Digital Transformation is not a trendy buzzword. Digital Transformation is a core concept in my business model. I hope you will understand why it should be your core concept.
Digital transformation basically means that your business is transformed from an outdated platform to one that is digitally efficient and exciting. This involves many things, but let’s focus on the sales and marketing aspects.
Digital Transformation can often bring your sales and marketing beyond the physical world of mail, phone calls and flyers to the digital world. While these “analog” methods are still effective, they are losing their effectiveness over time. What is the reason for this? E-commerce technologies are so advanced that they can outshine physical advertising.
Even though people are buying more products than ever before, where are they buying them? They are shopping online instead of going to a store. You may have heard of “showrooming”. “Showrooming” is a term retailers use to describe people who visit a store to experience a physical product and then go online to find the best price. This was a common problem for Best Buy, who made it a part of their business model to encourage people to purchase the product online. Smart thinking Best Buy. A way to digitally transform rather than continuing to fight it!Digital Transformation Roadmap
What if your service business is a different business than your retail business? Still in trouble. Customers aren’t going to let their fingers do all the work of the Yellow Pages. Customers are turning to Yelp, Angie’s list and other online reviews. Yelp and similar sites have an advantage over traditional methods of service advertisement. They can not only display more information but also provide social proof through customer reviews.
Online reputation is built on customer reviews. This was once known as word-of mouth advertising. However, sites such as Yelp make it possible for one person to reach the entire market (or at least those who use Yelp’s 132 million monthly users in Q1 2014). It can also influence other people’s perceptions of you.
It is not enough to have basic online presence
Maybe you believe you are ahead of the game. It’s likely that you have a website and a social media presence. Aren’t these enough? Unfortunately, it isn’t. Many business websites aren’t more detailed than a Yelp page. Social media is more of a billboard than an interaction platform for customers. Worst, visitors who want to convert must go back to basic email or the telephone to contact you. They are violating one of my four pillars for digital transformation, the digital hook.
Converting visitors has never been easier with the mobile web. Websites shouldn’t even be called “websites”. They are now called “customer acquisition engines”.
Your online presence must shift from a marketing perspective to include sales and marketing. It is important to track customer data over time in order to build a relationship with each visitor and encourage them to convert more times until they become loyal customers.