Think about all the changes that have taken place in digital marketing over the past decade. Think about the rise of social media. Think about how messaging apps and platforms like Twitter and Snapchat allow people to communicate and identify each other’s whereabouts in real-time. Think about new upcoming digital solutions like virtual reality (VR). Now think about how these solutions help you to pinpoint exactly what your customers want. They all serve a purpose, but they only work when you have an all-encompassing platform and the right technology to make them work.
Your Market is Always Changing
The digital landscape is changing, and today’s companies must embrace a digital transformation strategy that marries their company’s digital tools and technologies into an integrated customer-facing solution. Most people view digital transformation as an abstract idea without any concrete payoffs or benefits. It’s often viewed as a natural progression from one digital platform to the next and a movement driven entirely by customers. However, having a digital transformation strategy for companies means reducing costs across multiple digital platforms and technologies with the ultimate goal of increasing customer retention.
Having a Digital Transformation Strategy is a Must
At its core, a transformation solution is about adopting a set of principles and guidelines that remove the gaps on how your company creates leads, generates sales, delivers promises and keeps customers engaged. Yes, consumers are driving new technologies. Yes, your company must decide whether these technologies apply to your market and customers, and yes, you must integrate these technologies into your overall digital marketing solution in a cost-efficient manner. However, you’re in the driver’s seat. The benefit of doing this right means your entire solution is streamlined right from the moment you engage your audience all the way to how you provide after-sales support.
When your entire technology solution is integrated, your company and your customers will reap the rewards. The key is to ensure that the strategy you employ is not a one-time or static event. Your team must commit themselves to continuously identifying the gaps in your martech (marketing technology) stack and internal IT requirements, while keeping abreast of your customers’ expectations, competitors, the multiple channels your customers use, and the opportunities and threats within your market. Here are some things to keep in mind when looking at digital transformation.
Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Where are you going with your digital strategies and are they aligned with how your customers interact with your brand? It’s not just about how you generate leads. It’s about how you retain critical customer data and how you leverage that data both now and in the future. You must consider how your customers make purchases online, how they communicate online and how they propagate your message and share your brand with friends and family through social media. Do your customers prefer apps for purchasing? Do they use messenger apps? What social media channels do they prefer?
Ultimately, your digital marketing systems must be aligned with your customers' online footprint. This is the all-important first step to identifying any gaps that need to be filled. If your company is ignoring a digital marketing strategy that your customers and market demands, then you’ll lose out. Your competitors will always beat you to the punch.
Your Customer Management Tools and Technology
How you capture, retain and leverage your customer data is just as important as having the tools to gather that data. Have you given customers the options to seamlessly integrate from one online purchasing platform to the next? It’s common for customers to start a purchase, get interrupted and then re-initiate that purchase on another channel later. They may start their purchase through a laptop at home, and then finish the purchase using their mobile phone. Not having the right technology puts that sale and future customer relationship at risk.
Your customer management tools must not only help you secure that business, but they must also help you use the customer data you’ve gathered. A customer relationship management (CRM) software integrated with your digital strategies helps with information gathering and cuts down on the time it takes to manually enter your data. In fact, there are several CRM solutions that are integrated with a given landing page so that customer contact details and lead capture data is immediately transferred. Now, wouldn’t it be great to fill in this gap in your technology? If you could, how much time and money would it save?
Your People
Having the right people with the right competencies is critical. Filling in the gaps in this situation is vitally important. Does your team have the skillset to get the job done? Do they have the talent and customer insight needed to engage your audience with interesting new offers and thought-provoking content? Is your team constantly searching for new digital marketing strategies and innovative ways to build your brand online? Most importantly, do they have the knowledge and know-how to use the digital marketing tools you’ve provided?
A common strategy for companies is to complement their internal competencies with those of an outside marketing firm. This is a great way to upgrade your team’s skillset while providing invaluable insight from another set of eyes. Treat your people the same way you would any other asset. Invest in them and upgrade their skills so that no gap is too large.
Your Internal Processes
Are you employing the same tired strategies? Are you trying to generate leads with an outdated and antiquated approach? You can’t just focus on your technology gaps. You must be able to assess, identify and remove the gaps in your processes. You can upgrade every facet of your digital marketing approach and still drop the ball if your processes aren’t aligned.
Digital transformation is a constantly-evolving process. Keeping abreast of changes means you're always making sure you're able to serve your customers and keep them coming back for more.
Contact us if you need help identifying the gaps in your digital marketing strategies and technologies. We can help you update your digital marketing strategies. Request an assessment today.
Written By: David Carpenter
