NOT A FRANCHISE, A BUSINESS OWNER’S ALLIANCE

Virtualizing Your Sign Business for Bigger Market Share

Virtualizing Your Sign Business for Bigger Market Share

Want to get the most out of your business in 2018? Take it to the virtual world.

Today’s post is all about how and why you need to bring your business online to maximize sales–and how the Signworld business alliance can help.

What is Virtualization?

To virtualize your business is to create a virtual version of your company that customers can find through Google search, social media, ads, and other web assets.

Getting your business online is a multiplatform endeavor. You’ll need a website, Google My Business listing, social media presence, and plenty of “citation” listings in online directories. You’ll also need to create a mix of organic and paid assets for your online marketing campaign. Most importantly, you’ll need a “shop,” which simply means building an e-commerce component into your website.

Why take your Sign Business Online?

Simply put, the virtual world is full of potential customers you simply couldn’t access from your local sign shop.

Today, e-commerce represents just over 12% of total global retail sales, according to a Statista report. By 2021, that number will climb to 17.5%, and this upward trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

Signworld business partners make 50% or more of their sales from their website alone. In other words, taking their sign business online potentially more than doubled their profits.

Beyond getting you access to new markets, virtualizing your business also gets you greater access to existing customers who already know and love your brand. Sometimes the only thing holding people back from doing business is the fact that their hours are incompatible with yours. If a customer wants to sign-shop at midnight, they shouldn’t be penalized–they should be enabled. And that’s exactly what e-commerce can do for you. Unlike a brick-and-mortar sign shop, your website is open 24/7 to showcase your products and services, contact information, store hours, and more.

Getting your sign shop online also creates way more opportunities to engage directly with customers. In addition to promoting your contact information 24/7, a web presence lets you interact with customers via contact form inquiries and social media exchanges, in real time, and all from the comfort of your home.

How do I Virtualize My Sign Business?

At the bare minimum, your digital footprint should include:

  • A custom domain name that represents your business
  • A mobile-responsive website with ecommerce capabilities, secure payment processing, and a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate
  • Social media assets
  • A business email
  • A Google My Business page
  • Local reviews and directories
  • Click-worthy content that promotes your business and builds brand authority

Setting up these assets is beyond the scope of a single article here, but don’t worry–Signworld business partners get full training, setup, and support.

In additional to outbound marketing and networking training, we will teach you the right way to build a website full of compelling content, and integrate inbound marketing to maximize your reach on the internet. Once you’ve completed the website/internet presence module in our 3-day operations training, you can access weekly small group webinars to learn even more about e-commerce. Our training is beginner-friendly and proven successful even for business owners without any “web savvy.” And if you ever get stuck, ask any member of the Signworld business alliance using the forum on our Owners website.

Learn more about virtualizing your business with Signworld at https://www.signworld.org

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

free webinar

Get Exclusive Access to Current Business Owners

Join us for our next monthly webinar.

NOT A FRANCHISE, A BUSINESS OWNER’S ALLIANCE