Digital tools and skills are critical for businesses to thrive and be resilient.

Here are some nuggets from the session I did at the JCI Harare Business Expo.

It has become rare to find a person owning a Nokia phone even though some years ago it had a significant global market share. What happened to Kodak and photography? Do you remember a time when TV opened and closed? Yes! I grew up at a time when TV would start and close. Now you can watch what you want 24/7, binge-watching. We grew up when you had to wait a whole week for the next episode.

Adapt or Die

If you were to make time and check on the companies I have mentioned you will find out that they were overtaken by technology. We need to be aware of emerging technologies and take it upon ourselves to adapt and adopt. Typing was a skill essential for typists and secretaries but now it has become an essential skill for everyone. Make the time to upskill so you can develop digital skills and use digital tools in your business so that you can thrive.

The biggest awakening was COVID. All of a sudden there was no foot traffic. Small businesses without reserves locked down and failed to re-open. Digital has become essential for resilience for micro and small businesses to continue operating. The benefits of going digital for any kind of business are immense. Examples are:

a) access to other markets to increase your profitability and return on investment through international trade.

b) your business can be set up to serve existing and potential clients whether you are open or not.

c) tools like social media and websites increase your reach and visibility as a brand, which can increase your profits when you set it up well.

d) the business can directly interact with its customers and collect data that can be used in decision-making.

e) small businesses, solopreneurs and individuals have the opportunity to monetise and gain visibility globally.

None of this happens by chance, everything has to be intentional. Examples of skills and tools to adopt are:

a) Digital Marketing which covers concepts like Social Media Marketing & Websites.

Digital Marketing will differentiate your business where there is competition for attention for the same people. A small business is competing with a global brand and also other things like celebrities of a person's attention. Digital Marketing differentiates you in a very crowded marketplace. Forbes states that there are currently about 1.09 billion websites on the internet.

b) Content Creation and Marketing

Content is king. If you have a digital strategy with your ideal client profiles (buyer persona), then you can create content targeting your ideal client. You cannot speak to everyone. We may be looking for the same products but our motivations are different. the business that appeals to the motivation is the one that will get the sale. We are now customer-centric instead of falling deeply in love with our product before we know if the market needs it.

c) Personal Branding

Whilst it is optional to build the personal brand as a business owner, it can increase your profitability immensely if you embrace it and do it well. Your personal brand can create opportunities for your business and validate you as the go-to person for your ideal client, stakeholder, investor or business partner.

d) Don't just sell

No one goes online to be sold to. The intent is to connect, get information, be inspired, entertained or learn something. You can follow the 80/20 rule or 30/70 rule. The 80/20 rule of content creation states that 80% of what you post should inspire, educate, inform or entertain and 20% can be hard selling.

e) Professional Networking

Not all opportunities will come because you have a spectacular product or service. Sometimes it will be about who you are known by. Build a brand that will be mentioned in places where there are opportunities. Networking is critical for growth, access to new markets, and even opportunities. It is important to build a brand worth knowing.

f) Artificial Intelligence

This is a game changer in productivity, reducing overheads, automation and increasing profitability. This emerging technology is gold for the person who will not just take what it says as absolute truth and who has the expertise to interrogate AI until it gives you non-genric answers to what you need. I still get tickled that it will apologise for anything you question that it would have got wrong.

g) Automation

I remember a term called 'parroting', this is when you keep saying the same thing to clients. You are parroting. What if you were to get a chat bot that addresses the common needs of clients and then the ones that need a human are escalated? You would have automated your process. You can automate certain processes like the customer journey using email marketing. You can even automate generating income. Let's adopt tech and the upskill to diversify income without extra resources needed.

h) Inbound Marketing

Have you ever experienced the FRUSTRATION of being interrupted when you are watching something by a mandatory advert? That is outbound marketing I am imposing my services and products on you. Inbound marketing is a client actually looking for you and they are interested in what you have to offer. You need multiple exposures in outbound marketing to have a sale. Actually some marketing experts have said a person need 20+ touch points with your product or service/campaign before they buy. They need repeated exposure because they are not looking for what you are imposing on them.

Digital used to be the future, but is NOW!

The learning curve was better before, but now emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence have added another layer of learning. We need to be early adopters. We can't rely solely on AI and let go of critical thinking skills or ignore the value expertise plays in maximising AI output. We cannot just copy and paste. AI is not accurate. This means we still need to master areas of trade so that we can interrogate AI and get the best from it.

Let's be intentional about adopting digital skills and investigating which tools will make a difference in our businesses.

#GoDigital #DigitalTools #DigitalSkills