Why Your Digital Footprint is Your Best Salesman


Digital Footprint

Whether you like to spend your  time tidying up your website, writing in your blog, or posting social media updates, chances are that you already know that having a digital footprint is important. Now, more than ever, maintaining an online presence is a basic component in any marketing strategy, and often the deciding factor behind the quickest sales. An effective digital footprint will benefit your business by:

Working 24/7, So You Don’t Have To

Even the best of salespersons gets sick. And the ones that don’t get sick take much-deserved vacations. The beauty of the Internet is that it never stops going; your website will always be ready to greet visitors, your blog will always be poised to educate, and (as many teenagers will quickly learn) your Twitter updates will always be around to haunt you. A well-planned digital footprint means reaching customers in your sleep — literally.

It’s fun to think: social media currently reaches 74% of all web users. That’s a lot of phone calls and emails.

Defining and Developing Your Brand

Whether brainstorming ideas, talking through a complicated problem, or writing a scholarly essay, the idea remains the same: the further you get in the process, the more you will learn, the clearer your purpose will be, and the easier it will all become.

Developing a brand is no different. The more you talk about it, write about it, frame and re-frame it, the more cohesive it will become. It is no surprise then, that if your digital footprint grows enough, it will make your brand that much more familiar to your existing customers, that much more focused in messaging, and that much more recognizable to prospects.

By strategically pushing your brand through multiples channels (websites, directories, social media, blogs), you are amplifying your visibility. And in doing so, you end up answering major questions about your identity, helping your brand get to the real nuances of what you represent as a company.

Establishing Your Company as a Thought-Leader

There is a distinct difference between someone who says that they’re an expert and and someone who shows it. An expansive and publicly accessible knowledge-base not only displays confidence, but also instills trust. While your brand can tout its services and apparent expertise all it wants, a wide variety of helpful, relevant, and consistent content will speak for itself.

Furthermore, a high-quality, extensive digital footprint means more organic traffic. Statistically speaking, the more your brand permeates the vastness of the web, the more chances it will have to be found on search results, And when enough of your content has climbed the “Google totem pole” of information, prospects can safely assume that you company is a trusted resource in its niche.

Creating a Digital Footprint

Be warned: not all digital footprints are made alike. Creating a “good” digital footprint means more than simply putting your business online. An effective footprint is built slowly and strategically, choosing each digital channel with purpose, and then not rushing to the next channel until you are content. Needless to say, a half-built website and an empty Facebook page won’t bring the sales leads to your door.

When done right, your digital footprint will help your brand reach more people, better define itself, and establish itself as a known thought-leader within its industry.