All but the smallest of local businesses use the Internet in one way or another these days. If you’re not using the Internet as a marketing tool, you could be missing out on potential customers. I have to confess that I use the Internet for everything. If a service provider or store doesn’t have at least a basic brochure site with trading hours or contact details, I’ll find one who does and go with them.
Unfortunately, for the small business owner who is used to doing things the old fashioned way, or just hasn’t had time to learn new computer skills, the world of Internet marketing, social media and ecommerce is often so overwhelming that they just keep putting it off and never actually get around to implementing anything. To steal the Nike slogan - ”Just Do It”.
More and more of our client base are asking us about the value in establishing an online presence and learning to leverage social media. I don’t think that there are too many hard and fast rules – it’s really a matter of exploring different online avenues and testing which ones will work best for your business. Of course, this depends a great deal on the type of business you have and the amount of time you’re willing to invest.
Why not set aside just 2 hours a week to explore, learn and increase your Internet presence? Let us know how you go…..
If you are already online, how important has your online presence been to your business? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Article by Christie Lewis
Christie is Practice Manager at Alan Lewis Accountants . Besides accounting, her passion is for all things small business (and blogging, of course). You can contact Christie directly at christie@lewistaxation.com.au.
Christie has written 811 awesome articles for us at Alan Lewis Accountants – BLOG
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An example to add to your points above. Yesterday I ran a breakfast session on Social Media For Business for a dozen businesses, at the end one of the participants told me a story of how he normally meets people at networking events and arranges to meet them for a coffee later to tell them about what he does. He is finding now that people want to take his card first – they they look him up on Google! – before deciding if they will spend time to hear him out. This is of course, what we do now. We check things out before we commit. His realisation now is that without an online presence, he is at once invisible, and as a consequence, irrelevent.
He is really struggling with this. I suspect he is at least ahead of those who have not yet ‘twigged’ that this is the new reality in business.
Excellent point, Lindy!
That is a fantastic exampe of how dismissing the Internet can result in prospects quickly dismissing you. Thanks so much for sharing it.
How did your Social Media for Business session go?
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