Once upon a time, there was a phone book. If someone wanted to hire a professional they would look for one in the phone book. They would also ask family members and friends for a referral. Larger ads in the yellow pages were taken to mean that you were more established. For sure, the larger ad steered more business your way.
Decisions about what brands to buy were driven by television and newspaper ads, and of course, word of mouth. Personal experience played a big part too. If your brand didn’t meet expectations, that “word of mouth” could kill your product.
Today, we live in a globally connected, rapidly changing, digital world. “Word of mouth” can spread in seconds.
The old phone book is now online. Your potential customers and investors will check you out online before making a decision about whether to hire your services or purchase your products.
According to statistics, 90% of consumers are unsure about a brand before they begin their search. Therefore, their first impression of you is formed within the first 10 seconds of reading content about you on the internet.
This means you have a great opportunity and, potentially, a great risk.
Whether you are a company or individual, your online presence needs to be an accurate reflection of who you are: your vision, mission, experience, and capabilities.
You may think, “I have a website, isn’t that enough?”
No.
Developing a strong online reputation is more than designing a winning website. Remember that word of mouth that is now digital? Potential consumers might still ask around about you, but more often than not, they will go to social media channels to solicit recommendations. They might visit online sites to see if there have been any recommendations or warnings.
Your online reputation has to capitalize on multiple digital channels if you want to establish yourself or your company as a trusted asset in your field.
Contact us today, and let’s get to work on developing a winning strategy to create or improve your digital footprint.