Why this idea means business : We explore how to build a relevant online presence. Learn how to make sure you don’t under- or overdo it. Read this for ideas on using your online presence to grow your brand.
How much is this idea worth?
Idea : To boost your online presence to attract more customers. Based on our standard business case assumptions, the value of this idea is :-
- Source of business – More customers
- Skill area – Marketing
- Commercial hypothesis :-
- # customers = 1,000
- Spend/month = $100
- Est. new customers = +60 (+6%)
- Est. sales increase = +$6k (monthly) | +$72k (annual)
Businesses saw the ability to build their own website as a wondrous opportunity when it first appeared back in the 1990s.
Publish something on your screen, and anyone anywhere in the world could then instantly see it on their screen.
Amazing! An exciting new way to spread ideas, connect with people, and promote and sell your brand to a global audience.
But 30+ years later in the 2020s online battlefield, there are clear differences in how brands handle their online presence. They usually fall into one of three types :-
- Bare minimum brigade.
- Bells, whistles and big bucks division.
- Do what works squad.
Bare minimum brigade
Some brands do the least they can get away with online. Often new, small or local, these brands realise they need some online presence. However, it’s not a priority for them.
So, for example, they might just set up a Facebook and Instagram page and post the odd image or video. Not even bother with a website.
If they do set up a website, they’ll make it an information-only site that they don’t need to update very often.
A few product details. Maybe a blog post now and then. Chuck in an about us and a contact us section, and they’re done. This low-key approach mainly serves to point customers to the business’s place in the real world. They lack the time, budget, expertise and desire to do more.
But to customers, this makes their online presence come across as half-hearted. Like they’re only there because they feel obliged to be online. The danger is that your brand can come across as underwhelming. And the problem with that is that underwhelmed customers don’t drive sales.
Bells, whistles and big bucks division
The complete opposite of this is the “bells, whistles and big bucks division”.
These are usually established, large and national brands whose business models are baked into their online presence. Amazon, Woolworths and Qantas, for example.
Huge IT teams and a raft of agencies and consultants support these massive online presences. Their websites overflow with functionality and frequent updates, but are expensive and complex to run. Just see the recent news on the BOM website upgrade, for example.
While this type of online presence offers huge choices to customers, in many cases, there are too many options, and the whole experience can be overwhelming. And guess what? Overwhelmed customers don’t drive sales either.
Do what works squad
Most medium-sized challenger-type businesses fall somewhere between these 2 extremes.
They focus on what works. They have a pragmatic online presence that prioritises activities that benefit their customers, and parks everything that doesn’t.
It’s a Goldilocks-like approach to digital marketing. Not too little. Not too much. Just enough to make it work for their customers. Because remember, that’s what all your online activity is supposed to be for – winning customers.
These businesses see building the right online presence as a way to grow their brand. But they know that with online activation, there’s a point of diminishing returns. Let’s explore what you can do to find this online sweet spot for your brand.
How to build a Goldilocks online presence
Brand owners who know their digital stuff can set everything up themselves. But then, they’re not going to be reading an article like this one.
In most cases, however, brands usually pull in some outside help to build their online presence.
The challenge is that it’s a saturated market. It feels like there’s a tsunami of agencies and consultants out there willing to drown you in digital details. And it’s sometimes (though not always) hard to tell the good and bad ones apart.
One good rule of thumb is that the best agencies and consultants make sure the upfront thinking is done right before you commit to doing anything.
This usually covers these 3 areas :-
Digital business model
It’s easy to rush into action. But you know what they say about the type of person who rushes in. They’re the same types of people who are easily parted from their cash by bad agencies.
So, unless there’s a burning deadline for you to have an online presence, take time to think about how your digital business model is going to work.
This is time well spent.
For example, think about your customer-facing goals and activities.
How are you going to reach customers with digital media? What will you do to engage them with interesting, interactive online experiences? And how will you convert them into sales via your e-Commerce activation?
These front-facing activities all need back-end support. So, you’ll need a technology plan to work out which systems and software you’ll need. You’ll need skills in analytics to generate insights from all the digital data you’ll gather. And of course, you’ll need a resource plan. How much is it all going to cost? What people do you need to deliver it? How long will it all take?
If you want your online presence to be neither underwhelming nor overwhelming, answering these questions is the place to start.
Digital media
Once you’ve got your head around your digital business model, the next step in building your online presence is getting noticed by customers. That usually means your brand appearing in online places that those customers regularly visit.
For example, running display adverts on relevant high-traffic websites. Boosting your social media posts so that more customers see them.
You could even join relevant online forums like Reddit if you’re confident in your brand’s tone of voice and ability to have quality conversations with customers online.
Customers have a massive choice in where they can go online. If you want customers to come to you, you need to go where they are and do something interesting enough for them to consider you.
Website
Customers usually do this by visiting your website. This is your brand’s “home” online. It’s the heart of your brand’s online presence. Visitors can explore it to see what you do, who you do it for, and decide how relevant your brand is for them.
When you’ve gone to the trouble and expense of persuading a customer to visit your website, you want that to be a positive experience. The goal is to help them learn more about you and decide that your offer is something they want.
Of course, the challenge is that if you’ve never built a website before, doing so seems intimidating. Even simple site builders like Wix and Squarespace, which are set up to make website building easier for beginners, still come with a learning curve.
Fine if you’ve got the time to learn how to do this. The ideal way to fully control your online presence is to do it all yourself. But that means building some core capabilities like design, writing, and customer experience. Plus, the technical know-how to set up, maintain and fix it when something goes wrong.
This is why doing the up-front thinking in your digital business model helps. That process helps you make the right choices. You know what you can do yourself, and what outside support you need to call on.
Enhancing your online presence with non-digital activities
Our final thought on online presence is a reminder that online doesn’t operate in isolation.
When customers interact with you online, it’s usually because they want something to happen.
That could be as simple as answering their questions via your FAQs and customer service team.
Or as complex as them ordering from your online store or signing up for your subscription service.
This is all part of your overall customer experience. The different points at which customers interact with you on- and offline, as they go from zero awareness of your brand to being its most loyal customers.
It’s how you bring your brand identity to life. Its purpose and values, its personality and tone of voice, its whole style and way of being. Every word, every image, every story you tell has to be consistent and compelling if you want customers to buy into your online presence.
You also have to make sure you have the right people in place who know what they’re doing. And the right systems and processes to let them do what needs to be done. That’s the job of your leadership team. They need to build a strong creative culture to support your ongoing online presence.
Conclusion - What does your online presence say about you?
You get back what you put in when it comes to digital. Low effort means a low return from online. But there is also a point when you can do too much and waste time and budget on activities customers don’t care about.
This is the key to building the right online presence – working out what customers actually care about. Focus your efforts on those activities, and customers will snap your brand up. That’s the sort of online present you want to drive your brand’s growth.
For more on this, check out our digital business model and website planning guides. Or get in touch for more ideas on how to make your online presence work smarter.
Photo Credits
Digital Marketing : Photo by Diggity Marketing on Unsplash
Happy woman : Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
