Small to mid-sized companies that don’t deal exclusively in online selling can still benefit greatly from going online. Going online simply means to create an online presence for your company. This can be done in many ways: from creating a simple online business card detailing the company details for services like ‘Yelp’, to devising a more comprehensive strategy that can include everything from a company website to a Twitter page.
Clarity Ventures is a digital agency that services every business need; from paid and organic marketing to e-commerce development. Since 2006 Clarity Ventures have helped hundreds of traditional brick and mortar businesses take advantage of what the online world has to offer.
Walk-in customers and referencing your business through word of mouth are still very powerful marketing tools in this technological day and age, but any savvy small to mid-sized business owner knows that the internet opens up an entirely new customer base. Thus, if you have the opportunity to reach more customers, it’s essential that you take it.
As such, here are three reasons why Clarity Ventures says small to mid-sized companies should go online.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Improved Availability
Creating an online presence will inevitably improve your ability to customers as you will be able to showcase and sell your products and services at any hour of the day. If your bricks and mortar location only has traditional opening hours between 9 am and 5 am, your business can move forward in leaps and bounds once you decide to start a company website that includes a selling function.
This way, people who know of your products but have missed your bricks and mortars selling hours can still purchase them online. Shipping costs can sometimes become a concern for small to mid-sized companies, particularly if the items are small and inexpensive. However, you will soon discover that when an online customer really wants a product, they will happily pay for the shipping. Therefore, the best way to overcome the potential hurdle of selling low-end products online is to ensure that they are unique and of high quality.
Wider Audience
It goes without saying, but using the internet to showcase your business allows you to reach a lot more people. Even if you decide to refrain from including online selling into your business strategy, having a website or some form of online presence will allow for shoppers in your area to discover who you are.
Your bricks and mortar location might not be in the center of town, but once you implement SEO into your company website, shoppers in your area Better still, maintaining a high-quality website that includes e-commerce capability will allow for an even bigger customer base determined by the same search functions. If you really want your company to succeed online, the more visible you are the better.
This is why many online companies include things like a company blog and links to their Twitter or Instagram on their website. Google search function takes these things into account when determining search rankings. Companies with more online examples linked together are ranked higher than companies who only have a website, for example.
Branding
If you’re a small to a mid-sized company without an online presence, you’re really in danger of losing out to your competition. Yes, creating an online presence takes money and effort, but it’s riskier to appear to be behind the times compared to stores who sell the same products you do.
If you want to present your company as in tune with today’s culture, creating an online presence is pretty much an essential part of business strategy. With regards to your business, becoming visible online is one of the best investments you can make. Have you ever heard of a company who went under simply for creating a website? Never. And yet, have you ever heard of a company really taking off by accessing a wider audience on the internet? Absolutely. The choice is simple, really.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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