We have been talking about remote working for so many years and up until recently, many were saying that trials undertaken had been unsuccessful. Then along comes COVID-19 forcing our collective business community into isolation. We have to be prepared that this may happen again, sooner or later. Many who had embraced the cloud and had an established digital footprint thrived, those who didn’t in a very short time suffered.
If you feel like you are being left behind, do not despair – the key message here is to start, but start now. Ensuring the online world and the real world of your business connect is an ongoing journey of applied learning and commitment.
Don’t believe social marketing is easy and free, it’s not. You can make good progress with a small financial outlay by applying some time and common sense. Before you start investing in social advertising, search engine optimization (SEO) and high-end design get to know what your customers need and what your capacity and capabilities are.
Why is digital capability so important now?
Online everything has been emerging for the past twenty years - websites and email have become our primary method of business communication. Over the last decade, social platforms have increasingly dominated the way consumers buy in a globalised marketplace.
While you may think Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are fads, they are not. Love it or ignore it two billion people use Facebook every month with 65 million businesses using Facebook pages currently.
Ease of online access thanks to smartphones and ubiquitous broadband means people will look not just to your traditional messaging (that’s your website) but to what others say about your product or service (social posts, reviews and feedback).
Even if you come highly recommended, lacking a credible online presence will mean you are going to be passed over for your more digitally savvy competitor.
As a business owner I am - too busy – too broke – too old
There is a lot of demand on small business owners who have all the responsibility of day to day operations and few if any, staff to delegate tasks to. This, however, is not a reason to put off developing your digital presence. Recent events caused by global isolation has demonstrated those who have strong web, social and cloud-based system can not only continue to function effectively, they can gain market share.
The focus should be on getting the basics right and a commitment to knowledge development, planning and budgeting for the online marketing of your business.
Know where to start, and start
We tend to think of online as highly technical and requiring specialist expertise. Know who your customers are, how they want to engage with you, and how you are going to ensure that you can be respond. There is little chance, even with unlimited budgets, resources and expertise, that you will get it perfect immediately, so start somewhere. Like your business your online engagements must evolve.
Most platforms provide free access to allow you to set up profiles and pages. Some example being Blog sites (Blogger, WordPress), Social Platforms (Facebook, Twitter) and Business Networks (LinkedIn) are good places to start.
Getting in sooner than later helps you have a greater changes of securing web addresses that align with your brand.
Get your Own Domain Name - Now
For a very small investment, you can, and should, have your domain name (Web Address, URL). If you intend to trade on a global platform then a Dot Com is a consideration. If you identify as a New Zealand business, and or have only New Zealand customers then a .co.nz or .nz domain name is what you need. At the time of reserving your domain if the .co.nz and .nz is available then get them both.
Most Registrars (1st Domains, Freeparking) who you purchase domains from will allow you to point your domain name free to another site (known as URL Forwarding). This can be useful if you are keeping costs low and are using a free blog site to get your digital presence underway. While this will not optimise your Google ranking (that where more costly SEO comes in) we are focusing on starting somewhere.
Not insignificantly, another benefit of owning your own domain name means you can set up personalised email addresses. If you own www.yourbusiness.co.nz you can have info@yourbusiness.co.nz rather than promoting a Gmail, Outlook or some other providers email which you have no control or ownership of.
Give it time – Go Digital
We procrastinate because of the size of a task becomes overwhelming. Breaking a large task into chunks helps put it into perspective. You will always have people telling you about the importance of planning. While planning is important you should not let that stop you from getting things underway when it comes to your business digital capability.
Applied learning comes from giving things a go. If you don’t get things right immediately you can update, improve or delegate to those who have more expertise when time and budgets allow.
The core fundamentals of your online presence are:
Website: This includes personalised web addresses, email, and if appropriate e-commerce (Selling your products online).
Social Media: Having conversations with your customers means that they can build trust with you and your brand. This could include Facebook Pages, LinkedIn Groups, Google Maps (Location), Google Business (Reviews) and Blogs.
Software: There are numerous cloud-based productivity tools including Microsoft (Word, Excel etc.) and Financial tools (Xero, MYOB) and storage solutions (OneDrive, Dropbox).
Security and Privacy: This will be increasingly important as we put our IP, business, private and financial information online. Ensuring we use reputable platforms, secure technology and the correct privacy settings is essential.
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