Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’ve been growing your business over the last few years, and it’s grown decently, but you feel stuck. So you try creating an online presence for your brand.
But after several months of content creation and promotion, you don’t see a lot of fruit for your hard work. Your numbers are nowhere near where you want them to be… so what’s the point?
When you hit a rut like that, it’s easy to get discouraged. In those moments, you probably have thoughts like these:
This is taking forever! Why am I spending so much time promoting my business on social media when no one even cares?
I’ll never be as popular on Instagram as [Insert Fellow Businessperson Here]. They have so many followers. I barely have a few hundred.
I… have… NO CLUE WHAT I’M DOING!
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking those things, let me reassure you … you’re 100% normal!
So if cultivating an online presence can be so hard, why spend time doing it at all?
I’ll tell you why. In fact, in this article, I’ll give you 5 compelling reasons why your business needs an online presence.
Let me run through them briefly for you:
- Your customers are online.
- An online presence makes you look like a legitimate business.
- Your online presence works for you 24/7, not just during networking meetings.
- Online automation lets you nurture more potential clients at once.
- It opens your client base up beyond your geographical location.
Now let’s look at each of these reasons on a deeper level.
1. Your Online Presence Matters Because Your Customers Are Online
Your customers are online. And not just your future customers—I mean your current customers. They’re online looking for online solutions to their problem.
But don’t take my word for it. A 2019 study found that 81% of consumers do online research before making a purchase in a physical store. And 85% do online research before making an online purchase.
Modern customers want to look you up online before buying what you offer.
In our digital age, you can’t afford not to have an online presence. I don’t mean that to sound threatening or judgmental. It’s just how it is.
Think about it. When you need to purchase something, what do you do? Probably one of two things: Either you ask your friends where they get that product/service or you research it online.
If you run a small business, referrals are probably your strongest way of getting clients. But if you want to grow your small business beyond your friend group, you’re going to need to build an online presence.
2. An Online Presence Makes Your Business Look Legit
When people hear about your business and are considering purchasing, the first thing they do is look you up online. I promise.
I’ve done this more times than I can count. And if I can’t find the person online, it raises a red flag for me and makes me subconsciously question the quality of the business’ products or services.
Maybe it’s not fair for me to subconsciously jump to that conclusion. But I can tell you it’s because I grew up in an increasingly digital age. And I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
Your online presence represents the quality of your brand to the vast majority of your customers—now and in the future. For that reason alone, cultivating your online presence is worth the effort.
That means creating a website that’s clean, branded, and easy to navigate. It also means being active on at least one or two social media platforms. And lastly, it means growing and nurturing your audience via email.
3. Your Online Presence Works for You 24/7
Unlike networking and referrals, your online marketing works for you at all times, night and day.
Once you put content up online, it stays there for people to find it. I’ve had clients who have found my blogs months after I posted them and, as a result, loved my work and wanted to hire me.
Now, granted, social media does require some engagement. But even with social media, you can schedule posts out in advance and then take about 15 minutes a day or so to engage with people who liked or commented on your posts.
There are definitely ways to save time with your online marketing!
4. Online Marketing Allows You to Nurture Many Clients at Once
It’s true, there’s nothing like face-to-face meetings or personal follow-up emails to convince a client to work with you.
But with online marketing, you can nurture many clients at once. Not just 20, but dozens, hundreds—thousands, even.
That’s the power of automation! Scheduling social media posts, blog posts, emails, and so on leverages your limited time to reach far more people than you could with personal phone calls and networking meetings.
5. Your Online Platform Opens Up Your Client Base
Cultivating a strong online presence allows you to connect with potential clients all over the country and the world, not just in your local community.
I work out of my home in Central Florida, but my entire business is online. As a result, only about 25% of my clients are in Florida. The rest are all around the U.S.! Oddly enough, about 50% of my clients are in California. I’m not exactly sure why that worked out that way…
But the main point is that when you have an online presence, it opens you up to clients beyond your geographical location. And as you know, more customers means more revenue.
Start Cultivating Your Online Presence Today
I hope I’ve convinced you of the value of creating a strong online presence for your business.
If you haven’t started building your online platform yet, I highly encourage you to start—today. Don’t wait any longer. Build that website. Create those social media posts. Write those blogs. Send those emails. You owe it to your business!
Here’s a free e-book all about how to get started with building your online presence through blogging, social media, and email marketing. I think you’ll find it helpful!
And if you’ve been trying to build your online presence and are totally frustrated with the results so far, I’d be happy to chat with you about what might be holding you back.
Schedule a free clarity call with me to see how I can help you build the online presence your business deserves. No more confusion—just clarity and growth!
Jenny Rose is a freelance copywriter and content marketer specializing in B2B marketing, real estate, and accounting. She's written for clients like AAA, Edward Jones, Flyhomes, Guild Education, and more. Her writing has also appeared in publications like Business Insider and GOBankingRates.
