Over the last few months many publications have discussed the impact of COVID-19 on digital transformation.
The BBC reported that demand for web designers and developers increased 15.5% in July, compared to the previous month. In the same article Tech UK’s deputy chief executive Anthony Walker told the BBC, “A lot of business leaders we’ve been talking to, and survey data, shows that digital will be more important to their business, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic”.
This is of course not specific to the UK, I have already written about the importance of e-commerce in the UAE to support the recovery there and it will be the same globally.
We have seen that businesses of all sizes have had to adapt to the new landscape. Digital skills are an important component of this change, not only from the perspective of employee skill set but also optimising manufacturing processes, logistics and a business’s online presence. I expect many more companies to set-up e-commerce websites and sell direct. High street retail has been suffering for many years, with lower volumes and shrinking margins there may not be room for wholesalers and distributors to take a cut.
Business owners and managers will also have the Brexit transition (ending 31 December 2020) and ongoing political tension with China in the back of their minds. The economic and trade implications of both are not yet fully understood.
All in all we are living in a time of change and uncertainty but the indications are that digital transformation will play an important role in survival and future growth for many businesses.
One could argue that the latest stage in the digital transformation is having a greater impact in the B2B market. B2B buyers are behaving more like B2C consumers, the same experience and service levels are expected. Despite this many B2B business owners have made the mistake of not adapting their sales and marketing strategies.
The basics remain the same and your marketing strategy should be a combination of the below:
- Best in class website – fast, secure and mobile friendly
- Search engine optimization (SEO) – where it all begins, with a search query
- Pay per click advertising (PPC) – targeted advertising with budgetary control
- Social media marketing – be sympathetic to what is happening around us and be prepared to adapt
- Video marketing – not just entertainment, informative and often the first line of support
- Content marketing – make it visual and remember the buyer/customer!
- Remarketing – if at first you don’t succeed, try …
All of the above components play a role in the three core elements of a marketing strategy, demand generation, lead generation and customer retention. This blog is not an exhaustive list of do’s or don’ts nor is it a textbook guide in what your digital marketing strategy should be. Digital strategies are constantly evolving and should be based on your business objectives and market.
It is not necessary to spend big or try and cover all basis, strategies must focus on the buyer’s digital experience and keep them as fans and lifelong customers.
Automation is another important aspect of digital transformation. Not just marketing automation but the integration of your lead generation process into your CRM and sales structure. This will not only help your sales teams but improve your marketing campaigns.
CRM and marketing automation go hand in hand with the need to manage your customer relationships. Relationships that were once time consuming to maintain can now be automated using marketing automation systems such as Hubspot, Zoho and Zapier. Data collected online triggers automatic, and personalised, responses.
All of this sounds very costly, but keep in mind that your digital marketing agency and the systems you use should be flexible and adaptable. Yes a retainer or annual license fee is usually a minimum requirement but the rest should match your goals and requirements at each stage. Components of your digital marketing can be switched on, off or paused as desired and the tools you use should have additional paid for features which you can scale up as your business grows.
If you are not convinced here are 10 (out of 100) statistics from a Blake Morgan Forbes article. Number 4 sticks out for me, especially when we consider some of the more mature businesses and brands which have disappeared in recent years.
- 87% of companies think digital will disrupt their industry, but only 44% are prepared for a potential digital disruption.
- 70% of companies either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are working on one.
- 55% of startups have adopted a digital business strategy, compared to 38% of traditional companies.
- 55% of companies without a digital transformation strategy believe they have less than a year before they start to lose market share.
- 55% of marketers are prioritising more effective audience segmentation and targeting.
- 44% of companies have already started a digital-first approach to operations and customer engagement.
- 37% of companies say digital transformation helped them create new jobs.
- 20% of employees said their company’s leadership doesn’t know what to do with digital transformation.
- Only 7% of companies have fully implemented their digital transformations.
- Executives say the top benefits of digital transformation are improved operational efficiency (40%), faster time to market (36%) and the ability to meet customer expectations (35%).
Contact me to learn more and let’s work together to help your business be seen, connect, engage and grow.