The age old question of how to drive sales is ever evolving as technology and platforms shape the world of business. One method which we can be fairly certain is here to stay? The internet/ E-commerce. Unless we run into an artificial intelligence/ Skynet scenario all businesses are going to need to take their brand and product online. This necessity has become ever more present since we have landed in the grip of a global pandemic that has brought national economies to their knees.
I don’t want to beat the same old drum but too many companies out there aren’t taking full advantage of the huge range of platforms to present their brand and product. This leads to poor results and finally viable businesses closing their doors because they couldn’t find their customer base.
The Great Shift to E-commerce
For the first time in history online sales have overtaken the high street and peoples purchasing habits are changing. Customers who previously spent their weekends perusing high street stores are entering online markets in huge numbers. We’re taking a 210% increase on last year’s numbers and that is a game changer.
The biggest difference between these two markets? Brand. To sell anything successfully online you’re going to need to put yourself out there. No more blow ins and no more high street means businesses need to actively hunt down and engage with their customers, E- commerce!
What does this mean for most businesses? Well in short your website becomes your focus. You wouldn’t leave your physical store with paint hanging off the walls and signs in the wrong places so don’t let your digital representation slip by the wayside. Picture yourself as a customer of your product. How do I find my product? What do I need to do to engage? What are my sticking points and so on. As a business owner you need to be able to answer these questions and take action to resolve these in a digital world.
Action you can take, now!
Now for many this will be a fairly complex range of tasks across multiple formats and mediums but I’m going to deal with the nuts and bolts to ensure you are at least meeting the minimum requirements in today’s world.
A Facebook page. Simple and easy to action. This is a perfect way to start engaging and quantifying your users and can be set up properly in less than an hour. Let your customers know what you’ve been up to, put names to faces and add personality to everything you do by simply writing a post a day, hell even a post a week.
A website. Not so simple, but still easy to action. As I mentioned earlier your website is your window to the world and should be treated accordingly. But I don’t sell products online. Who cares, your customers use the internet so you need to be there whether you like it or not and just because your business runs successfully by word of mouth now doesn’t mean that it will in 5 years time. Future proofing and adaption is the key to survival in any environment and business is no different. Now your website doesn’t have to be a work of art or a custom Maserati but it does need to represent where you are now and where you aim to go.
These two steps will present your business to new markets, customers and opportunities that were previously impossible.
Don’t thank Prize Pig Media, just do it and watch your business thrive.