How to Future-Proof Your Business by Going Digital
Throwback Thursday Episode 1 By Dylan Kohlst?dt of Shift One Digital .
6 Ways to Grow Your Business during a Crisis
The Covid-19 virus caused a global meltdown, disrupting lives and businesses around the world and raising the question: Is your business pandemic-proof??
What should you, as a business owner or Marketing Manager, do during these challenging times?
?Should You Cut Marketing Spend?
When economic times are tough, businesses usually cut their marketing budget to reduce costs and minimise business losses. Marketing sometimes gets viewed as a luxury and does not have a direct benefit to the bottom line.
While it may appear a good way of saving money during tough times, it is not the answer. By panicking and switching off your marketing, you will negatively impact your business in the long run by drying up the sales funnel, which will lead to a knock-on in reduced sales down the line.
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” - Warren Buffett .
Instead of killing your marketing spend, you should view this as an unprecedented opportunity to reach your customers when the majority of your customers remain at home under lockdown. Due to being trapped inside, many turn to social media, videos and the internet more regularly for support, information and entertainment. They won’t have meetings or interruptions as when they are office-based, and you have an opportunity to stand out for your content to connect and resonate with your audience, like never before.
Fortunately, this disaster has hit us during the digital age, which is all about connectivity – allowing businesses to interact with customers online, maintain customer relationships and future-proof their businesses.
This strategy will allow your business to be top of mind during the storm and after it passes.?
Below we explore a few practical ways you can take advantage of this unexpected opportunity and come out ahead of an otherwise unfortunate situation.?
1. Set Up a Productive Office Space
If you haven’t worked from home before, this is the first thing you’ll need to get working for you as we all know how distracting TV and social media can be, especially for those not used to managing their own time in their own homes.
What I learned early on as an entrepreneur is to set up a workspace for yourself where you aren’t distracted by TV and social media. The space that you should create should be neat and organised with minimal distractions.?
Switch the TV off! Create a to-do list starting with the most intense work and ending with the lighter tasks. Book time out in your calendar for each job to ensure you are doing the right work at the right time. After you’ve completed the day’s list of tasks as a reward, you can go on Instagram, watch the news or binge on a few episodes on Netflix (maybe at the same time).
Get up early, shower and get dressed as if you are going to work. If you’re going to work from home, you need to make sure you can work from home.
?2. Move to Digital
Digitally transform your business; hold your meetings and events online using programs such as Skype, Google Hangouts and Zoom (be aware of Zoombombing if you move to mass online events) .
?Run webinars to equip your customers with the skills that they still need and want.?
?If you don’t have social media , set it up now. If you are a creative or a business without an online e-commerce website , create one now.
By using social media and digital marketing, you are virtually face-to-face with your customers (and potential customers) without putting them, your staff or your business at risk. Not only will you be able to build relationships and support them digitally, but more importantly, you’ll be able to continue to sell your business’s products and services online, which is beneficial to your bottom line.
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?3. Move to the Cloud
If you have not moved all your company files to the cloud, now is the time to do so. Google Drive, Microsoft Box, Dropbox are easy to use, and within minutes, you have your business fully backed up and accessible anywhere in the world.?
Share folders with clients and work on documents simultaneously, plus never lose documents again due to crashed hard drives or stolen laptops.
?4. Set Up ClickFunnels
Now more than ever is the time to build those click funnels you haven’t had time to get around to building – they create a top-performing lead-generation journey for your customers so that when we emerge from this dark time, you can switch them on, and the leads can come pouring in.
?Click funnels get used to not only make sales more seamless but also lead your client step-by-step through the online purchasing process.
?5. Content Creation
Most companies are very focused on sales; take this time to build your brand and stand out from your competitors.
It is time to create informative content, write blogs and articles , create videos and podcasts relevant to your audience.
Your audience will want to be productive during this forced time off or at home, so now is the time to educate your customers on your services and products – why not hold free webinars with live Q and A sessions? Live streaming on Facebook or Instagram is another fantastic way to build rapport with your audience during this downtime.
Pull together your helpful articles and blog posts and create an eBook for your audience or publish a printed book for sale via your click funnels.
?6. Technology is Your Friend
Remember that we live in a technological age where technology can make your life easier and increase productivity and efficiency.
?With everything going on globally, it is vital to avoid becoming disheartened. Counteract this by taking proactive steps to protect yourself, your loved ones and your business. Do not hesitate; start creating and implementing effective social media and digital marketing strategies for your business today.?
Watch more videos by Dylan Kohlst?dt on How to Future Proof Your Business by clicking here .
Need help navigating the social media and digital marketing landscape? – Get in touch with us; we are here to help !
About Dylan Kohlst?dt:
Dylan Kohlst?dt, CEO and founder, is a digital marketing subject matter expert whose articles are featured regularly in entrepreneur and business magazines, TV and radio. Dylan has 20 years of marketing management experience, eight of which are in digital marketing. She also has an MBA through UNISA.
Dylan Kohlst?dt started Shift ONE digital in 2011 and now has a team of top subject matter experts working with her from her offices in Cape Town and Jo’burg, Hannover, and clients worldwide.
Shift ONE specialises in getting you customers through authenticity: creating authentic content that builds communities and turns customers into fans. We create believable top-converting websites that rank on page one of Google SEO and next-level social media, online advertising, email marketing, graphic design, blogging, press and PR, lead generation, writing, video, animations, and more.
Dylan also founded the Digital Marketing Academy in 2013 to pass on what she knows, upskilling marketers and entrepreneurs in digital marketing skills in a fun, face-to-face or online environment.
Dylan Kohlst?dt has worked in advertising, marketing, and online in South Africa, UK, Australia. She attended a Google for Entrepreneurs immersion programme in Silicon Valley and learned to go from garage to global.
You can reach Dylan at: