Digital Growth Magazine - March 2021 - Issue 6

DIGITAL GROWTH March 2021 | ISSUE 6

The Digital, Marketing and Sales Transformation Edition

Inside this issue: • • • •

Business Transformation Strategies Why Digital Transformation is key to Business Success Sales Transformation in the Digital Era eCommerce Transformations: A Guide To Creating Link Awareness and Loyalty • 6 Tips on Implementing Business Transformation

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CONTENT PAGE 19

Editor's Letter

Customer Service Transformation in the Digital Era

Today, the word “digital” echoes from boardroom to boardroom across the globe.

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The Journey From Traditional to Digital Marketing Marketing reflects the zeitgeist, with digital forms continuing to override traditional ones.

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Strategies For Transformation That Leading Businesses Use The phrase ‘’adapt or die’’ aptly fits businesses. Transformation is necessary to continually evolve and be successful in a world where change is the only constant.

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MarTech in the News: Marketing Transformation in the Digital Erae Digital Transformation is essential for business growth in 2021, but what exactly is it, and can it transform your business?

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Why Digital Transformation is key to Business Success If you are a business owner or work in the marketing or sales space, you will have heard of “digital transformation.”

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6 Tips on Implementing Business Transformation

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Sales Transformation in the Digital Era “Digital Transformation” is the buzz term making the rounds in business circles; however, this is not just a passing fad; digital transformation is the way forward for business success.

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Digital Transformation for Small and Mid Sized Businesses Todays’ digitized world has resulted in the age of the consumer.

Until recently, customer service was viewed as a menial and time-consuming task that businesses needed to check-off, and not much emphasis or attention to detail was placed on this service.

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Elevate Your Digital Marketing With A Video Strategy With video being all the rage for marketing in 2021, it is imperative to have a strategy in place.

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Develop Your Sales and Marketing With A Consultant Consultants provide professional services to businesses so that they can reach their goals.

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eCommerce Transformations: A Guide To Creating Link Awareness and Loyalty Many brick and aorta businesses are transforming into online retailers, with eCommerce being one of the world’s fast-growing industries.

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Letter from the editor Hi All, Today, the word “digital” echoes from boardroom to boardroom across the globe. From digital data and digital technology to digital marketing and digital media - everyone is going digital.

This is the world of digital transformation and it is important that no business get left behind.

In this month’s issue we discuss Digital Transformation and how the adoption of digital technology can transform your business by replacing traditional and manual processes with efficient and easy-to-use technologies and strategies.

We hope that this issue helps you gain greater insight into how you can implement digital transformation throughout your business and in turn, drive greater business success as well as workplace productivity.

Amit Vyas CEO, NEXA www.digitalnexa.com

About the editor Amit Vyas is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nexa, a digital marketing agency that was launched in Dubai in 2005. With close to a decade of experience within Digital Marketing, Amit has seen first hand, the dynamic environment with which businesses now have to operate in order to achieve growth and to succeed.

Amit has worked with hundreds of businesses in the Middle East from startups to large multinational clients during his time at Nexa and previously, in the UK. He can be found at international conferences and has spoken at marketing events in the USA (SXSW and Content Marketing Conference), Australia (ANZMAC), India (Content Marketing Summit at the world Marketing Congress) as well as countless others in Europe and the UAE.

Be a part of Digital Growth Do you have an article that you’d like to share or want to collaborate with our writers?

Send an email to Amit@digitalnexa.com with your ideas.

About Nexa As one of the largest fully-independent Digital Marketing Agencies in the UAE, Nexa has provided a vast array of services to over 1,000 clients in the region since 2005. Nexa is HubSpot’s only Diamond Partner Agency for the GCC region. www.DigitalNexa.com

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The Journey From Traditional to Digital Marketing By: Shannon Correia

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arketing reflects the zeitgeist, with digital forms continuing to override traditional ones. However, there is still a need for both by various businesses. In this article, we’re assessing how firms approach both of these types of marketing through a transformation process that helps a business thrive in the marketplace.

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Traditional Marketing

for advertising campaigns, which need high-quality, original content to be produced and distributed.

Traditional marketing is how communication between business and audiences began. It certainly has its drawbacks in today’s world, from the increasing costs to increased difficulty in determining your ROI. It is a way for companies to promote a concise message to the masses in an authoritative, tangible, and favorably perceived manner. Types of traditional marketing, according to HubSpot, include print, broadcast, direct mail, telephone, and outdoor advertising. While technically speaking, any of these may still be relevant and suited to your business, a marketing firm would need to evaluate whether this kind of investment and medium will provide significant results.

Digital marketing provides businesses with a range of advantages that go beyond custom targeting capabilities.

It is highly cost-effective, flexible, instant, and has superior analytics that can measure ROI in various ways. Moreover, this type of marketing is less about overt advertising, as is the case with traditional marketing, but more so to build online communities and connections. These agencies will target sales and do the legwork of building your online presence, which is a requirement by almost all businesses to be successful.

Let’s take a look at telephone marketing, for instance. This is still a useful tool for marketers, with many call centers catering to this need. It can provide you with a direct, personal link to your audiences that not only focuses on generating leads and closing deals with sales but also acts as a hub for handling customer service on your behalf. This form of marketing is the most affordable of traditional marketing types and likely to be in reach for smaller to medium-sized businesses.

When establishing which forms of marketing to use for your business, you need to consider the best forms to meet your business’s goals. Digital marketing is the go-to choice due to its cost-effectiveness, ease, and possibilities. The extent to which you include traditional marketing, usually provided by advertising agencies or telemarketing specialists, will depend on your business and budget.

In another of the most prominent traditional forms of marketing seen today, we must consider outdoor advertising in the way of billboards. This is often the choice made by advertising firms who want to increase exposure for your brand. These can be small or large in size and placed in locations that offer static imagery or dynamic digital ones. Examples you can spot include long stretching billboards along the road, on the side of buildings or at the airport, or smaller ones as lampposts signage. Whether it is big or small, mass visibility or targeting and repetition is key with this form of marketing.

Digital marketing Digital capabilities of the future are ever-growing, with increased dependence on the internet and mobile device usage. This makes digital marketing one of the most effective ways of reaching your audience here, especially when you’re looking to create personalized, custom communications with your market segments. That is not only a trend in marketing but one which is necessary when targeting niche audiences among diverse populations. An in-depth understanding of the market and localization is needed to succeed.

Digital transformation can occur internally within your business or through the use of an external marketing agency. The changes will need to suit your business’s company culture, branding, and target audiences. There are many services which a digital marketing agency can provide you with, each of which can be highly effective when properly executed.

Specialized services that can transform your business include: •

Social media marketing

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Content marketing

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Website design and development

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SEO and PPC

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Lead generation

Becoming familiar with these terms is essential as many marketers will use these. However, they may not have all of the resources available to carry these tasks out. If, for instance, you need CRM software, they would not be best suited to provide you with such. Another example is creating digital strategies

Digital Marketing Stats •

70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing (HubSpot).

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Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter lead the pack as the most common social media platforms used by marketers (HubSpot).

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88% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI (Wyzowl).

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Roughly 80% of marketers have reported an increase in email engagement over the past 12 months (HubSpot).

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Strategies For Transformation That Leading Businesses Use By: Shannon Correia

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he phrase ‘’adapt or die’’ aptly fits businesses. Transformation is necessary to continually evolve and be successful in a world where change is the only constant. At the core of such modifications is strategy. This plan sets forth the changes to come and can ground your vision to set it up for the highest possible level of success.

The worldwide pandemic spurred transformations within businesses, particularly those of the digital kind. Companies have had to speed up changes to suit their customers better and ensure their operations are safe. This is no easy feat to achieve - you need skills and systems to effect such changes. While most businesses attempt to transform, few succeed, and a strategy is what could set those goals and outcomes apart. Here are some strategies that leading companies are using.

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Entrenched in Digital Businesses who expand online should consider all of the ways that digital transformation can occur. It is not merely a means to conduct marketing or an additional source for sales, but it should also be a part of your internal operations. Having a customer relationship management system in place can improve all aspects of your business digitally by creating a streamlined platform that benefits your employees as much as it does your customers. In other words, digital transformation is not just about being online - it’s about where, how, and why you’re online too.

Consider the Process Becoming digitally transformed is a process. It begins with a mission-based on insights that are linked to your strategy. Then there is the process of integration, processes, technology, and talent. By focusing on each element, you can ensure success.

This way, you’ll be able to implement changes throughout your business in a way that is easy for your employees to follow.

It’sIt’s all about capability and integration. Along with these stages comes patience - do not expect the transformation to occur overnight. It requires consistent small-scale adaptions, which take time.

Find the Source As mentioned earlier, skills are needed to transform a business.

When enlisting change within and for your business, consider outsourcing to the experts. They can help devise a tailored strategy for your business. More than their knowledge, having the contacts and assistance when it comes to tools and new processes can help smooth the transition. This way, you can also be sure your transformations meet the industry standard, that they’re valuable and that you’re maximizing the opportunities that digital presents.

Transformation Beyond Digital There are many ways in which a business can transform beyond digital. These may be necessary to consider and implement as well. For instance, improving your processes, your business culture, organizational structure, and communications.

Changes can come in big and small packages, and there are likely to be aspects that will coincide with the digital transformations. Pinpointing these and making them part of your digital transformation can be beneficial and encourage positive changes across the board.

Agility and scalability are the cornerstones for an effective transformation strategy. With the tips mentioned above in mind, you’ll be able to plan out the necessary changes your business needs and handle them with ease as they are rolled out. In the following few pages, we’ll share insights on various kinds of digital transformations, from marketing to sales and customer service.

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45% of companies reporting a positive business impact of digital transformation also reported higher net revenue growth (Deloitte).

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The digital transformation market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 22.7% from 2019 to $3,294 billion by 2025 (Research and Markets).

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Companies that get significant value on their digital investments invest 33% more than other companies in technology, processes, operating models, and the ways of working that will drive their digital supremacy (PwC).

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Companies move twice as fast on digital transformation when there is a shared understanding — among senior leaders, strategists and the organization as a whole - of the digital path ahead (Gartner).

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MarTech in the News

Marketing Transformation in the Digital Era By: Toni Becker

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igital Transformation is essential for business growth in 2021, but what exactly is it, and can it transform your business?

Digital Transformation can be described as a strategic and systemic change within your business strategy that redesigns your business’s operating processes, from sales and marketing to customer service.

Marketing transformation fits within the Digital Transformation umbrella. It refers to the enabling of new marketing capabilities and software across the organization, software that aligns marketing, sales, and services while collecting vast amounts of customer data, streamlining processes, and making information accessible to all team members in a single location.

As it stands today, marketing has taken a more prominent role in business strategy than ever before. This is due to the rise of the empowered consumer who can retrieve information about business offerings and solutions within seconds thanks to an array of easily accessible online channels. Because of this, simple advertising tactics are no longer enough - marketing teams now need to define their vision and path to ensure greater marketing transformation.

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Defining Marketing Transformation

What the Customer Expects:

Below, we take a look at what marketing transformation means in real terms for your business and business processes:

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The customer expects to search for a service/product online (through Google or related search engines) and find top service or product providers in their area. If your business is not present on the first page of the search engine results, then you will lose out on customers to your competitors - they want to find a business quickly. In order to be found online, you will need to have strong and helpful content on your website combined with Search Engine Optimisation - both on-page and off-page. Businesses that place marketing effort on their content and SEO will reap the benefits as their website will begin to rise high in the search engine results.

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The customer expects to find as much information as possible regarding your business and your business offerings. They should be able to find this content through various devices, from their laptop and PC to mobile devices. You need to ensure your content is optimized for all possible channels and also ensure that you provide helpful content - from videos and infographics through to blogs and e-books.

Aligning Teams:

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In today’s digital world, your marketing team must be aligned with other teams within your organization - including your sales and customer service teams. This kind of ecosystem ensures that your leads and customers experience the most personalized and hands-on service - from the marketing stage through to the purchasing stage and beyond.

They want instant communication through a variety of channels, including social media, email, and real-time chat. This means that you need to be available to answer customer questions at all times. This can be done through automated email software, AI (such as Chatbots), and strong social media management.

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They also expect to view your business’s testimonials or reviews through online channels such as social media, online communities, or Google places. It is vital you are present in all areas and are able to provide customer insight into your service offerings.

Structural and Operating Shift: Marketing transformation is not a subtle change to processes.

It is a complete shift in processes, operating models, culture, and team roles within an organization.

Marketing for the Empowered Consumer: Again, marketing transformation is not a subtle facelift. It is a complete transformation to ensure that your businesses are able to keep up with today’s empowered consumer essentially, you are no longer just marketing a single message - you are creating a delightful and personalized experience for the consumer through new software and processes.

The above may sound overwhelming, but it is important to understand that modern-day marketing is a complete evolution within the marketing space. It needs to be acknowledged and implemented if you want to rise above your competitors in 2021. The transformation itself is still evolving, and you need to keep your finger on the pulse of transformation if you want to succeed in your marketing endeavors moving forward.

What does it mean when marketing transforms?

As we keep reiterating, the biggest driving force in marketing transformation is the consumer. As the digital age continues to shift and evolve, the more expectations the consumer has for brands and businesses, and organizations need to continuously deliver what the customer expects in order to remain competitive and relevant.

This is important for customer retention and lead generation marketing efforts as the focus is no longer on what is being sold but rather on who we are selling to. So, what are the expectations of the customer in the digital age?

So, how is this all accomplished? Digital tools, software systems, Customer Relationship Management Platforms, and team alignment all make the above possible. And your team members need to embrace new tools and tactics in order for this to be successful - essentially, it comes down to creating a culture of alignment and information sharing - this is the key to marketing transformation.

The Key to Successful Marketing Transformation With marketing transformation comes new tools, tactics, and strategies that rely on a new culture within the company. So, how can marketing teams ensure a digital-friendly culture throughout the organization?

Alignment and Collaboration: Marketing in the digital era is no longer about hierarchy within teams. Because marketing requires creativity combined with technology and automation, alignment is a marketing team’s strongest asset. By creating alignment between marketing, sales, and service teams, you can understand the customer in greater detail and create marketing campaigns for every stage of the buyer’s cycle - ensuring each individual lead receives a 9

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personalized marketing message that drives them through to sales and to make a purchase.

Evolving Skill Sets: By creating a culture of alignment and collaboration within your company when it comes to marketing, your teams will be driven to upskill. For example, your social media teams, copywriters, search engine optimization experts, lead generation professionals, and graphic design teams should learn to work together and understand what each department offers the other in terms of marketing success. By providing your teams with access to a Customer Relationship Management tool such as HubSpot, they are able to learn more about each team and the success of their marketing efforts - and learn how each team affects the other.

Consistent Learning: With marketing, transformation comes advanced software and tools that your teams will have to use and understand. This means they need to take the initiative and ask questions in order to learn and grow alongside these new tools. They should be willing to learn, fail, and try again using these tools to create a more agile team that can live up to customer expectations.

Some of the most significant announcements made in 2020 alone included: •

The relaunch of HubSpot’s Marketing Hub Enterprise and Sales Enterprise offerings

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The introduction of marketing contacts

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The launch of the HubSpot CMS Hub which is a standalone content management system and the fourth Hub created by the software.

To see such monumental growth in 2020 is astounding and inspiring for any business owner - and this speaks to the importance of digital transformation tools for businesses. Essentially, if you want your business to grow through strong marketing, sales and service efforts in 2021 - you need to invest in technology that will make this strategy as smooth and streamlined as possible.

In Summary

The Leader in Marketing, Sales and Service Digital Transformation When it comes to marketing digital transformation, HubSpot’s Customer Relationship Management platform takes center stage. The HubSpot CRM is designed to align marketing, sales and service departments in a single location, ensuring the best possible customer experience.

HubSpot Surpasses 100,000 Customers and $1 Billion in annual recurring revenue in 2021 As digital transformation forms the foundation of business success in 2021 and as businesses begin to invest in digital transformation tools, it is no wonder HubSpot recently announced it has surpassed 100,000 paying customers and has reached $1 billion in annual recurring revenue. This speaks volumes about the increasing importance of digital transformation tools for business and highlights the significance of HubSpot’s digital transformation technology.

This 2021 announcement comes after a year of notable growth for the company, as it expanded its services to meet the needs of scaling businesses.

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Today’s modern marketing teams need to invest in technologies that are customer-centric and designed to support their customer’s needs and expectations.

The customer needs to be prioritized above all else, and a marketing transformation strategy cannot be ignored as we head into 2021.

In order to find success in the marketing transformation world, businesses need to invest in systems that allow for team alignment, automation, and data collection so that all teams can monitor their marketing success - as a unit.

Marketing Transformation Stats •

The global digital transformation market is projected to grow from $469.8 billion in 2020 to $1,009.8 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.5% during this period (Research&Markets, 2020).

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60% of marketers say that technology has significantly boosted competition (CMO).

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IT, customer care, and marketing departments have been excelling in technology adoption (Futurum, 2018).

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Why Digital Transformation is key to Business Success By: Toni Becker

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f you are a business owner or work in the marketing or sales space, you will have heard of “digital transformation.” This is not just a buzz term making the rounds in business circles, it refers to the integration of digital technology in all areas of business, and it is here to stay. Not only does digital transformation refer to the automation and digitization of business processes, but it also alludes to a significant cultural change that requires businesses to consistently innovate the status quo and experiment with different communication and management tools.

Digital transformation is vital for all businesses, no matter industry or size because these new technologies make business processes easier and are designed to provide a better customer experience. If you do not embrace digital change, your competitors will, and your customers will turn to your competitors - leaving you in the dust. However, many business leaders have stated that the term “digital transformation” can quickly become overwhelming and may be used too broadly, so it is important to understand what the term actually means for business and business development.

Defining Digital Transformation As stated previously, Digital Transformation is a broad term and can look different for every business. It is difficult to define the term; however, if we look at it as an umbrella term, it refers to the integration of digital technology throughout a business that results in fundamental changes to business operations and delivers high value to customers and employees alike.

We also mentioned that Digital Transformation is also about a cultural change within an organization because the innovation that comes with digitization means that traditional business processes are now significantly altered, and the company is adjusting to a new way of engaging with each other and with customers.

So, how can you define Digital Transformation for your business? It comes down to the “why.” Why do you need Digital Transformation for your business? Ask yourself what it is you need to improve upon with new digital integrations. For example, you may need a Customer Relationship Management tool to improve the entire customer experience and reduce friction between internal teams, gain more lead data to ensure greater profitability and increased sales, or want to elevate productivity through new and improved automated processes.

Or all of the above.

Leaders need to fully understand how they want to frame the conversation around their idea of Digital Transformation within the business and help employees embrace this change by showing them how these new tools will benefit them, their teams, and the business in their entirety. Essentially, defining Digital Transformation comes down to what you want the 11

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systems and technologies to do for your company, your clients, and your bottom line.

transformation efforts can be placed in the below categories:

Why Digital Transformation is Important

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Operational Agility

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Customer Experience

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Leadership and Culture

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Workforce Enablement

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Digital technology Integration

Now that we have a greater understanding of what Digital Transformation is let’s take a look at why it is important for businesses to adapt to these new processes and systems in 2021.

While each of the above digital transformation goals has its own tools, consideration, and steps that business leaders need to explore when developing their own digital transformation strategy.

As stated previously, there are a variety of reasons why a business would invest in digital transformation - every business has a different goal in mind, and it is not a one size fits all approach. But if we had to sum up why all businesses require digital transformation tactics (goals aside), it would come down to business survival.

And businesses that have invested in these technologies are not looking back - to put it simply; these technologies just make life easier for everyone.

In 2020 the world went through a collective change, and businesses had to adapt to the unprecedented disruption quickly. 2020 interfered with everything from supply chains to business travel to customer expectations regarding both service and pricing. It was no longer business as usual, as employees had to work from home and social distancing regulations had been put in place - this meant that businesses needed to invest in digital communication and management software, from Zoom and Slack through to Customer Relationship Management systems such as HubSpot. A CRM such as HubSpot helped businesses organize information, lead data, and communications in a single place, and this has helped align marketing, sales, and service teams better than ever before. Not only have businesses had to adjust to remote working, but they have also had to take new consumer behavior into consideration.

At a recent MIT Sloan CIO Symposium series, IT thought leaders stated that consumer behavior has drastically changed since the beginning of the pandemic, and because of this, businesses have had to adapt their marketing, sales, and service strategies.

Today, consumers are doing more online research before making a purchase decision, and they are engaging with companies before shortlisting potential service providers - this means they expect instant communication and instant information at any given moment. Because of this, digital processes have been accelerating in all aspects - from digital marketing and digital lead generation to marketing automation. Because of this, business leaders have had hardly any choice when it comes to investing in new digital tools - it has become a necessity for business survival.

Some of the areas of digital transformation efforts that have been highlighted since the pandemic changed the way we do business include:

Trends for Digital Transformation in 2021 2020 became a year of reckoning for digital innovation and initiatives, and as we head into 2021, there is a rapidly scaling digital transformation across all business sectors.

This year there are key digital trends that business leaders and management teams should be aware of, and they need to unpack which trends work for their business in order to select the best technologies for their business in the new normal: •

Adoption of digital operating models that can help integrate and align teams

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Technologies that allow for extensive data collection that is: a place that can store lead data, marketing, and sales analytics, and track customer behavior

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Better use of chatbots and AI

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Attention to the long-term value of new digital technologies and initiatives

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Communication platforms to help streamline communication across the company as more and more employees begin to work remotely.

Customer Relationship Management systems such as HubSpot allow for all of the above and provide long-term business value

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Tools to better customer support, including chatbots and automated emails

Digital Transformation Stats

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Automation tools to ensure swift communication

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A housecleaning of redundant systems

Digital customer service interactions will increase by 40% in 2021 (Forrester)

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Having a single location where business information and data can be easily stored and accessed - which also gives way to team alignment within a company.

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Over 30% of B2B tech buyers want to use chatbots and virtual assistants instead of human sellers. (Forrester)

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While 52% of companies plan to cut or defer investments because of COVID-19, just 9% will make those cuts in digital transformation. (PwC)

As we have touched on above, Digital Transformation is not a one size fits all business model. It varies depending on a business’s specific needs, challenges and goals. However, digital 12

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Customer Relationship for Digital Transformation Management Software for Digital Transformation Customer Relationship Management software has quickly become the most sought-after digital strategy for developing, retaining, and acquiring customers. Essentially, this software aims to improve marketing, nurture potential and current customer relationships, and drive sales growth. At its core, a CRM should ensure that every interaction between a business and consumer is smooth and efficient, which in turn increases overall business profit and provides long-term value.

The Benefits of a strong CRM: Data Collection: A strong CRM compiles and stores in-depth customer data from various channels, or points of contact, between the lead/customer and a business. A powerful CRM can compile this lead information from various touchpoints, including a company’s website, live chat, email, marketing materials, social networks, and telephonic conversations.

Understanding the Buying Cycle: Having in-depth customer information such as data regarding past purchases and online interactions helps customer support representatives provide greater service and helps the sales team understand buyer intent.

Marketing and Sales Alignment: A CRM is also able to launch and analyze marketing campaigns and provide greater insight into audience behavior and trends through reporting features.

This helps marketing and sales teams better understand what the audience is looking for, what is working, and what messaging best suits a specific lead.

Marketing Automation: A CRM provides sales and marketing automation software that ensures your leads receive communication from your business that is triggered based on specific actions. This tactic cultivates personalized relationships with high-quality leads and has the power to convert them into clients.

Data-Driven Sales Insights: As a CRM stores all the data your marketing and sales team will need, it streamlines all processes from a single place - making for greater sales and business growth.

This kind of digital transformation tool is becoming a necessity for businesses (no matter size or sector) as it provides a single location to store all customer data and lead information and is also designed to monitor sales processes and track overall business performance.

The demand for CRM’s has seen hundreds of solutions pop up on the market. Business leaders, managers, and IT professionals must do the relevant research when selecting the CRM platform for their business as many of these platforms do not offer the tools you need for specific business goals and objectives.

Some CRMs are exclusively designed for smaller businesses and start-ups, while others are designed specifically for large corporations and big businesses. The key is to find a CRM that is able to scale with your business and grow with your team.

HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales software designed to assist businesses in attracting potential clients, converting leads, closing deals, and nurturing client relationships. What sets HubSpot apart as a powerful platform for a large business is that it can be scaled to suit your needs and is not limited to a small number of users.

HubSpot has been created to provide a complete CRM solution that is fully integrated with your marketing and sales platforms, ensuring you receive the best value for money and a return on your investment. We believe that HubSpot is the digital transformation tool of the future and have proven success with the platform.

Measuring your Digital Transformation Return on Investment It is important for business leaders or management teams to be able to quantify the return on investment for their digital transformation efforts. With this in mind, it is important to note that digital transformation efforts are always evolving, which means that traditional calculations may need a new approach.

But thanks to digital metrics and easily accessible data provided by online means (CRMs are a great example of this), business leaders are able to track success in real-time. This allows them to amend their digital transformation strategies on an on-going basis, ensuring all technologies are optimized to the best of their ability.

How to measure your digital transformation ROI: Set goals and KPIs in advance Create micro-metrics: this allows you to learn and adjust as you move forward with the technology Track business outcomes: lifetime customer value, revenue growth, scale, operational efficiencies, etc.

But it is important to note that digital transformation requires a holistic view of digital efforts. This means that sometimes the underperformance of a specific project does not reflect negatively on the overarching efforts of the strategy when measuring success. This also allows place to assess the necessary risks and will help teams adjust tactics to achieve real digital transformation results.

Digital transformation is about learning, and if every project of your digital transformation is successful - you are probably not learning enough - because digital transformation is about pushing boundaries through innovation.

Getting Started on Digital Transformation for your Business You need to understand your goals and what you want to achieve as a business through digital transformation efforts.

Once you understand what it is you would like to gain from your efforts, you can begin sourcing the ideal tools and experts to guide you through the digital transformation of your business.

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Evaluate Your Business What needs to change? Pinpoint all of your business areas that need to change and develop a strategy that clearly defines the necessary steps to take to achieve this. Having a solid understanding of what’s working and what isn’t is key.

Change For All

Communicate

6 TIPS

ON IMPLEMENTING BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

Communication is crucial when devising and implementing changes to your business. You should have open and transparent communication channels so that contributions can be made and instructions can be explained. This can boost productivity and company culture within your business. Having people to turn to and knowing how to reach them is important - your business should aim to have set communication channels for better management.

Not only does transformation require executive buy-ins, but rather a spirit of innovation needs to be had throughout your business. When all employees are on board and excited about the changes to come, the process will be smoother, and you’ll yield better results. Encouraging input from others on new ideas is also helpful.

Scale and Manage Change occurs over time, and thus, it is essential to consider the scale of transformation. Managing these processes and milestones will ensure effective management of the process, with goals to reach and steps and follow to help ensure success. This includes having supportive measures that people can turn to when in doubt.

Collaborations Encourage your departments to work together and share ideas and information. I can facilitate the processes of transformation and tie people together with commonalities.

This way, there will be a greater understanding among your teams and cross-departmental collaborations that improve productivity and morale.

Feedback

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Following on closely from communication is the importance of accepting feedback. You’ll need input on how the transformations are unfolding and whether or not other changes or adaptions need to be made. For instance, you may find that the software used for your digital transformation is excellent but that your employees require training or upskilling to make the most out of it.

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Sales Transformation in the Digital Era By: Toni Becker

“Digital Transformation” is the buzz term making the rounds in business circles; however, this is not just a passing fad; digital transformation is the way forward for business success.

Businesses across the world are redesigning their entire customer experience through a variety of digital tactics, from Search Engine Optimisation, content creation, and marketing automation to lead generation forms, data collection, chatbots, customer service portals, and back-end business processes - and this is because the customer is at the heart of digital transformation.

With the above in mind, it is easy to understand that digital transformation has an effect on marketing and service teams, but how does it translate in a sales environment. Of course, sales representatives can be given new and improved software tools to work with, but they are still managing human interactions and are still tasked with communicating, educating, and selling products and services. So, what exactly is digital sales transformation, and how can it benefit your business?

When it comes to digital sales transformation, there are a variety of avenues to consider, including lead contact profiles, email automation, Customer Relationship Management pipeline tools, account-based-marketing, and account-based-sales. However, this is just the tip of the sales transformation iceberg.

Below, we take a look at the 5 pillars of Digital Sales Transformation and how they will increase your sales productivity and benefit your bottom line.

The 5 Pillars of Digital Sales Transformation Sales Transformation is designed to create new paths that go beyond the integration of new technologies and tools. This is one side of digital sales transformation. However, there needs to be a strong strategy behind this implementation, and your sales transformation strategy needs to consider the following 5 pillars of digital transformation for sales.

1- Greater insight into customer buying behavior As stated previously, due to ever-evolving technology and easy access to online information, the customer is more empowered than ever before. And because of this, traditional sales models such as in-person meetings and cold-calling are quickly losing their value. (Not to mention, the outbreak of Covid-19 has also greatly impacted face-to-face communication, sales events, and conferences.) These tactics are simply outdated, and the customer’s expectations have completely shifted, and their buying behavior has shifted alongside. It is important that your 15

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sales teams understand these changes in order to adjust their strategies to suit the customer’s needs.

4- Automating Sales Workflows

2- The modern customer and their buying behavior

Above, we touched on the fact that there is a variety of software and technologies to help improve your marketing and sales processes. When it comes to sales workflow automation, nothing beats the Customer Relationship Management tool HubSpot.

The Customer is Informed: Today’s sales representatives need to recognize that prospects have done their research, put effort into understanding what solution they require, and have read a variety of online reports and peer reviews before having even considered your business.

The customer is able to self-educate, and they probably understand their problem and solution more than the sales reps at this point. With this in mind, sales processes need to be backed with the correct buying and lead data in order to understand what a specific customer has already learned and which products suit their particular needs.

This is done by tracking website visitors and learning about a lead’s online behavior through CRMs such as HubSpot. This means that sales reps need to place each individual buyer into a specific buyer persona - which is based on data collected by the marketing teams and software such as HubSpot. By tracking leads from the research stage through to the sales stage, reps are able to understand each individual prospect more than ever before - and cater their message for the individual as opposed to the collective.

HubSpot offers a variety of tools and has the capability to understand and cater to every part of the buyer’s journey. The tools within the software are divided into what is known as “hubs,” you can purchase these hubs separately, but when they are combined, they work together seamlessly, ensuring success across your sales, marketing, and customer support teams.

Below, we outline how the HubSpot sales hun is designed to improve all sales-related processes and drive business growth.

5- Introducing HubSpot Sales Hub The HubSpot Sales Hub is made up of tools that allow you to manage, communicate with and track your leads seamlessly.

With this platform, your sales team has more insight into the sales pipeline, empowering them to interact with potential customers without having to spend time entering data or writing similar emails over and over again. To put it as simply as possible, the Sales Hub is designed to close more deals for your business.

What HubSpot Sales Hub Offers:

The customer is spending less time with sales representatives.

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Free Calling

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Email Templates

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Email Sequences

This is why it is important for marketing and sales teams to work together when putting together campaigns and creating the right message for customers as they make their way through the buying cycle. By having your marketing and sales teams align, sales reps are able to gain greater insight into what the customer actually wants and tailor their message accordingly when the customer makes contact and makes their way to the buying stage.

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Pipeline Tracking

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Meeting Scheduling

In summary, sales reps need to be armed with information about leads, and this is done by aligning their efforts with marketing teams. A strong customer relationship management system also provides a single location for sales reps to access lead information, which helps them tailor their message according to lead behavior - helping them identify quality leads and make more sales.

Key Takeaways

Today, customers do not have time to set aside for long meetings, and they tend to go with what brand message or online content resonates with them when making a purchase decision (as opposed to meeting with a rep).

A powerful CRM offers sales teams a sense of empowerment, organization and provides them with relevant data to help them prioritize leads and close deals. This is the power of digital sales transformation.

Your sales transformation strategy should: •

Outline the buyer’s journey in detail.

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Deliver a strategic brand message at every stage of the buyer’s journey through marketing, sales, and service alignment.

3- Reallocating Resources for Sales The modern sales team has evolved and is now made up of a variety of specialists within the space. These specialists drive qualified leads, close deals, and create long-lasting relationships. Essentially, sales are now made up of marketing, sales, and customer service. All departments are now aligned in reaching the same goal: to increase the bottom line of the business.

Today, sales reps need to understand (and be a part of) the entire lifecycle of customer engagement, and this is done through departmental alignment. As a result, sales reps need to upskill themselves and learn about marketing and service - and understand that each department helps the other reach their goals.

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Make use of CRM software to better align and track your marketing and sales team efforts.

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Digital Transformation for Small and Mid Sized Businesses By: Toni Becker

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odays’ digitized world has resulted in the age of the consumer. Thanks to online accessibility and the world wide web, consumers have more power than they have ever had before when it comes to decision making and the selection of service providers. Mobile technology has ensured that the consumer is always connected and in control, while social media and online shopping have provided the consumer with instant gratification and never-before-experienced convenience.

Because of the ease of convenience and control the internet has gifted the consumer, businesses, and brands have had to adjust with many enterprise brands prioritizing the customer experience above all else. These large organizations have focused their attention on investing in Digital Transformation strategies, and with these modern technologies, they are able to deliver value to customers by integrating customer-centric and process-centric technology in all areas of business. And this is something small and mid-size businesses need to focus on, too, if they want to grow their businesses in 2021.

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What is Digital Transformation?

Digital Transformation refers to the adoption of digital technology designed to transform services or business by replacing non-digital or manual processes with digital processes that ensure a greater customer experience and brand/ business culture.

As consumer expectations continue to rise, digital transformation tactics are no longer exclusive to large businesses. SMBs have had to make the shift if they want to grow. In fact, in 2017, a study by SMB Group stated that nearly half of small and medium businesses are planning to invest in digital transformation tools and tactics. We are now in 2021, and with the pandemic changing the world in 2020, digital transformation is more relevant than ever before. The customer is now almost exclusively online and expects service excellence at all times - especially since they are choosing to spend their hard-earned money at an economically volatile time.

The Difference Between Digital Transformation for SMBs and Enterprise Businesses People and Culture: Culture plays a big role in digital transformation. As much as digital transformation is about creating a streamlined customer experience, it is also about company and team alignment. Digital Transformation tools such as Customer Relationship Management Systems are easily accessible to all internal teams, including marketing, sales, and service. By having these teams align with one another, you are cutting out miscommunication and creating a smooth process that ensures the customer receives the same message and experience at all levels of the buying cycle. This is essential for all businesses, no matter size. However, Enterprises are able to hire leaders to take on the task of digital transformation within the company and across teams, and these professionals are able to invigorate culture into the organization. Small businesses are usually unable to budget for executive support and will need to upskill current managers to drive this forward across the company or organization.

Time and Budget: Most Enterprise organizations will have to invest in complex digital transformation solutions as they have larger processes and teams to manage. However, SMBs will have smaller budgets, but the solutions they invest in won’t be as time-consuming as those Enterprises will have to learn and integrate into the business. SMBs need to focus on integrating tailored digital transformation solutions - and scale these tools as they grow as a business.

Support: As mentioned previously, Enterprise businesses are able to hire professionals to help them integrate Digital Transformation tactics across their organizations. SMBs may not have this luxury and need to invest in digital transformation tools and CRMs that are easily integrated across the business and offer an easy user experience. Platforms such as HubSpot are ideal for SMBs as this CRM is scalable and easy to use it is also easily integrated and can be used alongside current business platforms.

From the above, it is clear that SMBs face significant challenges when it comes to implementing Digital Transformation across their business. However, if these smaller companies place time and effort into investigating the available tools and are able to prioritize what goals they need to meet in terms of Digital Transformation, they will be able to put together a cost-effective solution that will offer a significant return on investment - which will then give them space to grow their digital transformation efforts as they increase profitability.

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Leveraging digital transformation vendors is crucial to creating the best possible strategy for small businesses, and SMBs will need to source vendors/experts that are able to recognize their needs as small businesses and help them scale up their efforts as the business grows.

What to look for when sourcing a Digital Transformation Vendor or Solution for your SMB An understanding of your business or industry: When searching for a solution for digital transformation tactics across your business, find a vendor or platform that is able to understand your business, industry, KPIs, and short-term and long-term goals. This will result in a tailored approach that can be scaled as your business grows with digital transformation technology.

Technology that can collect, track and store valuable lead or customer data: Find a vendor or service provider that offers a platform that can store lead and customer data in a single place. The technology you choose to invest in also needs to provide insight into your customer and lead behavior to help your marketing, sales, and services team understand what individual clients are looking for, which helps them tailor messages accordingly.

Machine Learning Technology: It is important to invest in a technology or vendor that has machine learning capabilities from chatbots to automated emails. The technology you choose should enable your SMB to provide a personalized customer experience - which ensures customer and brand loyalty. And, of course, this results in a greater return on investment.

Easily Integrated with your current systems: The digital transformation tool you choose to invest in should be able to easily integrate with your existing tools and processes allowing for you to migrate the entire business as seamlessly as possible successfully.

In Summary SMBs need to invest in technologies that are customer-centric and designed to support their particular business goals. The customer needs to be prioritized above all else, and a digital transformation strategy cannot be ignored as we head into 2021.

In order to find success in the digital transformation world, SMBs need to invest in systems that can scale alongside them and systems that can be tailored to their specific needs and requirements.

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Customer Service Transformation in the Digital Era By: Toni Becker

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ntil recently, customer service was viewed as a menial and time-consuming task that businesses needed to check-off, and not much emphasis or attention to detail was placed on this service. In fact, many business owners saw customer service as a chore and rarely checked in on the department for feedback or updates. But times have changed, and with access to instant information via the world wide web, customers are now able to self-educate and research before they make a choice regarding a service provider, and they expect instant communication with a possible service provider at the click of a button.

As we have moved into the digital era, and the customer is more empowered than ever before, business owners have had to restrategize their customer service tactics as they acknowledge that customer service is not simply a way to provide a better endto-end customer experience. It is a valuable business asset for long-term success.

Today, business owners and managers need to understand the importance of creating “customer-centric” strategies across their marketing, sales, and service departments if they want to convert leads into customers, retain customers and create long-lasting brand loyalty. We live in the age of digital transformation, and the customer has gone through the biggest transformation yet.

Ensuring customers come first is not just a priority; it is a way for a business to stay ahead of the competition and gain long-term success.

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How to Transform Your Customer Experience Understand your Customer Expectations As stated previously, customer expectation has grown with the rise of instant communication and accessibility to online information. In fact, according to a Zendesk study, 59% of customer service agents state that customer expectations are higher than ever before.

Customer expectations continue to rise because, with each passing day and every Google search, they are becoming more informed about your offerings, and on top of this, they expect instant gratification when it comes to communication and service delivery. This may seem overwhelming and frustrating for business owners, but this information can be something positive when used strategically.

You see, the more informed a client is, the more engaged with your brand they become - they will interact with your brand via social media, respond to emails, and when they do contact you - you will immediately know that they are a high-quality lead. If you provide great service, they will become loyal to your brand and pass your details on to their friends, family, and online communities. Essentially, if you provide informed clients with great service, they become brand ambassadors for your business. But in order to create loyal brand ambassadors through customer service, your customer service must be a part of your customer’s entire buying experience.

Customer Service must be a part of the entire buying journey.

Customer service is not just about what happens at the pointof-sale. This may have been what it was like in the past, but the customer is now doing research and making a variety of decisions before they even decide to contact a business, let alone make a purchase. According to a Google - Ipsos Retail Study, 52% of consumers do online research before purchasing to make sure they are making the correct decision. This study took place in 2019 - and this number is consistently on the rise.

For the modern consumer, making the right decision is vital, and this is why you need to provide them with the correct information and to message at every stage of the buying process and across all possible channels - from your website, blog posts, social media and emailers. With this in mind, businesses need to focus their efforts on 3 specific areas: multichannel presence (marketing), customer service in sales, and the overall customer experience before, during, and after a purchase.

This is why Customer Relationship Management systems such as HubSpot are on the rise. HubSpot aligns your marketing, sales, and services teams to ensure the same message is being shared through every stage of the buying cycle, and this message is based on a specific lead’s needs - personalization, automation, and departmental alignment is key.

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Elevate the customer experience at every touchpoint With the rise of social media and digital channels, consumers are more inclined to share their brand experiences online, expect instant communication whenever they require support, and want more control over the buying journey. This means that consumer behavior is multi-channel as they move through various touchpoints throughout the purchase journey - from search engines and websites to social media pages and emails.

This means that you need to make your business available to the consumer and give them the opportunity to take quick actions at any moment.

Brands need to be aware of the consumers’ need for instant gratification, and this means that customer service teams need to be available at all times. But how is this possible? Automation is the way forward, from AI and machine learning chatbots to social media managers, email automation, data collection, and streamlined processes of communication. By investing in tools that allow for this level of automation, you elevate your customer experience and ensure they receive the attention and service they deserve at every touchpoint - from your website through to your social media platforms and beyond.

Again, a Customer Relationship Management software such as HubSpot is able to provide this level of customer service. With website chatbots and email automation to lead data collection to ensure your service teams are aware of every interaction, a lead has with your brand.

If you delight the customer at every touchpoint, you are sure to win their business, and they will soon become a loyal brand ambassador for your business.

Real-time Customer Service As touched on above, today’s consumer expects instant communication at any given time. Providing a form of customer service on your website, from helpful content, e-books, and videos to machine-learning chatbots, is a powerful way to answer your consumer’s questions at any given hour.

By offering valuable self-service solutions (mentioned above), your customers become more empowered. If you provide them with intelligent chatbots, on-site communities, dynamic and engaging FAQs, and personalized help widgets, you are giving the consumer “knowledge base” tools that build trust.

With more and more digital tools becoming available to personalize and automate the entire customer service journey in real-time, it is becoming easier to shut the gap between a business and its consumers, which will lead to more meaningful and long-lasting customer relationships.

Customer service must place emphasis on building relationships with customers As stated previously, alignment is key to business success, and customer service does not just lie with your customer services team. Building and nurturing customer relationships need to be shared across every team within the organization, mainly marketing, sales, and service. By having a shared goal, your brand will drive loyalty at every part of the buying journey.

This hands-on approach ensures a more personalized and

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streamlined customer experience as they move from one phase of the cycle to the next.

The best way to generate lead and customer data between marketing, sales, and service is to integrate your marketing, sales, and service software in a single location. This kind of integration benefits all teams by storing valuable data and lead information in one place - allowing room for improved results.

By connecting both teams through a powerful Customer Relationship Management software such as HubSpot, both teams can view the entire lifecycle of a visitor as they become a customer.

Remember, by integrating and aligning your teams, you are able to position your brand as an industry thought-leader, one that is available to educate, advise and help clients through every stage of the buying process. And this is what customer service is all about - this is how you reach the expectations of your consumer and build loyal brand ambassadors.

In Summary Today, it is important we understand the consumer and tailor our services to suit their needs and expectations. When a business delivers great customer service throughout the buying cycle, they are sure to build loyalty that goes beyond a single purchase.

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Elevate Your Digital Marketing with a Video Strategy By: Shannon Correia

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ith video being all the rage for marketing in 2021, it is imperative to have a strategy in place. This guide will ensure that your business makes the most out of this form of content marketing. There is a lot to gain for those who set out plans for it from the get-go. This article will provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to create a winning strategy.

A strategy will ensure that video is not merely an expensive one-off endeavor. Creating a video is no longer enough - it is a requirement, and with so many videos being produced and shared, your business needs to ensure yours stands out from the rest.

This type of content is engaging, humanizing for a brand, and can inspire creativity among your team.

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Apart from being the preferred medium for most target audiences, videos can and should be used for advertisements, social media content, explainer videos, product videos, and sharing testimonials. There are various ways to shoot content, from short-form narrative or documentary style to lifestylebased shoppable content and animations.

Video content is beneficial in terms of SEO, with reports suggesting that as much as 80% of traffic in 2021 will stem from video content. It is, therefore, important to share and embed them among high-quality content and platforms. Other contributing factors for favorable video performance include consistent posting, captivating thumbnails, appropriate titles with tags and keywords, clear descriptions, and incentives.

Devising a video strategy needs to be looked at in a three-step process, namely: Pre-production: This is where the bulk of strategizing takes place. It involves setting the budget and goals, as well as determining the marketing messaging and project timeline.

There is the initial phase where marketing is required and then the pre-production planning necessary for the video’s shooting, such as organizing the filming crew, resources, storyboard and set, etc.

Production: The video’s actual shooting (s) requires many aspects to come together to produce the content. The actionable days where the film is rolling and relates to everything needed to shoot the video are actionable days.

Post-production: During this stage, the content receives its final edits. The marketing team will then need to distribute the content according to the initial strategy across their owned and paid media. Examples include a video hosting website (such as Wistia, YouTube, or Vimeo), the brand’s website and social media channels, email content, and adverts.

Many marketing processes contribute to video strategies. There is evidence of that throughout the steps required to produce a successful video strategy more in-depth, as seen below:

Step 1: Determine your audience.

This is a vital step as it determines the kind of video you need to produce, from the storyline to the platforms where it is shared and the messaging that will appeal to them.

Step 2: Set your goals and budget.

This will form part of your overall marketing strategy and ensure that your videos have purpose and direction. The goals will determine the KPIs and plans for optimization. Your video content should have both short and long-term goals.

Step 3: Plan your content.

Content marketing is varied, and brands can share various aspects of a concept through different mediums. Therefore work completed for an email or content marketing campaign can be enhanced or extended with video content. This step also accounts for all the details regarding the concept, storytelling, and specific brand messaging.

Step 4: Produce video content.

Your marketing team will need to decide upon working with

an agency to create the videos or hire someone in-house.

The videographer or film crew will shoot the video content according to the set and scheduled plans. The platform where a video will be shared will influence its editing.

Step 5: Distribute the videos.

The marketing team will schedule and plan the content in line with their overall marketing strategy to ensure it is shared optimally and widely.

Step 6: Track and measure the performance of the videos.

There are various ways to track the analytics, and since the videos should be packaged and shared wisely, the results should be measured across each platform or channel. Factors to measure include the views, engagement, playmates, shares, and feedback received.

One of the reasons videos are beneficial to marketers is that they are versatile. They can be used in the awareness and consideration stages in a buyer’s journey and the content that inspires people to make a purchase. This should inform the kind of content produced and the associated KPI’s. Here are some examples: Awareness: How many impressions and views were generated?

Consideration: How long did people watch the video? Did they heed your call to action?

Conversions: How many leads and sales were generated?

There you have it - the six-step process of creating a complete strategy for video content, as well as the various factors that influence the production and success of video content. When planned well, this content can elevate your marketing in 2021, allowing brands to capitalize on the ever-growing opportunities presented by video content.

Video Marketing in Numbers •

81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool (Hubspot).

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Mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year (Insivia).

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By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic 15 times higher than it was in 2017 (Cisco).

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78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day (HubSpot).

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Users view more than 1 billion hours of video each day on YouTube (YouTube).

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75% of all video plays are on mobile devices (eMarketer).

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72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video (HubSpot).

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Develop Your Sales and Marketing with a Consultant By: Shannon Correia

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onsultants provide professional services to businesses so that they can reach their goals. One of the most highly sought-after types of consultants specializes in sales and marketing since these departments can make or break a business. In this listicle, we’ll share the many benefits of hiring one to spur growth and improvement.

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Experience: Consultants bring a wealth of knowledge and industry-related expertise that your business can learn from. This is oftentimes what it takes to turn your business around, with the derivatives from those years of insights and observations is highly valuable.

Perspective: One cannot underestimate a pair of fresh eyes.

When your business needs to transform, a different perspective can pick up on otherwise missed things. Additionally, they provide objectivity in your sales and marketing departments to tackle the issues’ root cause.

Expertise: Consultants apply their knowledge to the business they are working with. These skills are learned in various ways over time, which are then leveraged and used to help implement change. They will suggest insights and techniques that can set forth unchartered transformation within your company.

Outsourcing: There are many benefits associated with outsourcing, especially when it comes to consulting. You are essentially borrowing a resource for the time needed, gaining helpful tips that can carry you through to the long term. This can save a business time, money, and effort compared to hiring new employees to affect the same changes.

Marketplace: With the business world continually evolving, there are inevitable changes in your business market. Consultants can help you manage these changes and implement ways to amalgamate and assimilate where necessary.

SWOT: With the insights gained, your business will identify and act on opportunities and threats. Consultants help achieve this, from identifying patterns derived from their insights to implementing the necessary changes that effect change.

Advantage: Gaining a competitive advantage is one of the benefits of working with a consultant. They can ensure you’re holding your market share in line with the competition, yet also having a distinct point of difference to work to your advantage.

Based on the above, it is clear that there are numerous benefits to working with sales and marketing consultants. If you need help in one or both of these areas, it›s time to consider the value that this investment can have for your business.

Relationships: Consultants have networks within their niche industries. By working with them, you can be introduced to these connections, leading to your business having digital technology, new partnerships, or suppliers that will improve your sales and marketing processes.

Changes: Effecting change within a business is a mammoth task and one which consultants are trained and qualified in doing.

They can introduce new ways of doing sales and marketing to help your company improve in the long-run. This leads us to the next point, which is: Results: You can elicit faster results regarding the changes your business needs when working with a consultant. This means you can reach your short-term goals quicker while setting forth the structures required to meet the mid-to-long-term goals and objectives.

Customized: Customized service is incredibly beneficial because the consultant will do a full run-down of your business to see what needs to be done and focus solely on that. This way, you are not buying into a particular system or package - but rather ensuring that your business benefits in the ways most suited to it precisely.

Skills Sharing: Upskilling teams and motivating them falls under the job description of a consultant when need be. This means you can improve your sales force and marketing department’s knowledge and capabilities through ‘inclusive’ training sessions.

Management: One of the common reasons for hiring a consultant is to help your business management processes.

This is needed when, for instance, your salesforce has a high employee turnover. By introducing management structures and techniques, you can help motivate your team. This also brings us to the next point, which is: Processes: Having unfocused processes within your sales or marketing departments can derail the closing of your businesses’ deals. By introducing the best methods for your operations, you can ensure you meet the industry standard and capitalizing as much as possible.

Forecasting: When you’re using inaccurate or irrelevant forecasting, your business will be unable to grow. Consultants can analyze your business to ensure you have the correct measurement methods in place to pick up on patterns and use data and analytics to your every advantage.

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eCommerce Transformations: A Guide To Creating Brand Awareness and Loyalty By: Shannon Correia

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any brick and morter businesses are transforming into online retailers, with eCommerce being one of the world’s fast-growing industries. Once an eCommerce store has launched, you need a marketing strategy that’ll help raise awareness. Since there will have been marketing for the launch, there is no better time to build on that momentum.

In this article, we’ll be taking you through all you need to know, from marketing plans to specific techniques that’ll ensure your new store becomes a favorite among your audiences. What you’ve got is the link, and what you need is consumer loyalty. Here’s how to get and keep your audience’s attention.

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Start with Branding Before diving into a marketing strategy for your eCommerce store, assess your brand. Branding is all about the identity of your store and forms a vital part of your marketing messages.

When this is done well, it can result in brand recognition among your audiences, a successful marketing measure. Consider the following: Story: Develop your brand’s story - each business should have one. Include your values, drive, and journey with customers.

This is a great way to build meaningful connections with your audiences.

Presence: Your brand should have a presence in multiple places online that extend beyond the store itself. Build your network across the likes of social media platforms, industry forums, and marketplaces.

Logo: Your logo is the primary visual indicator or icon of your brand. The logo should be recognizable and memorable, communicating the essence of your business succinctly.

USP: Since your USP is what sets you apart from competitors, this attributing factor should be defined and become part of your brand’s identity.

Design: The aesthetics of your brand or visual elements of your brand are also important. This extends to everything from the typography to the colors and style you use.

Slogan: For brand recognition to become a household name, develop a catchy slogan associated with your brand.

Techniques for Increasing Brand Awareness Partnerships: Collaborations with other businesses, organizations, and influencers can provide you with access to more audiences that can grow your brand.

Public relations: Having content created and shared on thirdparty sites and platforms can build credibility, improve link building, and expand your reach.

Sharing: Putting the budget behind content creation that is shareable can increase your reach exponentially and organically.

The key segways when it comes to sharing are generating usergenerated content and gaining reviews and testimonials.

Visuals: Photos, videos, and other visual resources such as infographics are engaging forms of content that can boost your reach. This is a necessary part of your content plan, which has become a non-negotiable.

Content: Content helps form your foundations as a brand and allows people to connect with you. There are many forms of content to share and various platforms to share it on. Creating both evergreen posts and news-based posts is essential and will increase your visibility.

Engagement: For awareness to be sufficient, you need to hold the interest, engage with the person, and direct them with calls to action.

Channels: The platforms you base your business on are crucial.

It’s important to meet your audience where they are.

Trends: Being too closely associated with a trend or fad will not benefit the long run. However, if you form part of the relevant

conversations, you can leverage this popularity and provide your brand with an increased opportunity for visibility.

Emotions: As with all marketing, appealing to emotions is one of the best ways to connect with audiences and build relationships. These associations are powerful in-memory recalls and resonations.

Marketing Strategy A marketing strategy is a blueprint for managing your new eCommerce store. If you’re at the stage of raising awareness, you’ll have picked your platform and be ready to grow your brand name. In doing this, you will gain increased traffic, and if your website (or the social media platform you’re selling on) is up to scratch, you’ll be increasing your sales too.

Pro tip: When developing the strategy, consider the consumer’s journey before entering your sales funnel. That is the researching phase before making a purchase. Your brand’s awareness will lead to your business being included in this stage. It is widely reported that consumers use the internet to research brands and find shopping inspiration. Hence, you need to ensure your brand appeals to this behavior and that it is present where these searches are happening (online and via social media) with marketing messages that deem your brand worthy as a frontrunner.

Increase Reach with Marketing Methodologies There are key ways to increase your brand’s visibility through marketing, namely: Organic: Market your brand organically by being consistent in positing optimized content. While this takes longer in terms of reach and awareness, it is a crucial part of a successful marketing mix. One of the go-to ways to do this is to develop SEO content for your website’s blog.

Paid: By this, we mean advertising. If you want to increase your brand’s visibility quickly and efficiently, online advertising is the way to go. This should include adverts on social media and search engines. PPC campaigns are popular and becoming increasingly necessary as search engines continue to move toward becoming the end destination in a user’s search (by providing snippets of information that answer the question without a click onto a website being necessary). Social media ads are a cost-effective way to reach customers directly, with brand awareness being one of the goals you can set for the ad.

Lead Generation To raise awareness, it is imperative to mention lead generation.

It is a marketing philosophy of attracting potential customers to your business and getting them started on your sales funnel or flywheel. Once this phase begins, your job is to take the leads and convert them into sales-qualified leads and finally (ideally) customers.

For lead generation to begin, you need to use marketing techniques (which we’ll discuss below) to increase the traffic to your website. Use multiple platforms and channels with a marketing message that inspired visits from high-quality leads (those with a keen interest in making a purchase). From this point onwards, you can nurture the relationship and convert these leads into customers.

To begin your lead generation strategy, assess the four-step process that a new customer goes through with your business.

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Attraction: Discovery of your brand, which is helped by marketing efforts that increase brand awareness.

Conversion: Successful call to action or’ path to purchase’ steps taken from your website or platform.

Closing: The capturing of information through a lead form (this is what separates a ‘lead’ from a ‘visitor.’

Delighting: The lead is rewarded for sharing their contact information with you with a valuable offering, such as a discount code or gated content.

Marketing Campaigns When working on improving your brand’s visibility, you need to remain consistent. Having a content flow will serve as an exciting prospect for your audiences and build a bank of reliable content for search engines to index. One of the ways to increase your brand’s awareness is to utilize marketing campaigns. With this, you can focus your efforts and attention on specific promotions and offers. A marketing campaign can increase brand awareness among new audiences and platforms altogether. By introducing relevant campaigns, you can reach new markets better.

Many eCommerce stores rely on online reviews and shares.

This should be a focal point for your brand to increase its space within the market. By encouraging people to share your content and build up reviews on various online platforms, you can improve your network substantially in a trusted manner.

Multimedia Meets Multiple Ways to Shop If you’re working on expanding your brand’s reach, you cannot have flat marketing. By that we mean, you should turn to multimedia as a way to improve engagement levels. There are many ways to do this, many of which are visual and include video content. More specifically, video entertainment is becoming increasingly popular. It consists of lifestyle content that provides for shoppable items - in other words, the video version of soft-selling.

To add to this, there are also now multiple ways for customers to shop online. To increase your brand awareness, you can expand your selling points beyond your website on social media. Users can now shop directly on Facebook and Instagram without leaving the app. This provides your business with a different place to make sales, which links to your eCommerce hosting site, making the process one that is as business-friendly as it is user-friendly.

Social Media Marketing One of the best ways to raise awareness about your business is to utilize social media marketing. You can achieve this by: •

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Increasing your exposure and reach on social media. There are various ways to find and connect with your audience on these platforms, from tags to hashtags and advertising.

It is also the perfect space to create shareable content that can grow your network further.

Building your perception: What you post will influence your brand’s perception. More so, being active on social media can grow your reach among audiences on those platforms and help with your SEO standing. Whether you sell directly on these platforms or use them to direct people to your website, these are powerful ways to improve your brand’s visibility and build relationships with your audience.

Optimize for Conversions If you’d like to attract people to your new eCommerce platform, you’ve got to optimize wherever you can. This significantly extends to your social media channels and all content shared on your blog and website overall. The information you publish will be indexed by search engines, meaning this will influence your brand’s level of visibility when people use these search engines.

Your website or eCommerce platform will have best practices that will allow you to set up shop in an optimal way. The setup and layout need to be a focal area since this will affect your business’s experience. It should be a well-designed page or site with an easy-to-follow responsive layout and guides the path to purchase. When it comes to eCommerce, you should think of your website as having to make up for an otherwise ‘in-store’ experience.

Advertising Arguably the quickest and most effective way to raise awareness is through advertising. Whether it’s search engine marketing or social media marketing, you can target audiences directly. Developing your customer personas can go a long way in determining how successful your advertising campaign will be.

The key ways to create digital adverts at the moment include video content and direct messaging. Consider using these when trying to grow your business’s presence online. Your advertising strategy, in brief, should cover the following bases: Campaign: Plan and budget per the proposed marketing campaign that you’d like to advertise. Set measurable goals and intentions to ensure your efforts are maximized.

Targeting: Conducting in-depth research before going live with the ad is highly beneficial and will garner higher success rates.

Content creation: The content developed for your campaign needs to be of high-quality. Your plans and budget will need to account for this. While digital ads can be flexible, this is one aspect you want to give ample time to sign off on and ensure that it is worth the budget you’re placing behind it in both the creation and promotion of it.

Metrics: Having all of the necessary tools to measure your advert is important as you’ll need to follow the metrics closely.

The great thing about digital ads is that you can make changes if need be, and the reporting capabilities are high. Take full advantage of this to ensure you are reaching your goals and making the necessary improvements for the future.

Partnerships and Reinvestment Liven up your marketing and Introducing new products or existing models is a great way audiences, therefore positively

eStore by prizing innovation. services or improving upon to remain relevant and excite building your brand’s image.

Another consideration on the marketing front is to pattern with others. There are four key ways to achieve this: Digital PR: One of the tried and tested ways of increasing brand awareness is by working with media personnel. This includes sharing press releases, invitations, and products for them to write about across third-party websites that will expand your reach.

Digital Growth - March. 2021

Influencer marketing: Influencers provide “social proof” about brands. Working with them can expose your brand to new audiences who are likely to be influenced and persuaded to learn more about your brand.

Business partnerships: Partnering up with another business related to yours can also increase your brand awareness and visibility. Such collaborations can introduce you to a new and complementary audience.

Marketing Made Easy That concludes our guide on how to market your eCommerce store with digital marketing. It will improve your brand awareness, which will, in turn, improve your traffic, sales, and customer community. Making a move online, building your links, and locking in loyalty among your audience is one of the best ways to transform your business and prime it for future successes.

Sponsorships: In the spirit of goodwill, you can increase your brand awareness by aligning and supporting initiatives and causes needing assistance.

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DIGITAL GROWTH March 2021 | ISSUE 6