If your business hasn't gone digital, you are definitely lagging behind. In today's 'always connected' society, almost everything is just a tap away on consumer's mobile phones.
A few taps on Google on your phone and you can know what are the nearby restaurants, cafes, shops and more. Need directions? Waze or Google Maps is your traffic guide. Need to organise a meet up with your friends? You're spoiled for choice with WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat and many more messaging apps. And Facebook still reigns supreme for getting the latest updates from family, friends and even businesses.
Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, the digital adoption of consumers is going even faster. Who would have thought 'work from home' could even be possible a few years ago? Even food delivery services have risen in popularity nationwide. Online stores had a hard time keeping up with demand as shopping centres remained closed throughout the MCO period. All of these factors point to the importance of going digital for any business.
This funny internet meme is so true. Covid-19 forced many to adopt digital transformation whether they liked it or not!
While many businesses were struggling to cope with the pandemic, companies with a digital presence and a solid digital marketing strategy in place were actually experiencing rapid growth. Having just an online presence isn't enough anymore, you need to have a roadmap that includes digital marketing as well as taking advantage of available online tools and optimising on your strategy as you go along.
So, why is digital marketing essential in today's business environment?
Unless you have been living in a cave, the pandemic practically forced everyone to go digital. Consumers are virtually all over the internet and the bulk of them are the 25-40 year old consumer with greater buying power. Even the older consumers are also learning how to shop online even if they are not so tech-savvy.
While many people may not use digital technology so much previously, the pandemic has really forced people to adapt. And it looks like people's habits are hard to break as they rely on the convenience of technology as time goes on. Now that nearly everyone has entered the digital age, your business needs to embrace it as well.
Consumers expect instant answers.
Imagine your consumer doing a Google search on their phone for "office chair supplier near me" and the search results show a list with business addresses and directions on the map, but several entries lack links to a website.
Most consumers these days will want to check out your website and do a comparison with your competitors before they even decide to call or visit your business. Imagine in such a scenario, your potential customers will check out the competition first and may not even bother calling you at all. Ask yourself, how many times have you searched a business online and called them directly? Most times you will look a their website and also look at reviews from other customers.
The only way you can provide instant answers is to ensure you have a well-designed, easy to navigate and mobile-friendly website as well as engaging your audience on more than one digital platform.
Digital marketing isn't just dumping all your budget into Facebook or Google Ads and hoping for the best. It's a whole eco-sytem that should complement your overall strategy on what works best. Most importantly, you need to start now!