If you have recently moved your business online, then you have already undoubtedly started to notice that standing out, winning customers, and presenting the business works entirely differently. You might know how to make sure that your business makes the right impression in person, but you can’t rely on the personal touch as much online. You have to understand the platforms and how to best use them. Here, we’re going to look at how to cement your brand and to ensure it gives the shine of professionalism, trust, and reliability that you need.
Cement your brand style
If you haven’t already done so, then you should consider taking the time to create a style guide for your brand. When it comes to presentation, elements such as imagery, the typography used, the tone of voice, and descriptive words you use for services and benefits should be as consistent as possible. All marketing is an attempt to communicate a customer’s needs to them and how you’re going to fix them. That’s only going to work if you can communicate effectively, and if the message and look of your communication changes too much from place to place, then it’s going to get in the way of the clarity of the message. You’re likely to use quite a few different mediums of communication online, so it’s important to make sure there’s a level of consistency through them all.
Invest in a professional website
It’s easy to set up a website with basic information and a basic look. You might think that you want to get some sort of web presence online as quickly as possible. However, if you’re not well versed in either the visual design or how to format a website well, you can end up doing more harm than good with an unprofessional looking page that is hard to navigate and confuses more than it helps. To that end, consider working with a web design team. Your website is the face of your business online, it’s just like your store or practice, you should make sure it gives the best impression.
Be easy to find
Aside from making sure that your website is a positive force for the business and helps the customers, you should also make sure that it’s not too difficult to find or visit. One of the ways to do that is to make sure that the URL is as simple as you can possibly get it. Otherwise, you’re mostly going to be relying on search engines. Search engine optimization is a discipline by which you make sure your website is organized and formatted in a way that makes it easy for search engines like Google to index it and recommend it to people who use related search queries. SEO doesn’t have to cost anything, but you may need to spend some time making sure your site is optimized.
Be easy to get in touch with
Aside from making it easier to find your website with a good web address and SEO, you should also make sure that from the website, the customer or client can easily get in touch with the business. Having a clear path to customer support is crucial since there are going to be people who have questions that need to be addressed before they’re ready to convert. You can simply leave your contact details on the page and that will work fine enough in most cases. However, you might also want to rely on tools that put customers more directly in touch with you and your team, such as live chat widgets on the site.
Provide good, helpful content
A well-designed website can help you give off the brand messaging and professional look that you want. But what about establishing trust and authority? You need to be able to demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about ahead of the customer’s first interaction with you. Not all of them are going to give you the benefit of the doubt. One of the best ways to do that is to provide informative and helpful content, such as publishing posts on your own business blog. Not only can it help answer customer questions and win their trust, but it can also make your business easier to find on search engines.
Don’t let social media languish
A lot of businesses get started on social media and start with the best intentions, only to let it fall by the wayside. Social media can be great for staying in touch with customers, promoting, and for building a sense of trust around the brand through positive social proof. However, that’s only true if you can keep the account active. If you cannot, then you should think about outsourcing it so a professional can do it for you. Otherwise, you might want to look at social media management tools that allow you to do things like schedule posts when you’re not otherwise busy so that it’s easy to at least make it look active and current.
Create an advertising budget
From your website to the content you publish to your search engine presence, there are a lot of organic and low-cost ways to make sure you’re winning customers over. However, this should be balanced with the more direct approach that online advertising can allow for. There are no other methods of marketing that can result in new conversions as cost-effective as advertising. However, online ads, such as through Google AdWords or social media platforms, are disciplines that need to be learned in and of themselves. If you’re not willing to put the time in to learn them, then it may be better for your business to outsource them in the long run.
Not every business needs a major online strategy to compete but, if you are going online, it is important to make sure that you’re doing it well. Not all of the tips above will be applicable to every business, but it’s important to follow those relevant to the platforms that you’re using.
