We are all now spirits in a digital world. In some cases, our avatars have values far greater than the sum of their digital assets! [Article by James Delargy]
What are your business objectives?
- Increase sales
- Raise reputation
- Retain customers
- Increase market share
- Diversify product base
- Future-proof against downturns
- To innovate, not react
- Plan for change
There has been a shift in business confidence over the last 1-2 years that’s starting to see a return to confidence and growth, albeit with a well-earned mix of caution, candor and thought.
In terms of digital activity, there’s a huge pot of opportunity waiting for you to realise each and every one of your goals. I usually repeat the mantra: “Failing to plan is planning to fail” when I consider setting goals and objectives for myself. So, my business objectives for Digital Blanket touch on some of the points above. Yours may well be a mix of these, too.
You may have heard terms such as ‘analytics’ or ‘metrics’ before? These are the data and information streams from each and all of your digital activities. Being on page one of Google or being the ‘go to’ Facebook or Twitter account are the objectives and goals these metrics help to achieve. Digital content exists and co-habits with analysis!
Creating a plan involves knowing what you want and what’s needed to get there. In business, it’s a mission statement, objectives and goals. So a goal may be to create interesting fresh content for your website. That in turn leads to an objective being met: e.g. lots of web content has pushed your website onto page one of Google. That objective and a bunch of other met objectives leads to you realising your mission statement: e.g. to increase sales by 50% by 2020. You hit that date having achieved your mission, set a new mission and you’ve learnt to plan to succeed – the next mission will now be realised sooner with added focus, budget and confidence.
Digital Strategy
In a digital world, a strategy has to call into play all elements in the mix from the physical, analogue and real world, to the cyber world of channels, platforms and their associated content. All with individual nuances, brand guidelines, etiquette and performance targets. And what’s it all for? Turning cogs, of course! A digital strategy adapts and changes as the market, audience, digital channels, content and products all come into focus and develop – it doesn’t stay still and it’s OK to revise it, refine it and make it fit your mission statement more closely.
You may have the Porsche or Ferrari of products or services to offer, but if it’s parked in a cul-de-sac out in the middle of nowhere, with no 4G or GPS to find it, it’s not going to sell very well. In fact (sorry if I offend anyone, but I did own one once, so I forgive myself), you may have a clapped out old Lada, but if that’s the vehicle passing people everyday and there’s no alternative, that’s their ride (sale)!
The point is, that digital activity, which is content in written, graphic, video or any combination, needs to be going past people. These people are past, present or future customers – everything from low-hanging fruit, to the toughest sale in town. People who have an interest in the product whether they’d buy it or not. An old man (I mean really old – not a mid-life crisis candidate) might not buy the Porsche, but may still recommend it to his family. This is where the product joins the conversation.
Did you know that an operating table is generally replaced every 10 years? Its warranty is good for 5 years. You can get an extended warranty to take it to 7 years. If there’s breakdown or maintenance required, that’s extra. So, I just bought a table, why would I buy another I didn’t have room for? Bad luck if you missed that sale, but look at it this way: you have 10 years to convince that potential customer to buy your table. that’s a big window of opportunity. How can you do it? Offer free support for their existing table in years 7 to 10 if they buy from you? Not a bad starting point – you make your own deal, but ensure that it works for your customer first and for you, too!
The idea of a blog is simple. If you create a holistic excellence site in your overall product/service field with its many moving parts, people will engage, share and interact – they build your brand for you, they increase your reputation, their endorsement and referrals means more than actual paid advertising. Referral-based marketing gives you the best ROI. It’s free!
Create The Conversation
I talked to you in other blog about giving a web visitor a reason to visit your website a 3rd time. The 3rd visit principle is a straight forward concept. Some go to your website once, they like it and decide to come back at a later date. On the second visit, has anything changed on the site? Is there more detail, that satisfies why they might want to come back? Is there a reason they should return a 3rd time? If there’s no change, they’re going to assume no-one’s doing much on the site, no need to come back a 3rd time.
Asking someone if they want a cup of tea is an analogy I like to use (being a milk, no sugar kind of guy). Ask someone: ‘do they want tea?’, they may say yes or no. Yes, if they do. No, if they’ve either already got a brew, don’t like tea or simply think your brews suck. Ask them a second time and, if they said yes already, they may now say no. If they already said no they’re starting to look at you strangely. Now, dare I say it … ask them a third time if they want a brew! The ‘no from the start’ people know a guy downtown who can ‘take care of it’. The ‘yes, turned no’ people are hot on their trails! Nagging not only loses repeat business by over-selling, it turns brand ambassadors into dislikers. Next time they want something you sell, will they come to you or, because you annoyed the hell out of them, will they go elsewhere?
What Are You Packing?
So, there’s a highway and you’re driving past potential sales and you want to be the nicest vehicle on the block, but also the right vehicle. So, you may have more than one solution (vehicle/product) to increase your market share potential.
Digital marketing requires a strategy. Like with a cash flow forecast and a business plan, a digital mission statement, objectives and goals can be developed to compliment the overall business plan. A digital forecast can be put in place for all those analytics I mentioned above. Your web traffic for example – add your historic data, plan your monthly increase as goals. Your reach and engagement, impressions, new likes and follows – all these metrics are yours to use and monitor.
Many businesses need a new look website that attracts an audience. When this is in place, the products have a stage to be seen on. The business next needs deals and packages visible – but in the mix. These also work with subscribers to the blog getting exclusive mail shots – deals, discounts, first to market – an Aladdin’s Cave of options they can’t say no to. With movement on all digital platforms, a website which is positioned as a master of the overall conversation and with products/packages in the mix, the sales begin to grow. Reputation builds, loyalty increases and the business model begins to develop and refine its approach in a spirit of continuous improvement, product innovation and never finds itself in a market that’s suddenly moved on.
So, Where to start?
You start by creating a conversation (digitally, of course). The conversation has to happen online and that means on paid and organic searches, appearing in algorithms defined by each and every platform and generating enough interest with a good enough value proposition and call to action, that the audience clicks that button. To get into those algorithms takes digital content that your audience wants. Now it’s less specifically about the cup of tea and more about the experience of having a drink – the situations, scenarios, people and places. Creating the desire, empowering choices, helping to make decisions. in that mix, your ‘cup of tea’ package sits – it’s part of the conversation. They know you make it and they’re engaging with you – even if they’re coffee people. On top of that, they’re fast becoming brand ambassadors for your product. All this because you thought of them, not your product. What they want and how you satisfy them is key to the sale and then to the repeat business and referrals.
With Digital Blanket, when you introduce new products, you have 2 things you didn’t have previously:
- An audience
- Positive engagement and digital kudos
When the website and social media content is right, products and packages are visible – inside a ‘go to’ brand of digital channels, the stage is set. These elements are crucial and lead to the high octane kick start to deliver the results and hit the targets ten times faster (and more!). Every brand, business and product benefits from paid advertising on social media and Google.
Digital Blanket has lots of great ideas. The plan we have from the get is to get the cogs moving (social media and web) and get plenty of fresh stories, posts etc. out there. Then we want to do 4 things:
- Events calendar – when are the outputs and what are the production points?
- Products/services – what you do, audience people types, markets and key demographics, etc. packaged as individual concepts and marketed
- Referral based engagement – testimonials, check-ins, tags, shares, likes, follows, 5-star ratings
- Paid promotion – strong packages, clear value propositions and compelling calls to action all with a modest boost budget to kick start your new and growing sales stream
A fixed and mixed monthly budget with Digital Blanket will create your platforms, web, video and social media content and begin your paid promotions! Even on a small budget, we’re starting to build up loyalty, credibility and brand awareness.
