Marketing and communication go hand-in-hand, especially digital marketing and electronic communication. Digital marketing needs to be a two-way street, whether it’s marketing your services, making yourself available for questions, or exchanging ongoing information with your existing clients.
All of these types of communication are options you need to consider for your business, and for the digital marketing company you hire. Whatever you decide, Deckard & Company can help create the processes and integrate the tools you need to get your digital communications up and running. Digital communications options are relatively straightforward, but you need to be clear and consistent about which ones you’re using, and how.
Still not sure? Take a look at some of the digital communications options we offer to Bradenton small businesses and beyond.
What kinds of digital communication does my business need?
When it comes to digital communication, you need to consider:
- How you spread the word.
- How your potential clients reach you.
- How you provide ongoing communications with your existing clients.
It starts with how you communicate with your potential clients—the people who are in your area and/or interested in your industry. This is probably what you’re envisioning when you think of “digital marketing.” You need to spread the word by communicating about your services and the way you do business, as well as your brand.
Digital communication also includes how your potential clients communicate with you—how they ask you questions about your services and determine if you’re the right solution for them.
And then, when people do want to do business with you, you need to be able to communicate back and forth with your clients throughout your process of providing goods/services to them. How do you exchange information and materials? How do they communicate their preferences? How do you send them your products, and how do they ask for changes?
What communications options and communication tools are available to my business?
Well, your digital communication options are the same digital marketing tools offered by Deckard & Company to establish and promote your company’s online presence. Those communication tools include:
- Your business website.
- Your business email with your website domain.
- Your business social media accounts.
- E-mail newsletters (aka e-newsletters).
Deckard & Company utilizes a business website with its own extensive communications, as well as social media accounts for Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. These are the communication beacons we put out to the world, and the way we hope the world gets back to us.
What communication options will my website offer?
Your website has the potential to offer, by far, the most comprehensive set of communications options. First of all, your business website is the home for all of the information about your business—from your services and background to your hours and availability to your preferred contact info so your clients can communicate back with you!
Of course, your website will be made for ongoing marketing communications like blogs, press releases, videos, and whatever else you want to use to talk to your audience of customers and potential customers. But how do they talk to you?
In addition to just listing your own email and phone number, your business website’s communication options include:
- Individual employee contact emails (ie [email protected]), which can (if you like) be linked on your website’s “about” page, allowing each employee to be reached independently.
- A primary, generic business email (ie “[email protected]”), which can redirect into your personal inbox or the inbox—or anyone else’s).
- An online contact form, which can prompt people for additional information about who they are and what they’re looking for.
- An e-newsletter signup form that can prompt people for their email addresses, giving you a valuable database, which people have legally opted into, for targeted e-communications.
What about communicating through social media?
Social media remains a fantastic tool for getting your company’s brand and overall attitude out there. Plus, it’s great for last-minute and day-to-day updates that people might not see on your website. (People visit their social media sites every day, but usually don’t check other websites on a daily basis.) And social media comments sections create casual conversations that let people feel like they really “know” your brand.
When it comes to social media DMs, however, we recommend you direct people to a more secure form of communication. Always monitor social media messages, but keep the real communications to your own website and email, where you have much more control.
How should my company maintain effective digital communications?
Once you’ve established contact with a customer, it’s up to you on how best you want to communicate. At Deckard & Company, we prefer to collaborate with our clients via project management software that allows for collaborative and highly organized communication and file-sharing.
Some of these options (like your own email address with your website’s domain) are a given for business owners, while others depend on your preferences. We can build you whatever communication format you choose, but take some time to determine what really will work best for you. The last thing you want is for a customer to reach out to you and your company online and hear nothing but radio silence.
Want to know more about how we communicate? Visit our website, give us a call or email [email protected] today!
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