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September 28, 2020

How A Digital Strategy For Business Helps Your Company Grow

Author:




Artur Haponik

CEO & Co-Founder


Reading time:




9 minutes


In the COVID and post-COVID times, digital strategy for business is essential. As you already know, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the way we sell, buy, communicate, and do business in general. Companies that have adjusted to this new business scenery and currently operate online–thrive. That’s why you need a digital strategy for business. To grow your company at a time when hundreds of organizations decrease their scope of work or even shut down altogether. But the good news is–you can avoid this fate. In this article, we will show you how a properly designed digital strategy can help your business.

Soon every single company will have to have a digital strategy. No matter how many people they employ or what kind of services they offer. The global network is the only business environment absolutely resistant to COVID and other pandemics. Internet operates 24/7, 365 days a year. Naturally, it’s not entirely fail-safe. In fact, governments have the necessary tools to block it or shut down within minutes.

But when you compare all of the pros and cons of brick-and-mortar companies and digitized businesses–these that operate online have a clear advantage. Running a business on the internet is cheaper and more straightforward.

Why do you need a digital strategy for business?

It’s like any other aspect of running a company–the more planned and organized it is, the more chance of succeeding you have. That’s why your digital strategy should comprise all of the relevant elements. Many experts believe that there should be nine elements of a decent digital strategy for business. That’s not necessarily true, and some of the elements absolutely necessary for one company can be totally irrelevant for the other.

Anyhow, when you’re working on a digital strategy for your business, you should consider the following elements:

  • Online presence
  • Digital marketing and sales
  • Communication with customers and suppliers/contractors
  • Digital tools and big data analytics

Let’s take a closer look at each of these elements

Why do you need a digital strategy for business?, black board

Digital strategy for business: online presence

It’s a strictly marketing-related subject, but we decided to separate these two questions. The very first thing you have to think of is your online presence. Today, a website is not sufficient; it’s just a beginning. There are many places where you or your company should be present:

  • Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, YouTube)
  • Google (the search engine itself, but also Google My Business)
  • Marketplaces

Social media (Facebook)

Today, it’s one of you must-haves. And Facebook should be your first choice. First of all, that’s by far the largest social media platform ever.  It has 2.5 billion active users monthly[1]. Today, both B2C and B2B companies utilize this platform, although the fact is, rather B2C companies will find a place for themselves here. Facebook is tremendous for one more reason–their Facebook Ads offer. But we will talk about that more in the marketing section.

Google

This is obvious; Google is where your online business starts. There are many ways to promote your business on Google:

  • You should take care of your organic presence (in the search engine results).
  • Open a Google My Business account (so that your customers can view details about your company, get in touch, and rate your products/services).
  • If you run an e-commerce company, you should think of Google Shopping, where you can showcase your products and let Google users buy them.
  • Open a Google Ads account that will allow you to utilize all of Google’s channels and tools to promote your business. More about that in the marketing section.

google, phone

Marketplace

If you sell products online, marketplaces are the place to be. Find out what are the most popular marketplaces in your country. In the United States–it’s Amazon. In Poland–it’s Allegro. What’s interesting, Facebook also has a marketplace, and currently, they’re working on the new offer for online stores–Facebook Shops.

Digital strategy for business: marketing and sales

When it comes to digital marketing–you should get acquainted with performance marketing. It’s an excellent option for almost every company. With performance marketing, you pay only for the results. There are various performance marketing tactics and different forms of the settlement available, but, in general, it all comes down to paying for a specific action that users take. Performance marketing is by far the quickest and most efficient way to grow your online sales.

If you are interested in this form of promotion, consider these tools:

  • Google Ads and Google Display Network
  • Facebook Ads
  • Google PLA (for e-commerce businesses)

Naturally, the internet offers many more forms and techniques for online advertising. Some of them are efficient, but the general idea is that you should take care of your Facebook and Google presence. Why these two channels?

The answer is quite simple. Because these two channels combined allow you to reach almost every Internet user!

  • Google, via their GDN, enables you to reach 90% of all internet users[2]
  • Facebook is a way to reach about 60% of internet users

facebook, phone, desk, notebook

With these two platforms, you can decide (with a striking precision!) who and when will see your ads, making them effective.

Digital strategy for business: communication

It’s another vital aspect of every online business. According to Gladly’s 2020 Customer Expectations Report[3]:

  • 79% of surveyed customers say personalized service is more important than personalized marketing.
  • Only 57% of customers feel listened to!
  • The three most popular communication channels are phone (77%), email (66%), and live web chat (30%).
  • 51% of customers will leave your brand after just one or two bad customer experiences!

These numbers tell one story–communication is one of the crucial aspects of running an online company. Today, communication between your company and customers, suppliers, and partners has to be quick and easy. Preferably also 24/7. You have to make sure your contact details are easy to find and clear. It is also vital to provide various ways of communication. A multitude of companies provides at least three forms to choose from: phone, email, and chat (it can be Facebook’s Messenger or What’s App). It seems that today, it’s your minimum.

If you run an online store or another business type that operates 24/7, you should provide communication channels that also work around the clock. For example, think about chatbots. If they are properly programmed and supported by various machine learning algorithms, they can be a fantastic support for your customer service department. Chatbots work 24/7, never get tired, never call in sick. But there is one essential success factor. Chatbots have to be combined with ML-fueled algorithms so that they can learn from every conversation and improve themselves in time.

Digital tools and big data analytics

Although that’s the last part of this text, it’s still essential. Your company should utilize various tools that help you work more effectively or sell more. But be cautious! It’s easy to overdo with them. Keep it simple and use only the indispensable ones.

Digital tools and big data analytics

Nowadays, the offer of digital tools is comprehensive. They help you with:

  • Marketing
  • Analytics
  • Project management
  • Finances and taxes
  • Sales
  • Cybersecurity

And many more aspects of running a digital company. However, there are a few must-haves, and these are:

Google Drive

15GB of free storage space and access to tools that help you create, manage and work on digital files (texts, sheets, presentations, forms). Google Drive is commonly used and for a reason. It’s a versatile and useful tool, especially when your team is scattered all around the globe.

Google Analytics

If you want to be efficient in sales and marketing, you need to measure all of your campaigns and efforts. And this is what Google Analytics is all about. It’s a free tool that, when combined with your website, help you measure traffic on your website.

analytics, hands, computer, chart

Thanks to Google Analytics, you know:

  • How many people visit your website
  • Where do they come from
  • What they are interested in
  • How much time they spend on your website

This tool also helps you assess the quality of your Google Ads campaigns.

Big data analytics & Business Intelligence

At some point in your company’s development, you will see the need to harness data your company possesses and processes. And that’s the point where you will need big data analytics and business intelligence. Both of these services are quite similar. They are based on gaining useful business knowledge that aids you in making strategic decisions.

Big data analytics is your guide through data your company process. It helps you answer such questions as, “why X happened and will it happen again?”, “how to prevent Y from happening?”, “how will improving Z affect our company?

Big data analytics and business intelligence are based on information from your company and the market itself. They help you improve customer service and sales, identify trends, enhance the recruitment process, and manage big data in your company.

If you are interested in implementing big data analytics, we recommend you read these two articles:

If you’re thinking about implementing big data analytics or business intelligence in your company, we’re more than happy to help! Addepto is an experienced AI consulting company. We work both with large corporations and small B2B companies. With our experience, you will make the most of the data your company processes.

References

[1] Maryam Mohsin. 10 Facebook statistics every marketer should know in 2021. Feb 16, 2021. URL: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/facebook-statistics. Accessed Sep 28, 2020.

[2] Tara Johnson. What is the Google Display Network?, June 13, 2017. URL: https://tinuiti.com/blog/paid-search/google-display-network/. Accessed Sep 28, 2020.

[3] Gladly. Customer Expectations Are Changing. Are you Ready to Exceed Them?, URL: https://go.gladly.com/customer-expectations-report-2020. Accessed Sep 28, 2020.

 



Category:


Business Intelligence

Big Data