A traditional business refers to a business that has a physical store that sells its products and services face to face and has direct interaction with its customers. In other words, they are known as brick and mortar companies.
With the growth and accessibility of the internet and social media, it has become a necessity for everyone to have an online presence. Traditional business owners are starting to realize that they are losing business because of the growth of the online market.
Nowadays you can get anything online without leaving the comfort of your homes. Everything ranging from dating to shopping is done online now.
Advantages of taking your business online
Taking your business online has a lot of advantages, so of them being:
1. Business/Company Image: Having an online presence or a website can boost the image of your company. A well-designed website that matches your business ideas and values will establish trust with prospective clients.
2. Availability all-time every-time: Irrespective of what date or the time it is your prospective customers can read about your business and know the product/services that you offer. If you are selling products online customers can buy the products at anytime day or night.
3. Economic: With all the customer service done online right from products to orders to payments businesses can reduce operating costs. This will help reduce staff numbers, office space, and other office expenses.
4. Global Audience: Your business can service customers from all over the world. Target audiences from all over the world and run ads to get global online presence and grow your business at an international level.
5. Credibility: Being one of the most important factors. Having a presence online with good quality reviews from Google would increase credibility and establishing trust.
Keeping all the advantages of taking your business online aside, the added benefit traditional business owners have is that since they have established a business offline. They have enough and more experience and knowledge to make it big online. They already have a business up and running. So making it online would not be as difficult as setting up a new one.
Let me explain why I say so.
For starters, traditional business owners know their business in and out; they know who to target, who would be their ideal customer, what products their business sells or what issues they are addressing to solve.
Traditional business owners have met their ideal customers/clients in-person making it easy for them to profile them. Furthermore, a successful traditional business would already have :
1. Branding: they know their brand in thorough and its values.
2. Customer profile: they know who exactly their customer is and how to target them.
3. Discovery: They know how exactly customers come in search of them. Through which channel customers come to them (this helping marketing easier).
4. Customer Service: They know how to keep a customer happy and keeps them coming back.
So now the question arises, how exactly can I take my business online and grow?
To be honest, the irony is that successful online business owners want to know in-depth about their customers like a traditional business owner. And a traditional business owner wants to know all the information important to set up an online business.
Key elements to taking your business online
The best way to take your business online would be to hire a partner/agency to help you set up. Make sure the partner who you are hiring checks the following qualities:
1. Knows and understands business and how businesses are run. (Would understand the importance of customer research, copywriting and marketing).
2. Understands conversion-focused design and knows how to design for your business and brand. (Just pretty websites don’t help create revenue for your business)
3. Is it technically sound? the partner does not have to be a master hacker/programming genius, should know how to position and choose the right tech stack for your business.
Before you go ahead to search for a partner to set up your business online, write down/document all you know about your business. Make sure it is expressive and clear in your own words.
Also, remember that nobody knows your business as you do. Ask yourself why exactly you are taking your business online and how exactly it will help grow your business. This will help with branding and positioning your business online.
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