If you are wondering where to begin building your brand online, the following checklist will come in handy to prioritize and implement marketing strategies for your business.

• As a business owner, you may have already set up a legal entity for your business by registering with the state and other entities depending on the type of business you are in. It is equally important to also secure a domain name for your business. You may not be thinking about building a website right away, but you must secure your brand name by
  • registering one or more domain name(s) for the website, with GoDaddy OR NetworkSolutions or any other registrar of your choice.
  • Securing your brand on social media profiles, such as
    • Face book fan page
    • Twitter Profile
    • LinkedIn Profile
    • YouTube Channel

• Once you have secured your brand, you can put a marketing plan together to adopt marketing strategies into your business. Prioritize strategies depending on your business environment and demographics.
  • If your target market is not looking for your products and services on social media profiles, Social Media Marketing may not be the best option for you. You can determine the effectiveness of different strategies by evaluating industry trends and competitive analysis data that is available for you. You can seek help from a professional if you need help on how to get started.
• If you are going to defer company website for a while, customize your social media profiles to be consistent with your brand, so consumers can get to know who you are. Just having a profile online is not going to get you any exposure. Follow some of the tips I shared in my previous blog posts on how to remain active on social media profiles.
• When you are ready to build the company website, spend time understanding your target market demographics. Information you gather in the research process is going to come in handy in designing your website in choosing the look and feel for the website and in choosing the right content to publish on the site. Consult with a professional and get help in designing a professional website. After all, this is going to be your greatest marketing tool for a long time. You want the website to be built on a platform that is scalable and also
  easy-enough to update content, to keep your website fresh and up-to-date.
• Consider hiring a Web Copywriter, if you are pressed for time and can’t focus on writing content by yourself. This is going to help you get your website launched on time, so you can start marketing. Get into the habit of writing content in your spare time, that you can post on blogs and article websites. Remember great content in the Right Context is the King. Content Marketing is the best way to position yourself as an expert in the industry.

• Once you have a professional website, integrate all your social media profiles with the website, and start driving traffic from search engines and social media to your website.

About the Author

Kalpana Murthy, President/CEO at WSI Plano, DBA Kriti Web Solutions, LLC. is a Digital Strategist, Consultant, Speaker/Trainer, & Software Engineer who is passionate about bringing affordable technology solutions to businesses to build online presence. Kalpana Murthy is a certified partner with Google, HubSpot, Sharp Spring, SEMRush and other digital solution providers.