Are you a business owner? Are you planning to open up an online marketplace but confused what platform to choose? Right now there are plenty of platforms for businesses to sell their products and services. They can use facebook or instagram shops, sell through online marketplaces or through websites. Depending on the platform you choose, your sales and results will be different. In this article we will look into why selling through a website is the way to go.
Set up and running cost lower then offline business
The cost of setting up an e-commerce site is much cheaper than an actual offline business. In offline setups, you have expenses like wages of employees, electricity and heat costs, rent of space and other business expenses. With e-commerce websites you can forget about all these expenses, which in turn means you save money. The money that has been saved can be put in to improve the website and your product range.
Run your business from anywhere
With websites, there are no geo-restrictions like offline offices. Unlike offline shops or offices, you can oversee your business from anywhere in the world. All you will need is internet and a device that can access the internet. This way it will not hamper your business no matter your location.
Grabbing the customers attention
The competition for grabbing attention in facebook right now is fierce. According to facebook, the average newsfeed displays about 1500 stories as of 2017. Because of all these stories people’s attention is all over the place. According to a study, the engagement rate of people with posts has decreased by 20% as of 2017 and with time it will decrease more. When it comes to websites, you have someone’s undivided attention, even if it means for a few seconds that is way better than facebook. As for driving traffic to your website, that can be fixed with a good organic search strategy. A business might struggle for the competition for keyword search, but with time and consistency that competition will decrease.
Control the experience
With your own company website, you control 100% of the experience. A well designed website works as an extension of your company and its values. This will give the customers a clear idea about your company. With your own website it will only provide your businesses information and will show off your unique selling points. Although you can customize facebook pages, in the end it still looks like facebook. In the end of the day customers want to know what makes you different from your competition. Your website will do a better job of telling your brand story rather than a facebook page. Also with a website your business will not be a subject facebook’s ever-changing algorithms.
The leads belong to you
Making content for platforms is fine, but nothing beats capturing a customer’s email address. Emails are still the highest provider of ROI for marketers. Once you have the email address, you can deliver the right marketing option during the right time. With facebook, although you can attract prospects, it does not help complete the sales cycle. You want to drive your followers to the website and sing them up to stay in contact. It’s not a sure shot that you will have a place in their newsfeed, but you can expect to be recognized in their inbox. If you have a long sales cycle, the online marketing strategy must include layered content for every stage of the Buyer’s Journey. You can use other platforms for lead generation but you want to nurture those leads through your website.
At Halcyon, we always want our clients to use their websites for sales and also as a marketing hub. We don’t rely on one platform entirely. What we prefer is using other platforms to build audiences. Then we use their websites to generate the lead and nurture them and turn them into customers. At Halcyon we believe there is no substitute for brand websites for brand control, user personalization and lead nurturing to be accomplished.
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