Developing a brand for your business is more complex than it meets the eye. A lot of businesses fail in their branding attempts because they fail to understand there’s more to a brand than just designing a logo.Â
There are many aspects to a successful brand ranging from a brand image to your brand promise. However, one thing that’s crucial for the success of your brand is a strong digital presence. But what does that mean?Â
Simply put, your brand’s success relies on the exposure you establish for it. The more people are familiar with your brand the more successful it will be if you’ve done everything properly. But in order to build enough exposure, you must first build an online presence that will be a foundation for your future efforts.Â
In most cases, many brands start with their website and social media pages as the base of their digital presence. You should consider doing the same if you want your brand to truly stand out from the rest. With that in mind, here are a few reasons why a strong digital presence is important when building a brand.Â
1. Reaching out to your audience
As you may already know by now the majority of consumers are online these days. If you want to reach out to your target audience effectively, you have to be where they are. Your digital presence is your foothold in the online world.Â
That way, people can find your brand more easily and find out more about it if they want to. Moreover, it’s much easier to reach out to your audience when you’re online. When you create exposure and visibility through digital marketing you’re basically presenting your brand to your target audience.Â
Whether your brand pops up in someone’s newsfeed through an ad or you reach out to them directly through comments on a Facebook post, that someone immediately becomes aware of your brand’s existence. Therefore, promoting your brand online is one of the surest ways to get your audience to notice you.Â
2. Makes you more available
Having a strong digital presence means that you’re more available to your audience. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be there to answer any questions but it does mean that your audience can find out what they need whenever they need it.Â
For example, having a website means your audience can look up what you’re selling, when your brick-and-mortar stores are open, how much you charge for shipping, and so on. In addition, having a presence on multiple social media platforms means your audience can engage with your brand where it suits them the most.Â
They don’t have to make an extra effort to find you if you’re right there in front of them. For instance, your audience on Facebook doesn’t have to check your website or your Twitter page to get additional info. Instead, they can find everything they need on your Facebook page. That’s what digital presence is all about. You’re basically available to your audience at every step of their buyer journey.Â
3. Allows you to tell your story
It’s important for brands to be able to tell their story. That’s where a strong digital presence comes into play. It allows you to present your brand in the best way possible. You establish your brand identity and present it to your audience online.Â
Your audience forms their own opinion of your brand and they establish a brand image. If the brand image matches your brand identity, you’re on the right path for sure. Here’s an example of how to use your brand identity to tell your story.Â
• Portray your mission statement, brand promise, and company core values, as well as beliefs.
• Develop your brand’s personality as it was a real person.
• Design core branding elements such as logo, fonts, colors, product packaging, and others.
• Develop your unique tone of voice to communicate with your audience.
• Portray your unique selling proposition and show your audience what it is that your brand has that other brands don’t.Â
Through digital means and presence, you’re able to showcase your brand identity to your audience no matter where they are. You can tell your story and show consumers what your brand is all about so that you can establish a meaningful and more personal relationship with your audience.Â
4. Expand your company’s influence
A strong digital presence helps your brand evolve and develop further. The more popular your brand becomes the more market share you’re able to get. In other words, business expansion goes hand-in-hand with brand success.Â
That said, brands offer something unique that other businesses or brands don’t offer. That can mean anything from superior product quality to a unique return policy. The stronger your digital presence is the more opportunities for growing your business will have.
You may even expand internationally at one point. However, before you get that far, your digital presence will allow you to grow in whichever way you see fit.Â
For example, you can create a market penetration strategy, diversify your products to target niche markets or merge with other businesses to expand your influence in the market. If your brand is popular enough and well-established, you can use your digital presence and marketing to develop your company and broaden your online exposure.
5. Improved customer support
No matter how popular your brand may be or how great your product or services may be, the success of your brand depends on how satisfied your customers are.Â
A strong digital presence brings customer service and support to a whole new level. You’re basically offering support via multiple channels and means, thus allowing your audience to choose their own preferred methods. Here are a couple of examples.
• Using chatbots to provide customer service on instant messaging apps.
• Providing customer support via phone, live chat, email, social media, etc.
• Collaborating with multiple financial services to provide additional payment methods to customers, such as credit/debit cards, bank transfers, PayPal, and so on.
• Implementing a knowledge base or an FAQ page on your website for self-service.
Your digital presence helps customers reach out to your brand anywhere and anytime. You’re available 24/7, which is something a lot of consumers expect from your brand.Â
A strong digital presence is simply a must if you have a brand or you’re in a process of building one. If no one knows about you or they can’t find you online, it’s like your brand doesn’t exist at all. That’s why you must establish an online presence so that your brand can truly stand out from the rest of the competition.
Author
Adrien Cyrus is a digital marketing specialist and graphic engineer from Clinton, New Jersey. Interested in corporate branding, digital marketing, and graphic design.
He writes business-related articles, most notably for DigitalStrategyOne.