Whether a company is developing their first online presence, or revamping an existing one, an important first step for success is to develop an effective outline of the strategy.

Creating a strategy for accomplishing a company's end-goals, helps build the needed road-map to success.

A strategic outline for implementation may significantly increase the opportunity for success and profitability.

In most cases a company's online presence is its most valuable tool for generating new business leads, improving sales, and successfully assisting existing clients.

Getting Started

Begin developing an online presence and campaign strategy by:

• Researching general opportunities available
• Review the competitions efforts
• Surveying existing customer needs, views & opinions
• Analyzing initial data results & feedback
• Revise with additional specific research based on initial findings

Because initial research is so important, the majority of time to develop a strategy for a presence should be spent by gathering research and consumer input.

While the initial research phase may be generic, as more information is collected, the data from the research will become more specific and detailed.

Two of the most important factor to focus data collection efforts on are:

1. what are competitors doing online?
2. what do customers want and need?

Reviewing competitors online presence efforts (as well as unrelated industries) provides understanding as to the availability and relevance of:

• website technologies,
• relevant social media platforms,
• online & offline medias,
• & industry strategies.

By viewing various industries, one can learn potential pro's and con's to others online strategies that may be beneficial to emulate.

Asking the Important Questions

After gathering research of what technologies, tools, and medias are most effective for reaching the desired goals, the next step is to develop detailed questions which may help gain more insight.

A successful planning session may ask the following questions to determine the campaign needs:

What is the budget for additional research, design, development, ongoing maintenance, and marketing?

• What is the available budget?
  Budget affects strategy and campaign development, helping determine whether to utilize free-template solutions, or customized solutions.
• What channels will be available to consumers/employees? Such as:
  • website
  • social media platforms
  • video libraries
  • sales channels
  • etc
• Will there be online e-commerce needs?
  • shopping
  cart
  • inventory management
  • payments
  • scheduling
  • etc
• Are there any collateral development needs?
  • logos
  • graphics
  • videos
  • written copy
  • pdf forms
  • other materials
  • etc
• What are associated short and long-term expenses?
  • initial design
  • program development
  • maintenance
  • upgrades
  • hosting
  • memberships
  • equipment costs
  • security
  • marketing efforts, etc

Who's the ideal target market & demographic?

• Many might think that it will be the same target market as the existing brick and mortar business.
• However, when it comes to the internet, there's a whole new population of potential new customers.
• With today's extensive online channel availability, including social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, Alignable & LinkedIN; knowing the demographics of the target market is essential to creating successful and appealing campaigns.

What function(s) will an online presence play for visitors and customers?

Decide what function and role each piece of the online presence (website, social platforms, sales channels, etc) will provide for visitors and customers:

• Only provide information about the company or industry to visitors?
• Allow prospects to fill out online estimate requests?
• Will estimates be interactive and provide immediate results, or will it send the information to a company representative for them to respond with an estimate?
• Enable the sale of company products or services to online users?
• Offer order, service, or ticket tracking?
• Other online account related management functions?
• Online storage of information customers can securely access over the internet?
• Will online information be editable by customers via the web, or just viewable?

Knowing all functions the business needs available is necessary for smooth campaign campaign development and implementation.

For large campaigns, it's often necessary to create a flow diagram of the different collateral & functionalities envisioned.

If the campaign is extremely large, it may be best to look at developing the strategy in phases for ease of implementation, testing, and management.

Developing in phases can not only make the initial up-front investment easier to handle, but also make it easier to see how different strategies might play out, what's working, and what still needs to be addressed or modified.

What function(s) will the online presence play for the company's employees?

Decide what function and role an online presence will play for the company's employees:

• Allow employees access to company documents online, and outside the office?
• Will employees be able to enter online sales orders?
• Can employees securely access consumer information online?
• If securely storing online, will information be editable by employees via the web, or just viewable?

As with customer functions, it's important to note necessary functionality to keep the project development and implementation flowing smoothly.

Again, with large projects, it's often necessary to create a flow diagram, implemented in phased development.

What are other companies doing for web design, social interaction, and marketing of their online presence?

It's always important to know what the competition is up to:

• If they sell online, then do so as well to stay competitive.
• If they provide 'how-to' seminars, allow online sales, estimates, or applications for services to users, do so as well to remain relevant.
• If they participate in social medias and other relevant forums, be competitive and follow suit.

Whatever the industry, complete a competitive analysis to know what's expected by potential customers. By utilizing Google, one can look up any industry, find out who the major players are, analyze their online presence, review target markets, and see what's expected to stay competitive.

What is the best plan to acquire leads and sales from the ideal target market?

The last step before campaign development and implementation is to figure out how to reach the desired target market. This may include multiple methods to reach the desired target.

The most recognized method of acquiring targeted leads with free-online traffic, is the use of search engine optimization (SEO):

• SEO helps an online presence attain better ranking in searches on Google, Bing, et al.
• For regional markets, Local SEO, Near Me & Around Me optimization is essential.
• For a new campaign, it can take several weeks before a company will begin to see their new online presence in search results; (if the business properly optimized for search engines).

Additional methods for generating qualified leads with free traffic for a new online presence include:

• Viral marketing (a type of word of mouth via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Alignable & LinkedIN) can bring in traffic within minutes of posting; pending the posts are relative and catch the users attention.
• Direct mail is VERY much alive and effective in reinforcing related marketing and advertising. Utilizing multiple offline channels keeps the business front of mind with consumers.
• Permission-based emails to targeted prospects are effective when used properly.
  • It is strongly discouraged to use mass email lists purchased off the internet.
  • Often such lists are not legitimate with double opt-in confirmation of individuals consent.
  • Mass email marketing often annoys users, and can be thought of as a nuisance detouring some prospective clients from utilizing a company's services.
• Use Google to look-up directories specializing in similar industries; often they will list the website as a resource in the directory.
• Enclose notifications of new products and services in billings or mailings to current clients. Companies tend to forget about current customers after the initial sale; existing clients have a lower cost to obtain additional sales revenues.

There are also low-cost methods of advertising using a PPC (Pay-per-click) service such as Google Ads program, or Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram).

• Most programs allow one to specify a monthly budget, and choose which keywords to sponsor; all at very affordable rates! Cost per clicks can run as little as just a few cents per click.
• Google has excellent tools that help estimate how many clicks to expect per keyword, per month for the budget specified. (These tools can also be used to help select appropriate keywords for use in website content as well.)

Putting It All Together

Once the research is completed, it's time to put together the plan outline.

When compiling the plan, it's best to organize it in phases from quickest and easiest, to more complex and expensive.

Rarely would one want to start with the most complex right from the start. Instead, start small, simple, and build from there.

For example:

Start with a nice, professional, informational website presence. Then, market & build as budget and needs dictate; add social medias, maybe e-commerce, later perhaps the need for interactive customer service options, and so on.

An online presence offers unlimited possibilities; it can grow as the company's needs grow. The biggest hurdle is to realize that online success doesn't happen in a day, nor even a year.

Developing a successful online presence is a very strategic, and orderly process; one that must be completed piece-by-piece over time.