The rise of digital businesses over the decade has been unstoppable. According to Statista, the expected amount of global digital ad spend in 2021 is approximately $389.29 billion. This and the societal changes the pandemic has brought have constantly fueled the demand for small, locally owned businesses to adapt to a digital platform.
But digital transformation is tricky. With every article just focused on “finding your niche” and “optimizing market engagement,” it can be hard to avoid the most basic problems that local entrepreneurs encounter during the process. Since these problems might lead to the end of your business, we’ve prepared a list of six barely discussed but overly important tips that you should know to save yourself and your business from going under.
Choose the Right Tech
Going digital means that you’re gonna have to rely on technology more than you’re comfortable with. This is one of the first problems people encounter but rarely recognize. Knowing which programs, applications, tools, and even social media themes to use will be vital to your business’s longevity.
Understand the threat of long-term contracts
Signing a wrong long-term contract can warrant the death of your company before anything even begins. To small business owners, long-term means more protection and a usually cheaper deal. And that’s perfectly right. However, in this world, innovation happens every single day. And one thing most people don’t take into account is the risk of getting stuck with obsolete technology. Going long-term with any tech provider means not having the flexibility to change your tools and approaches depending on your business’ needs.
Do not be afraid to invest in upgrades
As most entrepreneurs know, earning more can sometimes only be achieved by spending more. Digital transformation is going to cost you. And it will cost you a lot constantly since, as mentioned above, technology gets better every day. Upgrading your systems and acquiring more advanced tools are both necessary for improving your business. Advanced tools can drastically enhance employees’ performances and productivity. Up-to-date systems tend to be more efficient and cost-saving in the long run as well.
Information plays a crucial part in choosing the right tech. Do your research, and do not be afraid to ask for help.
Learn to Defend Yourself
Speaking of the importance of information, knowing how to defend yourself is one of the most important things you need to work on instantly. This is not about a group of punks cornering you at the alley. No, this is something scarier. After years in the field you’re comfortable in, you’re suddenly getting dragged somewhere unfamiliar. And that can be very frightening. So to keep yourself secured, you must know the dangers and how you can solve them.
Know how you’ll lose customers
As technological privileges improve, people start to act more privileged. The demand for giving the best online experience is increasing alarmingly. Consumers back out and click away the moment your website lags. According to Google’s website speed benchmarks, a lag time of one to three seconds leads to the probability of losing your customer by 32%. And it goes higher as the loading time takes longer. This means your website’s speed is directly proportional to your traffic and revenue.
One of the first goals would then be finding out ways on how you can work on this. And a free way to do that is by using Think with Google.
Understand negative SEO and the damage it can cause
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process of improving the visibility of a website through indirect tags on the Internet rather than opting for paid traffic. This has been proven to be very useful in terms of marketing. But it can also be powerful in the wrong hands. Negative SEO revolves around the same process mentioned but is used for sabotaging websites instead. It can range from hacking your website and duplicating your site’s content to ruining your reputation by connecting them to undesirable and taboo sites and using online trolls to post fake negative reviews about your business.
Getting professional help to monitor or at least inform you about negative SEO monitoring will be helpful in the long run. The possibility of having competitors hack your website may not be high, especially if you haven’t upscaled yet. But the threat from trolls and product or idea theft is always going to be there. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Do Not Let Them Blind You with All the Excitement
As scary as it is, going digital can also be very exciting. With the current advancement in technology, branching out online can be fun. With most of your patrons supporting your launch, having a breezy start is possible. But do not let all that excitement blind you.
Prioritize sales
Marketing is a crucial part of the business. But the number of followers is different from the number of customers. Sometimes the hype from getting a certain number of followers is overwhelming and blinding. But take note that some are there just for support, and some just find it entertaining. Focusing on your social media presence is understandable at the start of your digital adjustments. But engaging the target market and converting them must be worked on instantly as well.
Don’t be overwhelmed by the reach
Going digital means you can reach the world. You have to remember that your immediate target market is still those within the range of practicality. As exciting as it may be, market reach is not as important as the sales count. Understand that popularity is not the only goal.
A lot of businesses go viral without becoming successful. So at the end of the day, the most important thing that you have to think about is your priorities.
