04 Sep Online Marketing…Explaining the Basics
1. Finding your Listing
First, they expressed interest that they need a home so their will either tell a friend if they know a realtor, search around in a neighborhood they like, or google for listings. That’s where Search Engine Optimization comes in. Knowing what people type on “Google” to get to your site. If you have a condo near a university and would like to attract students looking for temporary housing, then you would need to put out targeted ads to attract students, that’s where Social Ads come into play.
2. The Exterior of the House
First impressions last so the exterior of the house should be clean and lawn is groomed, the exterior paint is not chipping off, there is no junk in the garage that can be seen from the outside. Your online presence equivalent for this is your website landing page. This will be the first thing your audience will see when they go to your site. The clutter-free design, the speed at which the site loads, the user friendliness of the website will determine if they will stay and explore or close the window and look at another site that will answer their question.
3. What Are People are Saying About the Neighborhood?
Next is about the neighborhood. What the neighbors are like, the schools, churches, groceries near the house. What people are saying about the community, what events are going on in the neighborhood. The overall vibe of the place. This will be your social media presence, which is what the community is saying about you and what the upcoming trends are that you can be a part of.
4. What is it like to live in the house?
Now let’s say they agree to go see the house. They go through the door and will check the build of the house, how sturdy it is, how the interiors look like, the layout of the rooms, what fixtures are built into the home. Pretty much imagining what it’s going to be like living there. That’s called your user experience. What will their experience be like when they get to your website? Will they know where to go and navigate to find the information they need?
5. Is the person or company selling the house “legit”?
Finally, they go home, discuss about the company selling them the house, the developer or realtor, how they can be sure that payments will be remitted well and turnover will be smooth. That’s reputation management. Your case studies, reviews, client testimonials, will finally convince them that you are a legitimate entity and will help establish trust with your customers, this is online reputation management.
Online branding is a collective effort.
You see, like selling a home, you cannot expect to just show a photo of the house and convince someone to invest right away. A successful online presence takes time to build. You can have a good website but with no traffic, which will be useless. You can have people say nice things about you on social but without actual case studies, reviews or testimonials, still won’t be enough to convince someone to buy. You can have the best social media presence and website but without a good user experience or customer service, can make you lose all the new customers you just gained.
With over 85% of customers looking for products and services online, and with the rise of the new normal, customer habits have changed. So the question is, are you willing to adapt to the new way of marketing and start working on your brand now? Or will you stick your guns and rely on traditional (and costly) methods of getting your product and service out there? Seeing that establishing an online presence takes time and effort, there is no time like the present to start building yours.
No Comments