Many small businesses start with scribbles on a notepad or maybe even a brilliant idea written down on a napkin. That sort of analog charm often continues into the early days of the business, with a local store, print advertising, and a brand design firmly rooted in the tangible.

But often, for a small business to survive and thrive, it takes more than just an offline presence. Digital marketing is increasingly effective, even for small businesses that are largely focused on their immediate area.

After all, there are billions of internet users worldwide and over three billion active social media users.

Reaching people wherever they are is the smart way to build your business. But changing to a digital brand involves more than just setting up your company's website.

Digital Brand Strategies vs. Offline Brand Strategies

On the face of it, it may seem very simple. To make a digital transformation, all you have to do is put your information on the internet. Right?

Not exactly.

Digital brand design requires a ground-up approach. It's wise to take your existing brand into account. After all, you don't want to scrap your current customer base altogether.

So digitizing your brand may require keeping your offline brand strategy while creating and running your digital strategy simultaneously.

Your offline brand strategy may include print ads, mailers, and appearances at community events.

Your digital strategy, though, requires some different aspects.

Features of a Digital Brand Transformation

Depending on your market and circumstances, there are different branding and marketing opportunities. But here are a few that will contribute to your digital brand design, regardless of what your small business is:

• Re-design your company's brand identity and other visuals. This doesn't mean you need a complete redo of the brand per se. But switching to digital is an excellent opportunity to smooth rough edges and ensure your visuals are accessible, understandable, and on-message for your brand.
• Design a practical, functional, appealing company website. Pay attention to the overall user experience, and ensure your site is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
• Create a blog and update it with regular content. Blogs are some of the best ways to get interested, linkbacks, mentions, and shares. Well-written, informative, helpful, and entertaining blog content also helps to build the reputation and personality of your brand.
  
• Construct brief videos to augment content. One of internet users' two most popular activities is watching videos. Video content is so effective and prevalent that it's almost expected for any site to include at least a few short videos.
• Set up company profiles on social media platforms. The other most popular activity online is using social media. And statistics show that more and more people are turning to social media to find out about companies, brands, and products. Your social media accounts are one of the best opportunities to truly digitize your brand personality by letting you showcase different aspects of your company or product, and it's a great way to start conversations with your customers.
• Gather customer leads through your website, and write marketing content, newsletters, and updates to send out via email. Email leads are the gift that keeps on giving because there are so many opportunities to offer information and invite engagement through your customer's inbox. Generate content for upcoming sales or deals, announcements, employee profiles, and helpful tips.
  Design a practical, functional, appealing company website. Pay attention to the overall user experience, and ensure your site is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
• Design a practical, functional, appealing company website. Pay attention to the overall user experience, and ensure your site is user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Your Digital Brand Transformation

If you're used to strictly offline marketing and branding, don't worry. More tools are available now than ever to help make the jump to digital.

Above all, it's important to remember that your digital brand is still your offline brand. It has new features and can reach more people, but your brand's overall personality can remain the same.

This can be especially important for small businesses in small communities, which often establish their reputation offline before switching to digital.

Designing a digital brand can seem overwhelming at first glance. But with the proper attention to staying true to the brand you've already established, plus the help of available tools and design help, your digital brand design doesn't have to be a chore.