It can be incredibly confusing reading articles and research papers that want you to adopt change, embrace change and trust change to progress in the world of digital.
If all we did was to accept and adopt a change mindset, businesses all over the world would be in potential chaos. Yet, the digital world is changing exponentially and that means that dealing with change is not only inevitable, it’s a business imperative.
So, how can we as companies, as marketing departments and as teams find the necessary anchors to help us manage and navigate through this turbulent sea of change?
Without needing to invest in a huge change management project there are some really important things you could, and should, be doing now to benefit more from the digital world around you.
The first step is to take the time to clearly understand what your digital vision is. You should do this by revisiting your business framework. Look at who you are, who your audience is and what your mid- to long-term goals are in the digital space, and then offset this against your short-term cash requirements.
Once you know your vision and your business goal set against a digital backdrop, these will become the anchor points throughout your digital voyage; the things that remain unchanged.
From here you can start to plan, and these five tips will help you successfully navigate a path to becoming a digital-first organisation:
Understand and commit to becoming more customer-centric
Thanks to the way we communicate today and the two-way nature of social media, the customer has never been more in control. You need to embrace this change. The old marketing methods of talking at your customers no longer work. So by letting the ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ be determined by your audience, instead of trying to force them to go where you want them, your engagement levels will increase. And this will drive advocacy, loyalty and ultimately sales. Listen to your audience as they will always steer you in the right direction.
Tell stories
Content creation should not be a disparate, uncoordinated group of activities across the business. Instead, it should be a seamless and consistent process of story telling. Within this, individual messages can be tailored to your different audiences and put in context for the various channels you are using. The most important thing to remember in the digital space is that any communication you have with your existing and potential customers should be relevant and in context. Without this you are likely to simply be ignored.
Test and optimise
At any level of your business, having a test and optimise methodology is vital, because one size most certainly does not fit all. New channels emerge, existing channels mature. The need to be constantly vigilant both in terms of testing and in terms of checking in on your performance become daily routines in a digital world – akin to brushing your teeth.
Think outside the box
The structure of today’s business will likely be redundant in a decade. This is a reality many businesses are still slow in getting to grips with. However, those that do are watching for trends in this area and adopting a test scenario when they see things that are relevant to them and their business. They are also cognisant of the double-edged sword of the digtial: disruption. On the one hand, disruption allows opportunities to become reality regardless of who you are or how much funds you have access to. On the other hand, it means that your competitors can suddenly come at you from any angle. These are the organisations that will succeed in our digital future.
Learn to be agile
Contrary to popular belief, agile methodologies are not an excuse to flit from one idea to another without any need for justification – quite the opposite. Agile thinking by it’s definition allows you to adapt, iterate and meet the changing environment without losing sight of the goal and, at the same time, remaining true to your vision. So you see, goals and vision really are important.
By Mel Ross, Managing Partner at WalkDigital.
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