As one of our nation’s dedicated growers, it’s no surprise that you’d rather be out helping your clients in the field or tending to your own crops instead of hunched over a screen trying to navigate the world of online business.
However, in today’s digitalized world, it’s super important for your agricultural business to have a strong online presence if you want to maintain great business-to-customer relationships.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how incredible your offer is or how effective your agricultural services are. If your business isn’t visible online, you’ll miss out on tons of potential customers.
How can a strong online presence benefit your agribusiness?
Providing immediate solutions to your target audience when they search for your services online is key to securing more customers for your agribusiness.
85% of people research products and services online before they commit to a purchase.
If you want to be considered by this massive pool of potential customers, you must be easy to discover online, and you’ve got to make a great impression, too.
Establishing and maintaining a solid online presence plays a significant role in the overall success of your agricultural business by:
- Making it easier to find your business
- Enhancing brand awareness
- Humanizing your company
- Building customer relationships
- Improving user experience
- Nurturing customer trust
- Establishing customer loyalty
- Encouraging organic traffic
- Increasing sales and customer base
So, it’s pretty clear that investing your time and energy into creating a consistent online presence will be invaluable to your agribusiness.
But how do you make that happen when you’re an expert of ag and not clicks?
We can help. Here are some super simple steps to grow your business’s online presence so you can focus on tending to your clients and doing what you do best.
How to grow your online presence quickly with six simple tips
It’s more straightforward than you might think to boost the visibility of your business online to impress your current and potential customers.
Let’s dig right in.
1. Create and maintain a powerful website
Your website is like your virtual storefront, meaning it plays a major role in making your business look like the cream of the crop online.
And yet, too many agribusinesses don’t invest in a professionally designed and built website, immediately setting themselves off on the wrong foot.
Investing in a user-friendly website makes it easier for customers to find you online, boosts user experience, and makes your business look more professional.
There are a few essential elements to nurturing your website to help it perform its best online. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Quality website design
Not only does your website need to perform well on search engines, but it also needs to look great and provide a smooth user experience to online visitors.
Your website should be as clean and functional as your business is. A well-maintained website will keep all vital information at your audience's fingertips and make it easier than ever to follow the desired calls to action.
Mobile optimization
Another critical element of website usability is accessibility and performance on mobile devices.
83% of the U.S. population uses a mobile device to search for products and services online. This statistic is expected to increase to 86.7% by 2025. Given that most people will be viewing your website on a phone or a tablet, it must be optimized to perform well across all devices.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
SEO refers to optimizing the structure and content of your website to appear higher on search engine results pages. Using the same local keywords your target audience is using to search for your products or services online, SEO helps them find you and your business faster.
Sprinkle these keywords into the text on your website, placing them strategically in headings, and search engines will know that you've got what folks are looking for.
This ensures your website ranks higher on Google search, increasing the visibility of your business online.
2. Establish a consistent social media presence
Having a strong presence on social media is a massive part of online visibility. And while you might not think folks want to see what you're up to in the fields all day, you might be surprised!
Regularly updating your profile with insightful and entertaining social media posts helps to humanize your business and keep your brand relevant, forming a loyal following across different social platforms.
Plus, social media is just that – social. Using these platforms is a great way to promote engagement with your current and potential customers, allowing them to interact with your content and encouraging them to reach out to you with direct messages if they have questions about your business.
3. Keep your content fresh and up-to-date
Creating content that attracts your ideal clients isn’t just restricted to your social media pages.
Incorporate a blog section into your website where you regularly post industry news, share your expertise, and give further insight into your business.
Publishing articles, videos, and other content to your website also helps boost SEO while ensuring you’re delivering the most value possible to your target audience.
Consider guest posting! That is, writing blogs that showcase your knowledge and expertise that other businesses can share to broaden your audience and forge even more connections online.
4. Update your Google Business Profile
Did you know that
98% of online users read reviews of local businesses?
Your Google Business Profile is a great opportunity to showcase your positive online reviews and build brand awareness. A Google Business Profile is another great way to cover more digital ground.
Ensure your profile is updated with high-quality, professional photos, and important information about your business, including where to find you, how to reach you, and when you're open for business.
A strong Google Business Profile makes it even easier for people to find out about your business by placing your important information front and center and helping you appear higher in Google search results.
5. Create an email marketing campaign
Email marketing is a highly effective way to reach your audience exactly when they need you by providing segmented, personalized emails.
Create email campaigns that advertise when your best-selling products are low in stock, target specific customers to offer them their favorite products, or send them a reminder if they’ve left an item in their shopping cart.
This way, people only receive emails they want to open, reducing the likelihood that they'll unsubscribe from your mailing list.
6. Invest in online advertising
Online ads are a great way to cast your net even wider and strengthen your company’s online presence.
Paid advertising, like Google Ads and Facebook Ads, can boost your brand online and introduce you to an audience that may not otherwise have found your business.
Simply set yourself a budget, directly target your audience, and track your campaigns to see how well they perform and if they result in more online traffic and sales.
Grow your business with a strategic online presence
At Agtivation, we help agricultural small business owners build an online presence that attracts and engages their ideal customers.
Our expertly crafted
Marketing Maximizer makes online marketing a breeze, so you can relax knowing your business is putting its best face forward online.
Feeling frustrated by the feast or famine cycle of the agriculture business?
We can help. Online strategy, web design & digital marketing for the ag industry -
get in touch with our team today.
