In this article we are taking a look at why businesses need to step up their online presence now in the year 2020 more than ever. Covid-19 has changed the way that businesses operate and how consumers interact with businesses all around the world. We look at what you can do to ensure that your business doesn’t miss out on sales.
Why Businesses Need A Digital Presence
Covid-19 has caused around one quarter of UK business to find themselves in ‘significant distress’, according to Financial Times. From the start of the UK lockdown (March 23) to April 5, nearly 40 percent of businesses in the United Kingdom reported that they had recorded ‘significantly lower’ turnover. These type of statistics have been reported by businesses all around the developed world and highlights the downturn that businesses in most sectors have faced since March. As time goes on, economic numbers are expected to return to pre-covid levels, this could take quite a while and is based on there being no second-wave.
If a second-wave were to occur, this could cost businesses months of revenue and would cause many to close permanently as a direct result. However, there are many sectors that can mitigate the loss of revenue by strengthening their connection to customers elsewhere. By ‘elsewhere’ I mean in the online landscape.
Many businesses that require customers to enter a premise in order to order a product, such as supermarkets and takeaway restaurants, can accept these orders online and integrate a logistics system that sends these orders out. However, this is only half the problem. A significant amount of businesses receive these sales through general foot traffic and people passing their premise. So the sales that they miss through lack of people passing their store won’t be able to be recuperated. Or can they?
How To Drive Sales Via Digital Marketing
Driving sales through digital marketing with the focus of making up for sales lost through caused by Covid-19 is an endeavor that many large corporations are embarking on. Although, even smaller business can grow their operations online by following the same model, just on a smaller scale. To succeed in the online marketplace, businesses must know their customer and continue to learn their buying habits. The marker of a fruitful digital marketing campaign is one that not only yields sales, but provides information and data relating to how that sale was made. This includes location, steps leading up to the purchase and other factors regarding the buyer. This ‘buyer profile’ will help you target people in the future that are most likely to buy from you.
It is difficult to run affective marketing campaigns on your own, this is why finding an agency that provide digital marketing services is important. Depending on your budget, the marketing channels you follow will be different. For example, if you are looking to spend from $100 to $500 per month on marketing, then this is enough for a SEO campaign, but might not provide results if you spend this on PPC. The technical side of marketing, which includes implementation and analysis, is best left to agencies and marketing experts who can understand this data best.
Driving sales does not only have to be done through search engines like Google, social media marketing can provide great results for many companies and can bring awareness to what you are selling.
To conclude, building an online presence for your business can help to minimize profit losses caused to covid-19. It is suggested that you consult a marketing agency in order to find out what your best options are and how you can benefit from promoting your business online.