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    • Action plan

    Build an online presence for your business

    High effort

    High impact

    Many businesses tick along fine without an online presence, until suddenly the ground shifts and a reactive change is required. All too often, increased competitor activity or changing customer preferences push businesses to build an online presence in a rushed or unconsidered way – despite there being plenty to be gained from getting started sooner rather than later.

    Increasing your visibility online is a great way to market your business to a wider audience, boost sales and be more prepared when the space your business operates in changes.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline
    What's involved? Ways to use this action plan Measuring impact
    1

    Analyse competitors and market leaders to assess how others have successfully built their online presence

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Analysing how your competitors operate online will tell you what's working well for them and where there are gaps that your business could fill.

    Conducting an online competitor analysis

    An online competitor analysis is a quick and useful way to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the online presence of your competitors.
    2

    Set goals for your online presence, considering what you want to achieve and the timeframe for doing so

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    When you start building your online presence, it’s important to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Establishing goals gives you some tangible targets to work towards and measure your success against as you develop.

    Using the SMART methodology to set goals

    Use our SMART goal-setting template to make each goal specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

    SMART goals provide motivation and direction with a clear yardstick of success

    A good acronym to remember when setting goals is SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. This simple framework ensures that objectives are meaningful.
    3

    Choose one area to focus on and test what works

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Trying to build up a presence on multiple platforms at once is challenging. It’s a good idea to start small and test what works, then grow naturally from there.

    Testing where to spend on your online marketing

    Running tests will help you decide which marketing channels your business should focus on. Our checklist outlines the basics.
    4

    Assess what you can do in-house and when to get support from external experts

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    There’s a lot you can achieve yourself, but some elements of your online presence may be better tackled by experts. Avoid wasting time and resources on tasks that could be completed more effectively by someone else.

    An introduction to effectively seeking external digital support

    Whether you’re planning to get stuck into your company’s digital development yourself or call in the pros, here’s what you need to consider.

    External agencies can deliver immediate expertise and fast results

    An external agency helped Maxwell Scott double revenue, but software company Softwire warns SMEs to only trust results.
    5

    Continue to build an online presence for your business, setting aside time each week to improve it or delegating the task to employees

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    A strong online presence isn’t created overnight. Spending time on it each week will help to increase your visibility and turn it into a powerful marketing tool.

    Identifying tasks that can be delegated easily

    Deciding what to delegate and who to delegate to isn't easy. Our template breaks down the delegation process, allowing you to prioritise what you’re going to delegate to your team.

    What can I do with this Action Plan?

    Start this Action Plan

    Add some extra information to this plan and we’ll help you get it done.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline

    Download and print

    Get a printable template for this Action Plan, fill it in with some target dates, and share it with your team. Pin it on the wall where everyone can see it.

    Get the printable Action Plan

    Learning Groups

    We also run Learning Groups on these topics where you can join other leaders tackling the same challenges.

    Find a Learning Group

    How will I know if my action plan is working?

    Source of sales

    Knowing how customers discovered your business shows what marketing is effective

    Why this metric?

    Marketing needs to contribute to your revenue goals.

    How do I start tracking?

    Record how new customers found out about your company. The information can be collected automatically when customers are inputting their details or by salespeople.