I may not know about your instincts but as for me, I find it disgusting when I want to know more about a given business and then find out that it doesn’t have a website. Although there are a number of online dictionaries and directories in Kenya where you can get your business listed, including your contacts and location, I suppose this is not sufficient and not a true representative of your business online. You need an online presence to succeed in business.
When looking for your business online, consider this: I may be aware of its location, but by the time I search it online I will surely be seeking more than your location. I would probably be interested in knowing what products you have, the sources, credibility, working hours and so on. Unfortunately, even with the availability of cheap domains and free sub domains in the market, it still appears that many small businesses in Kenya have still not yet displayed their product menu online.
In Kenya, Safaricom has come up with a product called Zidisha Biashara – a product that gives you subsidized airtime and data, a website and website management lessons. Although the program was much publicized, the progress in taking up the domains is growing in a slow pace. This clearly indicates that the Kenyan marketers and business people are yet to take their businesses to the next level.
Now, where do you think we are headed? The online platform and social media presence are tools that are set towards propelling our businesses. Any marketer needs to take up these two marketing choices as they are bound to work for anyone.
There are other online business tools that have been created with small businesses in mind as a solution of promoting them online, directly linking them to their customers who can just walk into their shop to do business.
Many articles have been written about social media marketing, advantages of having online presence, and many of the service providers were offering deals to encourage Kenyan business owners to venture into the online market.
It is a high time that business owners and marketers create an online marketing strategy and work towards making the venture a success. Among other alternatives are Blogspots, Facebook pages, Twitter handles and sub domains. You can take advantage of these online tools and make your business a success in the online marketing platform.
Entrepreneurs pick
For you to market your business online, you don’t necessarily have to have that big amount of cash to set up a nice website… you can actually start with Blogspots, Facebook pages among others.
