By Stuart Pollington, the owner of Smart Digital Group in Thailand and Smart Traffic Pty Ltd in Australia
If you don’t have a website, you’re missing out on customers and probably losing them to your competitors. It’s a bold statement, but one we can make with confidence. There’s plenty of evidence to back it up.
In Thailand alone, nearly 27 million people are active on Facebook and the top search engine is Google with over 98% of the search market – many of whom are your potential customers.
Just think about how many people you could reach if you develop an effective digital marketing strategy.
Below, we detail just some of the top reasons why you need to make a website and start marketing it sooner rather than later.
Outshine Your Competitors
Whether you’re selling goods to local businesses or importing wine into Thailand from Australia, you can feel confident that you have plenty of competitors using the internet to attract customers that could be purchasing goods or services from you instead. Why miss out on generating leads, boosting your profits and bolstering your brand online when doing so is so cost-effective?
That last sentence leads nicely to our second point: Digital marketing really is an inexpensive way to spread the word of your business. While it’s worth paying for the services of an industry expert if you don’t know much about online marketing, you can technically build a website and start marketing it for next to nothing.
Make Sure Your Customers Can Find You
We’ve already established that millions of Thai citizens and expats use the internet daily. Last year, over 41 million people had internet access in Thailand, and that figure is expected to rise to nearly 44 million during the course of 2019. By 2022, there will be over 49 million internet users in the Land of Smiles, and many of those are using search engines to find businesses like yours.
If you want them to be able to find you, you need to take digital marketing seriously. The world wide web is now flooded with billions of websites, so if you want yours to make a mark, start blogging, advertising and sharing posts and news on social media. It’s a small investment of time, effort and money that could pay dividends, and there are plenty of companies that can help you maximise the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
Get to Know Your Audience
Thanks to the internet and social media, you can connect with potentially millions of your potential customers. You can respond to emails and social media comments easily, invite people to comment on your blog posts, encourage customers to leave reviews, generate backlinks and much more. There’s no reason for people to take the time out to call you when they can ask questions using their mobile device and expect a prompt response. Just think about how many establishments you frequent simply because they offer a fantastic level of customer service. Do the same online, and you can expect your customer base to grow.
Trade Online 24 Hours a Day
You’re not limited to generating sales during business hours when you trade online. You can sell your products or services 24 hours a day while bolstering your brand if you have a website. For that reason, it’s worth investing in web development and search engine optimisation services to make sure your website performs to its maximum potential. You need a striking website that sticks in people’s minds, encourages people to spread the word about your business and generates leads. At the very least, you want your website to be memorable so that if people require your services in the future, they’ll visit your website instead of a competitor’s.
Measure the Performance and Effectiveness of Your Campaign
One of the biggest advantages of online marketing in Thailand is that you can monitor the performance of your efforts easily and for a cost-effective price – free in some cases. Google has a variety of free tools that give you an insight into your traffic and conversion rates, but there are plenty of other high-value tools that offer optimisation tips and more. Of course, making sense of conversation rate, traffic and optimisation data can be challenging and time-consuming, as can encouraging other websites to link to your website (which is crucial for establishing authority in your industry to boost your ranking), so if you’d prefer to spend your time focusing on your core business, you might want to partner with an SEO specialist with years of experience.
Don’t Wait Any Longer to Create Your Digital Marketing Strategy
So, there you have it – digital marketing can help you outshine the competition, bolster your brand, expand your reach, trade around the clock and increase your profits exponentially. Moreover, you can alter your strategy to get the best results by using sophisticated and intuitive online tools. If you don’t already have a website – or if you have neglected to market it yet – now is the time to get started.
Looking for more information on doing business in Thailand? Check out the latest news from AustCham.
