Does this sound familiar to you? Your brand new, state-of-the-art website is finally Live! Eagerly, you await a return on your investment, giving it more and more time to deliver the results you initially anticipated. After a few months, you are confounded by the lack of qualified leads, stagnant site traffic, and your ranking on Google Search is buried deeper than the distant relatives you recently discovered while searching Ancestory.com.
Unfortunately, this scenario is one we hear about all too often. As disappointing as it is for us, we understand that it is exponentially more frustrating and disheartening for you – the business owner, especially, after investing large sums of money into the empty promises of easy sales.
An optimized website is an important foundation- but just because you built it doesn’t mean they will come! Your website (if easily found) is only one piece of the digital puzzle. To reach your ideal customers and obtain qualified leads depends upon the complete picture presented online.
What is a Digital Brand Presence?
Your Digital Brand Presence is the perception of your company based on all available information across the internet. This online portfolio consists of your corporate website, social media platforms and posted content, media exposure, and digital advertising. These components connect to create a lasting impression of your business on potential customers and ultimately tell your story.
- Corporate Website – Your digital location that houses all information about who you are, what you do, why you do it, where you do it, and when you do it.
- Social Media Platforms – These should display any corporate events, celebrations, milestones, announcements, answer questions, display product or service videos, and notify customers of pertinent information regarding your company.
- National or Local media coverage of your business should be shared throughout all of your online social media platforms and website.
- Digital advertising- Google Ads, boosted social posts, etc. should be placed in front of your target audience when and where they hang out online.
Why is a Comprehensive Digital Brand Presence Important?
Simply put, your customers are located on the internet and that is where they spend the majority of their time. Having a comprehensive digital presence where you have the strongest visibility is vital.
- As of 2019 and 2020, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 145 minutes per day, up from 142 minutes in the previous year.[1]
- In 2019, Americans spent over 12 hours a day on major media including television, newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital formats.[2]
Therefore, if a brand is lacking an online presence they are missing out on beneficial interactions with their audience. These interactions could help increase brand awareness, brand relevance, and overall company growth.
How does a Digital Brand Presence Impact your Business?
Nine out of 10 B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on purchasing decisions.[3] Establishing trust and credibility for a brand is one benefit to having an online presence. More times than not, a consumer or B2B buyer is going to do their research on a business (and their competitors) before they ever decide to make a purchase. In order for consumers to do their research and prove your validity they must be able to find you online as 67% of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally.[4]
One of the biggest impacts digital brand presence has on a business is the ability to engage with consumers on a human level. This engagement could come in the form of replying to comments, answering questions, or responding to problems or criticism in real time. Additionally, being able to reach customers on a massive scale has a non-disputable impact of curating a consistent web presence. Not only will you be able to be seen by more users, but you will increase your brand’s relevancy.
How Do you Own your Brand Presence?
Be proactive, take control of your online image and potential customers perceptions. Start by creating a webpage that best reflects your brand and is optimized to the way your customers are trying to find you. But don’t just focus on your website – think beyond that. Look at your social media pages, what information is there, how often it is updated, and what story you are telling through it? Does the information posted reflect your true brand identity? Your content should be original and consistent in tone, style, and messaging. Review your Google My Business listing to make sure it is complete and accurate. In addition, you may need to look into adding an online directory listing service to improve your 1st page rankings.
It is also crucial that your site is optimized for mobile devices. In 2021, 53.9% of all retail e-commerce is expected to be generated via (mobile) m-commerce.[5] Here are some tips to ensure your website is mobile-optimized. [6]
- Your website should be programmed to intuitively adapt to whatever device is accessing it in order to provide the most user-friendly experience
- Tap-Friendly: make sure all buttons, links and calls to action have the appropriate size and margin to prevent errors.
- Text Phone Numbers: Make sure all phone numbers are text and not images so users can tap-to-call, or copy and paste the number to share with a friend.
- Visual Content: Since mobile websites are usually viewed on the go and on much smaller screens, utilizing visual content such as infographics and videos will be preferred over reading lengthy text.
- Main Navigation: increase padding around menu items so it’s easy for the user to read and tap on menu items.
- Contact Forms: Increase form input fields so it’s easy for the user to fill out the form.[7]
A comprehensive digital brand presence connects you with your target audience where they reside online. By consistently engaging your current and potential customers with accessible information and value-added content (how-to-videos, demonstrations, FAQs, etc.) consumers are seeking about your brand adds to your brand relevancy, increases your brand awareness, and helps to continuously grow your business. By following the tips and strategies presented here you are sure to set your brand far above the competition. If you would like further information or assistance on developing a digital brand presence, our digital experts are ready to help! Contact us today.
Sources:
[1] H. Tankovska, Daily social media usage worldwide 2012-2020 (Feb 8,2021) (available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/#:~:text=As%20of%202019%2C%20the%20average,minutes%20in%20the%20previous%20year.?ref=DigitalMarketing.org).
[2] A. Watson, Time spent with media in the U.S. 2011-2022 (Jun 17,2020) (available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/278544/time-spent-with-media-in-the-us/).
[3] https://www.themarketingblender.com/statistics-boost-sales/(cmocouncil)
[4] https://www.themarketingblender.com/statistics-boost-sales/(siriusdecisions)
[5] https://www.statista.com/statistics/249863/us-mobile-retail-commerce-sales-as-percentage-of-e-commerce-sales/
[6] https://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statistics
[7] https://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statisticsar