Let’s face it: 2020 put an exclamation point on why you need a digital presence, always driving business toward your website. Even if you don’t sell online as the primary vehicle for business growth, customers need to learn about you online. As much as we long for things to get back to normal, recognize irrevocable changes and take appropriate action. Even if your train is old and slow, it needs to change with the times.

Look at the difference between these two quotes: “A strong online presence allows you to build your brand and gain the credibility that you need to attract more customers. Along with making your business readily accessible, online presence also gives your customers an easy way to find out more about what you have to offer.” This came from a 2015 blog by QuartSoft.

Now look at a 2020 quote: “During this pandemic, it is critical that businesses are online. Having an online presence can help you build an audience, connect with your customers, and keep them updated on your day to day activities, as well as hours of operation. If you’re not online, how else can your customers know when you’re open or what products or services you provide?” This came from a 2021  Business 2 Community publication.

The intensity of the second is punctuated with just one word: critical. The point is simple. In 2020 Amazon blew its competition out of the water, and people like me, who had never shopped online before, learned how simple (and dangerous) it was to buy with the click of a button. That little tidbit of knowledge will never leave my brain. Will business ever again revert to a 2019 model of happy browsing in local stores? I don’t know…but don’t trust your future to that glimmer of hope. Be proactive and expand your online presence.

This isn’t as hard as you think:

• Establish a FaceBook page for your business. Follow it up with a FaceBook group for loyal shoppers. Post on your page once a day. Always. Post in your group two or three times a day.

• If you have a website, link every post to your site and keep it updated. I am miserable at updating mine, because I have never seen it as a marketing imperative, but even my archaic views are beginning to change the way I conduct business.

• Make your online presence the way you meet and greet new shoppers, luring them into your storefront with pictures and deals and contests and vivid imagery. You don’t just have new tea towels, you have fluffy soft tea towels a person has to feel to believe…see what I mean?

If you don’t have the time or patience to do this, bring in an independent contractor. Either set a salary or find someone like myself who is willing to be paid for minutes of services rendered. The point is simple, however: Ignore the online factor and shrivel into oblivion. Embrace the 2021 parameters and grow your business. Here are points from an AllBusiness publication about why you need to address this now:

1. Your online presence attracts and grows a wider audience. You are no longer limited to people who drive by your storefront or browse through your block of business. There’s a whole new world out there!

2. You can build a relationship with your customers through multiple interactions, not just a quick browsing of the store. Relationships drive business and build trust for your brand.

3. An online presence is cheap and effortless marketing. No one has to buy a paper. No one has to place an ad (though you can). In any hour of any day someone is browsing online.

Many efforts go into putting a train on the rails. You don’t have to be the engineer, but you definitely need to be the force driving the train if you want your business to grow in 2021.