Statistics show that in the Philippines, there are 69.6 million internet users in 2018, and, this is expected to grow up to 93.7 million users in 2023. That’s 93 million advertising opportunities that your small business can lose if it doesn’t have an online presence.
Since time immemorial, advertising has always been the life force of a company or a product. To be able to get your company to be noticed, you have to get it out of there. For the longest time, advertising thru television, print, radio or even mailing product advertisement thru snail mail can only be afforded by big firms with big budgets.
However, with the introduction of the internet, the playing field in advertising leveled out. All of a sudden being able to reach your target audience has become accessible to anybody and everybody regardless of their budget. And this new kind of world gave birth to a new kind of consumers that can be reached anytime, anywhere – the netizens.
Online Presence Explained
We’ve been talking about online presence, but what is it? Most of the time, people equate online presence with having a website. This notion is not wrong, but the concept of online presence goes beyond than just having a website
Online presence has simply put a combination of everything and anything that an organization, a person, or a business has online.
Ways to Establish Online Presence
There are many ways to establish an online presence given the numerous number of platforms available on the internet. However, here are some of the easiest and most economical ways to promote yourself or your business.
- Social Media. Not all people or companies need a website because it can be fairly complicated to maintain if you are just starting out. A good option to start building your company’s online presence in social media. With this said, there are many
social media platforms that you can use, but of all the social media platforms available, Facebook has 2.32 billion users as of 2018. So, if you have to choose one social media platform to start off with, take this number into account.
Social media can be used to share your company’s latest updates or maybe advertise special offers, or maybe do a live broadcast to advertise your company’s latest offerings. The sky is the limit when it comes to being creative, and best of all, it’s free.
- Claim your business in Google. Usually, when people want to search for something, they immediately use google to do it. If you have a physical place for your business, make an effort and claim it so that your business appears whenever the user searches for it in the vicinity.
- Make A Simple Website. A website is your company’s home on the internet, and one of the first places that people go to when they want to learn more about your business, and your products and services.
Making a website need not be complicated. In fact, there are a lot of services that have drag and drop options for website design. And, if budget is an issue, there are website services that offer free options to get you started.
Benefits of Having an Online Presence
Nowadays, almost all of the businesses have an online presence. Even the small and medium players of the construction industry that is well known to be a bit xenophobic and have just begun using residential construction project management software are beginning to understand the importance of establishing a presence online.
If you’re not sure if you have to create an online presence for your business, here are some important benefits of doing so.
Advertising for Free
All companies need to advertise so that people know who they are and what they offer. Traditional advertising is expensive, and not everybody can have the budget to do so. Having an online presence is an inexpensive way to get your business out there.
Almost all of the online platforms are free to use, so you only really need to invest your time as well as your willingness to learn the platform.
Your Business Can Reach More People and Is Open 24/7
The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,100 islands, and this can be a challenge especially for small and medium business. But, the internet has no geographical barriers so you can reach your potential clients no matter how far they might be. Remember that the more people know that you exist, the better it is for your business.
In addition to being able to reach more people, the internet also works tirelessly for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today’s customers want service now no matter what day or time it is. An online presence in whatever form gives your client that convenience to contact you anytime they want. Because if you can’t give that service they will move on to the next business who can.
It Contributes to Making Your Business Reputable and Credible
People nowadays automatically check the internet for everything and anything, and this includes businesses that they want to deal with or the products that they want to purchase.
It’s become second nature for people nowadays to turn to the internet to check who you are, they also check on reviews on who used your products or services and their experiences with it before they take a leap themselves.
If your company doesn’t exist online, then you basically invisible to all of these potential clients before you even get the chance to offer your products or services.
Does Your Small Business Need an Online Presence?
The answer whether or not your small business needs an online presence is a resounding YES! Having a presence online nowadays no matter how small your business is has quit becoming an option and has become a need so that you can remain competitive in today’s cutthroat business environment.
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