The economic consequences of COVID-19 have changed the traditional ways of doing business. Now is the time to transform your company's use of technology for the benefit of you and your customers.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) did not prioritize digital transformation.
The economic impact of COVID-19, however, changed ways of doing business.
Now is the time to transform your company's use of technology for the benefit of you and your customers.
The question is: do SMEs understand what a successful digital transformation means in practice?
What is digital transformation?
According to SalesForce, digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements.
The reimagining of a business's operations to adapt to the digital age is called digital transformation.
Below I review the most successful ways - through my wide experience - to undertake a successful digital transformation in a company.
Act now
In 2021, digital transformation technology and tools are readily available for most small, medium, and large companies. Now is the time to optimize your business processes to deliver an omnichannel experience that is customer-focused.
Digital transformation requires, however, strategic planning at every stage of the digital ecosystem development to increase both brand awareness and profitability. Do not expect to do it alone. You need an expert to help…
Hire the right people
Sometimes enterprises who look for a digital marketing specialist ask for an intern or professional with three years of experience producing content for social media platforms. Yet, considering the job requirements and responsibility, it does not make sense to ask a junior to implement a digital transformation process.
Rather, implementing digital transformation requires a broad vision of digital marketing.
Some SMEs stay static because they think they need the resources of a large company to successfully develop business transformation. That is not correct. The first step is to hire a digital marketing consultant to conduct an audit of your business. In this way, you can get the best recommendations for your business and a detailed action plan according to the budget.
After implementing the action plan, a digital marketing specialist can help you to achieve your business objectives, which means more than just maintaining your social media presence and getting "likes". It is about increasing real sales and developing credibility.
The digital transformation is not a “nice to have”, it's a “must” in the modern world.
Recognize the value of your customer database
Most SMEs understand the value of customer data. Knowing, for example, how many times, and when, a customer visits your physical or online store per week.
But maybe the most important question is, are you creating a quality database from this information? And how much does it cost to bring potential customers to your business through social media?
For example, everybody visits at least once per month their favorite hairdressing salon. Have you ever been asked for your name and email address to receive a sales promotion? Most traditional businesses - like restaurants, bars, grocery stores – seem to be happy to have only one sale because they don't take proactive strategies to build strong relationships with their customers.
The same situation happens in the online world. SMEs in the best-case scenario have a website or a Facebook page but a passive mode of doing business, with no promotions, nor online activity for engagement.
Even the business that develops a customer database does not have a marketing strategy to utilize the information to its full potential.
The customer's data is gold. And you have to assure that your communications actions respect the relationship with your customers, but most importantly, provide an added value to your community to build loyalty and advocacy.
Optimize and automate your business processes
In every digital transformation, SMEs have to map their process and workflows and restructure them to create efficiencies in time and resources.
The essential element in digital transformation is building a customer-centric organization. One time while I was participating in the digital transformation in a big company, I suggested to the product manager to share his flowchart and processes to integrate them into the marketing process. It optimized the time of publication of graphic assets and content to digital platforms.
Once the workflows and activities are optimized to deliver a better experience to the customer it is time to define with your digital consultant what activities can be automated.
Automation provides more time to focus on your core business activities.
The most common activities that current tools allow you to automate include recurring charges, invoicing, e-mail marketing, and marketing communication.
These automation tools are more affordable than many think and most importantly, as mentioned before, once it is implemented successfully, owners can then focus on their core business activities.
Last word...
Digital transformation is available for those who really want to grow their business. Business owners need to change their traditional mindset and be willing to receive professional advice. You have to invest for your business to grow but also recognize the large return on investment (ROI) that a professionally implemented digital transformation strategy provides.
The economic consequences of COVID-19 have changed the traditional ways of doing business. Now is the time to transform your company's use of technology for the benefit of you and your customers.
Further reading:
How can a digital marketing specialist help you grow your business? by Sergio Bobadilla
Digital Marketing Strategy with Victoria Marchand by Sergio Bobadilla
Que sont les “Non-Fongible Tokens” (NFT) et comment fonctionnent-ils ? by Sergio Bobadilla
Comment construire une stratégie publicitaire en 2021 avec un petit budget ? by Sergio Bobadilla
Clubhouse's Great Challenge by Sergio Bobadilla
Conseils pour réaliser un audit marketing digital dans votre entreprise en 2021 by Sergio Bobadilla
Images:
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