Business 101: Go Digital or Go Home

Business 101: Go Digital or Go Home

Running a small business is no trivial undertaking. Success usually depends on organizing and managing countless moving parts, not to mention personal sacrifices. Nobody should expect a shortcut to success when it comes to entrepreneurship.

The global marketplace is saturated with countless products and services. That makes developing competitive advantages central to reinforcing brand differentiation. Fortunately, there are a few things that businesses can do to remain competitive. Three main considerations are to (i) find ways to stay innovative, (ii) understand the customers, and (iii) continually reinvent the brand. That third suggestion is more of a mental exercise but the first two can be tackled headlong with the right strategies.

There’s no dearth of published guidance to explore. For instance, the US Small Business Association (SBA) put together a short-list of tips to help build and grow a standout brand. Some of the most important tips are to focus heavily on the core product/service and build a community around your business. Companies that neglect the core product/services in favor of other initiatives risk diluting their overall quality. Building a community around the business could yield a wide variety of benefits, yet some remain skeptical because it involves technology.

We’re talking about having a website, a credible digital footprint. Interactions enabled online are much more visible (which makes them easier to track) than the ones which traditionally unfold. Having a website facilitates e-commerce and lends brand legitimacy. The site can also be used as a separate marketing channel.

But it would be a major mistake to assume that the website alone is synonymous with digital marketing. That simply isn’t the case. Digital marketing can offer small businesses a serious edge over conventional methods. The Digital Marketing Institute covers how to become more accessible to shifting consumer shopping habits and reward loyal patrons and keep up with competitors. All of these have a positive impact on business performance.

Building the website itself and finding ways to effectively promote its content alongside your business tends to be the biggest barrier once the decision to go with a website is made. Some businesses try it without the aid of experts, but that isn’t necessarily the best idea. Remember that companies ought to focus on the core product/service, and not on becoming expert web developers and marketers. Finding external support isn’t nearly as challenging as it once was thanks to the Internet. An Australian sporting goods store, for example, could reasonably optimize its SEO in Brisbane with the aid of a local agency. The same could be said for a chic restaurant in New York City or a safari touring service in South Africa.

Suffice it to say that digital marketing should not be underestimated. Forbes explains that 76 percent of people feel marketing has changed more in the past two years than it has in the previous 50 years, and 90 percent of business-to-consumer companies now use social media in their marketing strategies. Consumer habits are becoming increasingly mediated by technology, and digital marketing has evolved radically into something much more sophisticated. All the more reason to depend on it to help sustain business growth.

It takes a great deal of time and effort to grow a successful startup or small business and there are several nuanced topics to take into account. You may now have an appreciation for how technology can make this endeavor more manageable. Having a website coupled with appropriate digital marketing is certain to advance all the necessary components for a successful business. And let’s face it, most people cannot afford to risk running a business without those things.