Building A Proper Digital Presence Having a digital presence does not only refer to advertising online, but building a digital destination for your business.
By Abdulla Barakji •
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If you look around, everything has become digital. People read news on websites, watch TV online, connect on social media, read e-books- heck, even this article, you're reading it on a website. At least once or twice a week, you'll hear the phrase "there's an app." We live in an age driven by technology. People have become dependent on technology that makes their life easy.
In a time when everything is digital, every company should have a digital presence. Having a digital presence does not only refer to advertising online, but building a digital destination for your business. This includes many factors that, unsurprisingly, depend on visuals:
1. Branding
Be sure that you have an attractive logo that's not too busy for the eye. People want something interesting to look at. You should also make sure that you have a common color theme for everything related to your business. Try to keep it two colors at most; you don't want to look messy. The typeface you use is also a very important factor in your branding. Choose a font that looks simple and modern- hint: Helvetica and its variations.
2. Website
People judge a company's credibility based on its website. It's not a surprise most startups that launch have a beautifully designed website. Some are so well designed that you scroll around the website, even if you have no interest in what they provide. This comes to prove that the appearance of your website is very important.
3. Social Media
As a company, you don't need to have a place in every social network there is. Think very well before you take your brand to the wrong network. For example, if you're a consultancy, you have no business having a presence on Pinterest. On the other hand, if you're a restaurant, not being on Pinterest or Instagram is a bad move. For some types of businesses like a marketing agency, they can easily be present on every social network. It all comes down to what you offer as a business, what your social media strategy involves, and whether your target will be on that network.
4. Content
As part of your digital marketing plan, you should allocate some of your resources into creating content regularly on your company's blog. This would benefit you as a company in various ways. If you create content related to your brand and industry, it will help build your credibility. Over time, you can become a source of information that people refer to. Aside from that, creating good content regularly builds up traffic which leads to a good SEO ranking. This on its own is a very valuable asset that you should heavily invest in.
If you look at the points mentioned above, you will notice a trend; it's all about the design and presentation. When you're online, you won't have a sales pitch ready for a potential customer. Instead, you will have to depend on pulling the customer towards you by having attractive visuals and website content. From a design perspective, keep it simple and modern-looking.
As a business, you exist for the customer; so, learn and understand your customer. Then use that to build a proper digital presence.
