Online equals customers

By Lee Sturgess, Polar Creative Studio:

As a result of the increased use of Social Media, the internet has become a powerful platform for accessing the most up to date information for businesses and services.

In the UK alone, eighty-eight per cent of adults have accessed the internet within the last three months – a statistic that continues to rise. But despite the mass audiences, there remain a significant number of trade professionals who choose not to utilise the opportunities online…

Online Equals Customers

If you’re not online, it’s not just you.

Approximately 1.98 million Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s) do not have a website, amounting to a loss of over £343 billion each year.

Tradespeople alone stand to lose around 21 jobs per annum, equating to an average of £16,590. It’s not surprising therefore that choosing not to promote your services online is regarded as one of the biggest business mistakes by industry professionals.

However, it can feel daunting to make the transition from offline to online. To simplify the process, we recommend enlisting the help of a qualified website designer who can get your site up and running in a short space of time.

Once your fully-functioning site is made live, your business will attract a range of new clients who can read all about your services at a time that’s convenient for them.

Social Media Spreads Awareness

Like it or not, Social Media is a necessary medium for online success. If ever you want to draw attention to your website, Social Media can drive the traffic right there.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn all have different audiences, and embedding links into your posts can help promote your message to a diverse audience while rising up through the Google rankings.

As well as driving traffic, Social Media can help businesses engage with their audience, encouraging a sense of brand loyalty. With public and private message functions, specific questions can be submitted to you, creating a more transparent relationship. To get ahead of the game and avoid confusion, you can refer customers to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

Another great use for Social Media is its ability to broadcast digestible snippets of information at the click of a button, including photographs and videos. Most people prefer manageable pieces of information as it has been reported that visual data is processed 60K times faster by the brain than text. So, with the help of Social Media, your business stands a much better chance of capturing the attention of web users.

Be Prepared to Adapt

Although it’s important to keep up with the existing Social Media, it’s just as important to evolve. We never know what the next trend for promoting your business so its best you remain up to date with the latest trends in applications as well as technological developments.

Sources:
Internet Users in 2016 (2017). Retrieved 28th February, 2018, from Gov.uk
How Much Does A Website Cost (2017). Retrieved 28th February, 2018, from Approved Index