Businesses today have one crucial step to add to their to-do list. They can have the best product or service, and stellar customer service, but they also must be easy to find online. With so many customers searching and shopping online, your business must be on their radar. People don’t have time to keep searching for something. They need answers fast.
Friends and family can share direct links to your business, but you cannot just rely on that. You need strangers to find you online in order to be able to grow. Here are a few ways you can enhance your business’s online reach.
1. Start With Search Engine Optimization
Say you own a medical or legal practice. You would like all the doctors and lawyers to have busy schedules and ideally, even waiting lists. It makes fiscal sense to have clientele during all business hours. You do not want highly trained professionals twiddling their thumbs while on the clock. You still need to pay rent, utilities, and salaries, so it makes it more profitable to have the overhead be distributed among more clients.
To stay busy, you need more cases. Organic reach can only get you so far, and sometimes you need a little boost to get the word out. If you’re a legal group, leveraging law firm digital marketing can make a huge difference. For instance, if your practice specializes in injury and malpractice, you can hire a company to help with search engine optimization to target strategic keywords. They can research the best keywords and ensure your business pops up on the first page. They can also help write relevant content for you. This way when someone has been in a car accident or had a terrible experience with a hospitalization, they can find your firm fast while they’re researching what to do.
2. Have an Easy-to-Use Website
Once people find you from search engines, make sure your website is quick to load and easy to navigate. One broken link and customers could give up and go to a competitor. Ensure the navigation buttons are clear and the writing is on point. These are all ways to make a great first impression. Some companies also allow customers to schedule consultations online so they can do it beyond regular business hours. If you can offer this service, great! Also, make sure clients get appointment confirmation quickly via email and text.
Use the information you collect on your website to add it to your marketing efforts. Someone may have landed on your website but did not go ahead and make a purchase. Now that you have their email, you can let them know of future promotions and new product drops. You never know when they convert from a warm lead to a new customer.
3. Leverage Social Media
Another way to get your business more visibility online is to have a presence on social media. Of course, some platforms may be more suited to your business than others. If you sell handmade soap for bridal shower favors or bridal bouquets, you should be on Pinterest and Instagram. Such visually-heavy platforms are great for customers browsing for inspiration. Make sure you use good hashtags and cross-promote with other complementary businesses such as event planners and bridal makeup artists.
In contrast, if you have a law firm, a professional presence on LinkedIn would be a better choice. This way you can highlight all the attorneys in your practice and the kind of work they have done in the past. You could link to their high-profile cases and the universities where they studied. You can make more connections and see who knows who in the industry. Your social media strategy will need constant work and upkeep. It is not a set-it-and-forget-it thing. You must keep on posting relevant content regularly and interact with others on those apps too.
4. Consider Influencer Marketing
Depending on your product, lifestyle bloggers can help you reach more people online. If you sell a handy kitchen tool, reach out to home chefs and online recipe creators. Ask them to show how to use your fancy gadget in their videos. Such short videos can seem more relatable to people rather than paid models they may never see again. Influencers are people they see nearly every day and kind of feel like they know. When they recommend something, it seems more genuine.
Of course, great influencers with a large following can ask for a hefty fee. If it is still beyond your budget, you can reach out to micro-influencers in your industry. Those starting out may also just accept free products in exchange for creating some content. If their concept is good, it can also get you more eyeballs on your new offerings.
Having a strong online presence for your business isn’t a choice anymore. It’s a necessity. You need to be able to be found online, have a seamless website, and be visible on social media platforms for more people to share your products and services with others. This is how people communicate today. If you can’t meet them where they are, they may find another business to replace you.