How to Grow Your Digital Footprint
Throughout this blog series we have talked about what you need to do during these unprecedented times. We’ve discussed why going digital is more important than ever, how to maintain relevance, and why P2P is replacing B2C and B2B business strategies. In this fourth and final post, we are sharing helpful tips for your digital transformation.
Change Starts From Within
First and foremost, you need to find a way to do business online or use technology to remove or reduce the need for in-person contact. If you are a restaurant, offer curbside pickup or delivery. According to Yahoo, food delivery was 300 times more popular in April than in March. If you are a store, offer curbside pickup for items ordered online. Audiences’ needs are changing during the coronavirus outbreak. You need to adapt to their needs. This could require some big changes to your products, services, and operating processes.
Start Singing a New Tune
Once you’ve established how you’ll do business in this new world, it’s time to change your messaging and get the word out. Your content needs to be updated regularly so people know you’re active and available, including your website and your social media profiles. A company with an updated social media page is more likely to acquire customers than one with no social media presence. Now is the time to gain followers, with more people scrolling through social media sites than ever.
Another thing that needs to change are your CTA’s, or calls to action. At the end of social posts, companies usually put, “Come see us soon,” or “Stop by today.” With the stay at home orders at large, those CTA’s need to change to, “Visit our website” or “Order online now!”
Have a mobile friendly website
“If I get on my mobile phone, go to a website and I can’t see it because it’s not optimized properly, I’m off to the next one. I don’t want to do business with people that aren’t keeping up with the current times.”
– Kevin Harrington, American Entrepreneur
With more people than ever using mobile devices to access the internet, it’s crucially important for businesses to have either a mobile app or a mobile-friendly website. It increases the likelihood that a customer will purchase a product on your site. As quoted above, if your website is not mobile-friendly, the likelihood that someone will buy a product from your website is slim to none.
Make the transition as smooth as possible for both you and your team
How are you going to make this a smooth transition for your employees and/or team? For most businesses, this transition is fairly easy as a lot of businesses are already working through computers already. However, some businesses still rely on the in-person factor and face to face communication to sell their business. Use Zoom or any other form of face to face digital communication so you are not losing that factor. According to The Verge, Zoom has been the go-to platform for most businesses as over 300 million users during the pandemic. Use Google Drive to allow your team to communicate and edit documents collectively. All of the tools are out there for you to succeed.
You are not alone. We’re still in this together.
Almost every business in the United States faced a do-or-die moment when COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were in place. Those who are making it are doing so by going online. It’s not just huge companies cashing in. Even longtime local offline retailers such as A.E. Schmidt Billiards in St. Louis, MO have successfully switched to ecommerce sales and grown through this. Many of those who couldn’t pivot fast enough to keep sales up have succeeded with clear, consistent, and relevant communication via social media, blogs, and emails. And their customers are happy to return when the time comes.
It’s ok if you weren’t prepared. It’s ok if you’re feeling a little lost. It’s ok if you’re not sure what to do next. There are so many resources out there to help guide you back on track. Check with your local, regional, and state offices of economic development, they are there to support you. Talk to your partners and other friendly business owners and listen to what is working and not working for them. Reach out to experts like the Blayzer team who are here to help. Keeping up with all of this is imperative for us, and we’re happy to share what we’re learning.
Together, we can help make this digital transformation easier on you, your team, and your customers. The easier it is, the faster your business will be up and running and turning a profit in the post-COVID economy.
