Being Online is a worthy Choice even for Small Businesses

The Global business online took a boom was evident when the companies such as Ola with no cab of its own was worth $5 billion; Alibaba with no inventory of its own is valued at $215 billion; Zomato with no restaurants of their own is priced at $660 million & OYO rooms without any stays or their own is a hefty $200-300 million Company. These are just a few examples and the number of such enterprises seems to be growing steadily.

The idea around online business was convenience, the convenience to get a cab service anytime anywhere, convenience to get inventory anytime, convenience to get food on time and the ease of booking a decent stay. So while the brick and mortar shops were busy tapping real products the online giants tapped on convenience and then it was a matter of matchmaking people with product.

In today’s market to the traditional entrepreneur the valuation based on user base must be totally nonsensical. But it really is worth since a business runs on its customers and it’s value always remains supreme.

To many it is surprising to know that multi million dollars worth companies like OLA are still registering loss and it was very recently when Amazon recorded profit for the first time in 21 years of being in business.

The idea of these multi million worth businesses still being in loss but being able to get rounds of investment is enthralling. Now these all have been the talks about businesses that made big with Investor support. How about existing businesses which are currently operating by traditional methods. Do these businesses qualify to fit in this virtual world of convenience sale? Yes they do.

The e-commerce industry boomed and many mortar shops started selling Online through Amazon, Flipkart, EBay or their own online store.

Digital Marketing is fast making a place in even small business marketing budget and rightly so because of its low cost and greater reach. Across all vertical of industries the online presence has become a compulsory attendance since the convenience seeking buyer of today needs all information in the blink of an eye and there is no far reaching, target oriented, low cost Marketing strategy than Digital Marketing.

When your Excuses hinder your Business from growing Online

The basic bottom-line of every business activity is to seek its audience’s attention. Brands whether big or small try out various means to grab their buyer’s attention & at one time ATL and BTL means of advertising were the only things businesses could think of.

Today a large size of buyers for any business is online thereby enriching the internet as the most potential a marketplace. “The terms Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Online Marketing and Internet Marketing are buzzing in the Offline and Online Mediums”. More and more businesses are choosing the internet to build their brands.

However there are a few businesses who keep themselves away from the Online Marketing or even having a website:

The 5 most common excuses to keep business from growing online:

  • My business is too small
  • I only cater to local people
  • I don’t have the required funds/ It’s going to be too expensive
  • I don’t have that much of time
  • I don’t have the expertise
  1. My business is too small.

Well, no business started big. The whole practice of going online is to make it big. So if you are trying to hide behind the excuse of your business being small you aren’t actually looking forward to grow. Your website becomes the gateway for the globe to reach you online and if you are not online you are keeping your door closed.

When you choose Digital Marketing as your Marketing strategy you are inviting visitors to become your customers. This is possibly the best possible way for any small business to get a greater audience size than they could get by any other medium.

2. I only cater to local people

You have a takeaway counter which remains open till midnight and you have a competitor right on the opposite size of the road. A new couple, who has come to live in the same block, wants to buy food in the middle of the night and chooses to search local food and order online. Your competitor advertises his services online and has an online ordering system in place and he gets the order.

You loosing this one customer is not just once in a while but will begin to happen more often since your local competitor is not just local now, it’s online and you are lacking behind.

3. I don’t have the required funds/ It’s going to be too expensive

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on your online marketing/ Digital Marketing Budget, Infact by spending your time you will be able to create the best Social Media Marketing Strategy yourself. You can choose to go online just by yourself without spending on online advertisements (PPC) or Digital Marketing Professionals.

4. I don’t have that much of time

How we use our time is entirely upon us. But, I believe when you have spent your time in building a business you should be spending time to get it to grow. You can start by spending small amount of time daily & you should allocate this time dedicatedly to grow your business online.

By better organizing your time you can see your business growing. Now wouldn’t you want that to happen?

5. I don’t have the expertise

You may not be a marketing guru, but when you have a business in building you know what you are selling and how to sell it. Regarding the Expertise required to pull of the Social Media Campaigns and Digital Marketing Campaigns you can take advice from Professionals or let them handle this job of yours.

With time your Business and Marketing Strategies should change otherwise there is a great chance that we may become fossilized.

Why Real Estate companies need Digital Marketing

Change and innovation have always been at the forefront, notably in creating and utilizing new measures to better serve the needs of the company and its customers. Gone are the days of age old marketing plans consisting solely of person-to-person events and traditional media. Instead, reaching the customers through email and social networks are now crucial to every company’s marketing efforts.

“Certainly the advent of technology and electronic commerce has had an immense impact on the real estate industry.” – Michael Oxley

It’s a situation to which you either adapt or simply be left behind. Along with every other industry the Real Estate Industry too,needs to adapt and shape up for these new marketing channels. With their smartphones in hand, every person has become smart and knows how to research an avenue well before investing in it. Same goes for Real estate. As the Real estate is not a tiny matter and needs a well thought out plan before making a move, every buyer is now searching for brokers, dealers, projects, and sellers online, and even comparing prices online. It becomes all the more necessary for the Real Estate businesses to market digitally.

Visibility- Active social media accounts and a constructive website offer brand enforcement and recognition that would not be found in traditional media. Being visible and active in such places where people are looking, builds a trust for the companies in the minds of the buyers.

Better Customer Interaction- Clear messages in regards to the prices and locations of the projects gives the customer a better idea. And a substantial digital presence gives you the opportunity to interact with the customer andengage with them in conversations.Blogging and leavinginteractive elements in the form of buttons, and feeds can generate excellent results.

Higher Conversion- Conversation to Conversion. From visiting your websites through the ads in Facebook pages to getting engaged in a conversation through commenting on the blogs. And when a customer gets an active response to his issues, he gets a better idea of the projects and as mentioned above, there is trust that gets built in the process. And you have converted a visitor to a customer.

Lesser marketing costs- Promoting a business online, hardly takes up any money and sometimes even none, but reaches out to a wide range of customers. Unlike traditional media (print, television, etc.) that chuck high rates, and in some cases go ineffective at reaching the target market. The money which would otherwise be invested in the marketing and promotion sector, is not only saved but also bears a return without being invested.

If you’re looking to attract more real estate leads to your website, increase your appeal in the digital marketplace or boost your branding online, there are several key strategies you are going to want to know that work.

SEO-: The better the SEO, the more your customers. As your company’s name tops the search chart, people are obviously going to visit your website first before anyone else’s. 89% of the marketers have said that their SEO marketing efforts in 2015 were very or somewhat successful.

Social Media-: The best player when it comes to real estate is the social media. It is accounted for having drawn the maximum number of visitors to a company’s website. According to studies, a person visits and revisits his social media account 3-4 times a day. And your real estate business can make the most out of their visits. A full 56% B2C marketing professionals are known to have generated the majority of their revenue from Facebook in the year 2014.

E-mail marketing-: A study showed that 14.1% of those who open Real estate related email, click at least one link in the message.

Content marketing- Blogs and content that the customers find relevant and helpful can engage a customer’s interest in your company.It is important to any real estate agents marketing plan because people want to know more and more about a community, the financial scenario and other useful information, before finally investing on that project. It was viewed as the most important digital marketing trend in 2015.