record. Having someone with a criminal record could be problematic for a company if they did not know before hiring them. Companies can now use third party options if they want an online background check in a few minutes while at home.
What is the purpose of an online presence?
An online presence allows people to know and learn about your company or brand without having to leave their house. We live in an age of convenience, and even if you have the best product or service if getting it causes people inconvenience, a majority of the people coming to get it would drop off.
The primary purpose of an online presence is to create awareness about your product or service. Some companies might not be able to sell products or services online because of various constraints, so instead, they can use the platform to create awareness about their brand. They can do that on social media and drive the attention of their stores. Some brands even go a step further and have their information, their services and their products available on their website, and people can choose to go through and understand what they do better.
Companies could also send out email and newsletters to their audience, so they would know of the happenings within the company. It allowed them to come to terms with the new schemes if there are any discounts and offers and everything else. It also allowed them to connect with their audience, which meant that they were on their mind longer, which was a good thing.
Current changes when advertising without the internet
Radio is a dying art, and although there are people and a very few companies who consider marketing on the radio, in this day and age, it is not a wise investment, whether in time or money. The newspapers currently are still playing a role when marketing and advertising, but they are not the best bet in a generation that is moving to digital.
According to a survey, more than 90% of newspapers have an online presence with the same information available on the daily paper, which implies that even newspapers are a value ad because of their online presence. Similarly, companies should begin making a move to an online platform much as all the others have before them. Getting an online presence can be done at low costs, sometimes at a tenth of the cost of a single newspaper advertisement.