The world is rapidly progressing with the help of technological advancement. Nothing is credible on paper alone; everything requires an online footing to mark its existence. Businesses are also shifting from physical means to online to taste the fruit of the digital world. Most companies rely on digital transformation to enhance several fundamental business areas and change how they deliver value to customers.
But What is Digital Transformation?
Integrating digital technology in all essential business areas to shift the business dynamic online and enhance operations to deliver maximum value to customers is known as digital transformation. In simple terms, using online platforms and systems to market your business to the masses and improve processes is known as digital transformation. The definition of the concept is subjective, meaning that it applies to each business in its unique way.
Some businesses might use digital platforms to improve efficiency and speed up processes, while others may employ technological solutions to reduce running costs better and understand their target market. Whatever the purpose may be, digital transformation holds excellent benefits for businesses. Here are four factors about digital marketing that may interest businesses:
- Digital transformation is necessary to stay ahead of the competition.
- It’s more expensive for businesses not to market their company digitally.
- Increasing consumer demands are calling for rapid digital transformation.
- Upgrades and enhances systems and bridges current business processes.
In the present status quo, digital transformation is crucial for all businesses – whether big or small, but it may look different for all companies. When it comes to digital application, one size doesn’t fit all; each company applies a particular aspect of digital marketing that matches their specific goals and strategies. For example, digital transformation with self-storage marketing may differ from e-commerce marketing. Here are four general tips any company can use to transform their business digitally and benefit from it:
1. Product-Focused Approach < Consumer-Focused Approach
Enhancing customer experience is the key to fully embracing digital transformation. How can businesses do that? Digital transformation allows businesses to understand the needs better and wants of their target market using several tools and platforms. Understanding this data better can help a business offer its customers a customized product or service experience. Partnering with tech companies can help businesses better cater to their audience by solving any problems or concerns with the processes and strategies. Businesses move towards digital transformation by taking these steps and eventually garner a loyal audience and maximizing revenue.
2. Offer Innovative Digital Experiences
The first step to marketing a business online or shifting it to a digital realm is creating a web presence. Most businesses start by building their website and creating social media profiles. Businesses offer their target market an interactive digital experience through various online mediums by producing digital content that keeps customers engaged. This digital content can take any shape or form – blogs, videos, pictures, web pages, chatbots, emails, and more – as long as they succeed in keeping the target market coming back for more. The purpose of this digital engagement is to market a business using innovative ways to the extent that the target market converts into a loyal audience.
3. Maintain an Online Presence and Build an Audience
According to Forbes, 70% of companies are working on a digital transformation strategy, and 21% have already shifted online. Businesses in the 9% category should also step out of their comfort zone and employ digital strategies and processes to market their business to the masses using online platforms. Successful search engine optimization strategies top the list of digital transformation techniques businesses utilize to make their brand more visible to the target market. SEO refers to the process of directing maximum quality website traffic to a business’ web page using keywords, backlinking, content optimization, and more. There are two types of SEO techniques famous with businesses today:
- On-Site SEO – optimizing web pages and embedding keywords used by the target market throughout the website to increase ranking and attract relevant traffic.
- Off-Site SEO – enhancing ranking within the search engine results pages using link building, link exchange, increasing link popularity, etc.
Another new marketing technique to digitally transform a business and build an online audience organically is to pay for some inbound traffic. Most businesses employ pay-per-click ads to direct more traffic to their business website. Pay-per-click ads can be formally defined as an internet advertising model that businesses advertise online. A company places its advertisement on a website or online platform (that attracts generous traffic) in hopes that users click to get to know more about the service or product it offers. Pay-per-click advertising speeds up the process of digital transformation by ensuring that a company generates a massive amount of audience online. Most businesses use Facebook to advertise their brand instead of Google as it is more effective and allows a business to specify its target market with various filters.
4. Take Advantage of Automation and Remote Workforce
Digital transformation can help businesses cut costs significantly. The online realm introduces companies to technological advancement that is a one-time cost that helps companies save up considerably in the long term. These tech platforms and tools help companies handle transactional tasks, report and analyze management processes, and connect with their team more efficiently. Technology has also made the lives of the workforce easier. Following the pandemic, businesses have employed the concept of a remote work environment which has helped companies save expenses spent on logistics, accommodation, electricity, rent, storage, and more. More and more businesses are taking advantage of the digital dynamic to automate their business processes and systems to save significant revenue. The saved revenue can be invested in several other online strategies to advance a business’s digital transformation.
Conclusion
Covid-19 pandemic has introduced the world to a new normal and acted as a wake-up call for businesses to embrace digital transformation wholeheartedly. Shifting a business online may not be easy, but the benefits are endless once the transformation is complete. Entering the digital realm can genuinely change the long-standing process and systems a business has been employing for the better. However, companies must focus on what type of digital transformation they want to employ for their business. Doing everything at once without any planning or thought process behind the idea may not prove beneficial for a business. Companies must invest in digital transformation wisely and see their business reach new heights of success.
