When it comes to marketing your business’s virtual office online, there are some important strategies that you need to think about before you dive in.
Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, virtual offices do have some limitations for their digital marketing, but we’re here to explain what strategies are best!
Why Virtual Offices Should Utilize Paid Advertising
Because consumers are unable to visit your physical location, you need a way to expose your brand to the online world. Paid advertising provides you with the opportunity to reach consumers at the right place and the right time.
And, there are a variety of advertising options to choose from! Remember, you first have to create demand to be able to meet demand.
When it comes to getting consumers into the marketing funnel, creating a brand awareness campaign is the first step you want to take. This allows you to create more exposure for your business and let consumers become more familiar with your brand.
Think of an awareness campaign as your online billboard that saturates a key area so your business stays top of mind.
Also, you need to consider running targeted ads to help you gain more leads for your business. Search ads and social media ads are two great options when you’re targeting specific audiences.
Overall, a comprehensive strategy is best when it comes to paid advertising. Running an awareness campaign along with targeted ads will help you reach the proper audiences across various sites and platforms.
If you’d like to learn more about the paid advertising plans at RevLocal, head over to our blog.
Social Media Helps With Brand Validation
Although many brick-and-mortar businesses use social media, it’s even more important for businesses utilizing virtual offices.
Similar to running awareness campaigns through paid advertising, your social media presence helps build brand recognition and validation.
Because you have less in-person opportunities to be visible in front of consumers, the digital space is what you have to reach your followers.
The best thing to do is come up with a strategic social media plan. You’ll need to think about what you’re posting (content calendars are great tools), who you’re trying to reach and the frequency of your posts.
Believe it or not, consumers head to a business’s social media channels just as much as they visit a business’s website. If you don’t have a consistent presence, they may choose your competition instead.
Not only can you post on social media, but you can also boost some of your Facebook posts! Boosting allows you to reach a wide variety of audiences that aren’t following your page.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, our social media plan is here to help you build the right strategy for your business!
Review Marketing to the Rescue
In combination with paid advertising and social media, having a review marketing strategy can be beneficial for businesses with virtual offices.
You are still serving customers, so they can leave reviews about their experience. Not only is a review strategy helpful to your business, but it’s also beneficial for consumers who want to use your business.
Reviews can also be a validation piece for your business. Consumers want to be able to trust a business before they choose them. As a virtual office, it’s even more important to have that trust and validation built through reviews because you aren’t seeing customers on a day-to-day basis.
As a virtual office, you’ll be able to gather reviews on Facebook and industry-specific sites (if applicable), but not through Google My Business (GMB) – We’ll talk more about that in a bit!
Online reviews are just as important than word of mouth referrals from friends, family and coworkers, so be sure to consider adding this into your digital marketing strategy.
Virtual Offices vs. Service Areas
Depending on your industry, utilizing a service area may be a better and cost-effective option compared to a virtual office.
The big difference between virtual offices and service areas is that Google My Business doesn’t allow virtual offices to have GMB listings. The only way you can have a listing is if your virtual office is staffed during normal business hours.
However, if you use a virtual office, it’s likely you aren’t meeting customers in person.
Sometimes, the best option is to use a service area for your business instead of a virtual office. Service areas allow you to use your home address and hide it.
Having a Google My Business listing is an important part of your online presence. Ultimately, a GMB listing can help improve your local search ranking. In turn, a higher ranking allows more consumers to find what your business sells or the services you provide.
Although, a service area may not always make sense for your business or industry, which is why it’s best to have a digital marketing partner on your side to guide you in making decisions.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to marketing your virtual office online, the strategies aren’t too different compared to brick-and-mortar locations.
The biggest difference between businesses with physical storefronts compared to virtual offices is the ability to have a GMB listing.
By utilizing paid advertising, social media and review marketing to create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, your virtual office will be on the way to success in no time!
If you need help improving your virtual office’s online presence, our team at RevLocal is standing by ready to help. Find a consultant near you to get the process started!