Imagine this situation real quick!
You hear a bad thunder storm outside, the wind is rattling the doors, and all of a sudden you see some brown spots quickly appearing on your ceiling. Yes, that would be a leak in the roof and water is coming in! When the storm clears, the first thing you will be doing is trying to find a roofing company to take care of this issue ASAP.
You in this situation are the consumer looking for service provider right? What is your next step? Pulling out the big yellow book and checking through the roofing company names? What about going from neighbor to neighbor asking for referrals? NOPE, you probably are going to pull out your phone or laptop and search "Roofing companies near me"!
Technology and the internet has made things extremely efficient in finding service providers, but there's a lot to pick from. As you scroll through the listings, of course you will be selecting each one to do some research. Let's say the first one you click has no website. We'll that's a red flag, how does a solid company in 2019 not have a website? NEXT....now you keep scrolling and you find one that has a website, is close by, and has social media accounts to dig deeper. As you are checking through these sites, you see all the pages have barely any posts, no reviews, and pics that looks like someone took them from a flip phone in 2009. You probably aren't going to get the most secure feeling in your gut about calling them to fix your roof!
Lastly, you see a listing for a company, they have a professional website that clearly directs you to what you want to know as a consumer. As you get linked to their social media accounts, you see tons of great reviews, beautiful pictures, educational posts that show they know what they are talking about. Assuming the price is even remotely reasonable, you're picking up the phone and hiring them.
This is how we think and operate now as customers for almost everything we buy! So if we are doing it why would you as a business owner not be preparing your company to look the best it can to the general public online??
After working with countless businesses in Pittsburgh, we've found there are a few necessities to at least having a strong foundation when building the perception of your company online.
1. Professional website that is linked to the Google search Indexes, and has links to your social media accounts.
2. Utilizing social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIN, and Instagram at a minimum)
3. Professional photos or video content to present a great image of your business and your team
There's many items on the checklist after this is completed, but this is the foundation in our opinion to at least get in the game when it comes to generating leads online!
If you have further questions on this or your approach to your online marketing and branding, feel free to sign up for a free consultation to discuss your company's goals at www.ThePittsburghInvestor.com