Ivan Popov is the CEO of Vipe Studio, which establishes and maintains websites for enterprises, SMEs and e-commerce platforms.
It’s no secret that the business landscape has changed tremendously over the past few decades. In what appeared like a split second, enterprises and customers had to embrace a whole other level of interaction, advertisement and, essentially, existence.
With the digital world entering our lives and staying for good, a lot had to change when it came to how businesses operate and get their target audiences familiar with all the products and services they have to offer. If years ago, the customer experience consisted of visiting physical stores and purchasing printed product catalogs, nowadays clients head straight to their browsers and interact with enterprises online.
So it’s essential for businesses to establish a place for themselves in the digital world. Once a favorable option, nowadays, it’s a necessity that helps companies pave their way to success and scalability. I’ve seen this firsthand as the CEO of a company that helps build and maintain websites.
Following The Crowd: How We All Ended Up Online
If we take a look at our surroundings, we’ll likely witness people staring at their phone screens, browsing through a plethora of websites and applications. Today, many people are glued to their mobile devices. Be it shopping, working, studying, reading, communicating—you name it, and it has its digital variation. According to PEW Research Center, 76% of adults have purchased products and services via mobile.
Since customers are any business’ focal point, it’s only natural for enterprises to follow customers’ lead. Before we knew it, online existence turned into the next big thing, and businesses realized the importance of establishing their digital presence.
A business’ website is oftentimes the first-ever interaction customers have with the enterprise. Since many people are already used to heading straight to their browsers, it’s no wonder they begin building their relationships with businesses the moment they land on their website or application. Essentially, that’s why it’s crucial for enterprises to go the extra mile when it comes to strategizing and marketing their long-term digital establishment.
What Digital Presence Can Do For Businesses
Increased access to customers: First and foremost, owning a website or an application scales your market and opens the realm of the online world. Essentially, this gives your potential audience plenty of opportunities to discover and get in touch with your business everywhere, anytime—convenience no physical location or store could ever provide.
Relationship-building: An online presence adds to interactions and builds relationships. Website dynamics allow customers to fully engage with the business’ content in terms of listed products and services. Through interactive content, images, videos, polls and tutorials, enterprises can showcase their catalogs and help clients establish trust.
Complete transactions: Online platforms take payment and delivery to the next level. Security, flexibility and convenience all shape this benefit that comes from establishing a digital business presence. People can easily purchase their desired items and services and select from a multitude of delivery options.
Stand out: A digital presence can help businesses win their spot among competitors. Chances are, there are already others in your niche, so an online existence grants the enterprise exposure and informs potential audiences that it, in fact, exists. This potentially boosts any business’ chances of winning clients over and beating the competition.
Customer support: With its numerous opportunities and nearly infinite room for improvement, web development, design and software grants businesses the opportunity to further scale and upgrade both their portfolios and customer support, thus resulting in elevated customer experience.
How Enterprises Can Start Building Their Online Presence
I would be stating the obvious here if I concluded that opting for a web presence is indeed the go-to strategy. But this decision alone leads to numerous other smaller ones, which require businesses’ full and undivided attention.
You can start by addressing the enterprise’s scalability plans: Is the business successful where it is as of this moment? What is its potential when it comes to development and growth? What is preventing it from reaching those higher levels of development? Is digital presence going to open new doorways and thus lead to new potential markets and elevated profit?
What about social media? Some business niches perfectly suit what social media channels have to offer. Start from there—establish which media channels would do your business justice, and focus on them. Social media works wonders when it comes to customer engagement and business credibility.
If your business is situated in the e-commerce field or is perhaps a big enterprise, you can always consider a full-scope website that would check all the above-mentioned points. Today’s web development and software evolution is so tremendous that virtually any idea that crosses your mind could be transformed into reality. And that is truly something that has the potential to scale any business, anytime.
Another aspect to consider is the increased opportunities for communication online. Once the business has a digital place of its own, it can be easier to spread the word, engage with customers and establish long-term relationships that truly add up to the overall success rates.
Deciding to pursue an online presence can oftentimes present a turbulent experience for enterprises. Choosing the right approach, coming up with the best design and coining the proper digital brand identity are questions that ultimately require time, effort and in-depth research.
The good news is that sticking to what makes an enterprise unique is always the best strategy: I’ve found that staying true to what shapes the brand’s tone of voice and revolving the digital establishment around it is the most authentic and client-driven approach.
Of course, businesses could opt to reach out and hire web developers—however, it’s important to mention that there is a multitude of ways in which brands could single-handedly craft their own digital experience. There are platforms where building a website is rather intuitive, cost-efficient and seamless and businesses can establish great websites for free or a fraction of what development companies would charge.
Regardless of where a business is today, entering the digital world is certainly a step forward. With its multitude of possibilities and benefits, digital has the potential to help scale enterprises and discover new horizons in development and growth.
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