How to be digital-ready for the business - Ramdas Shenoyy

Ramdas Shenoyy - “Performance Marketing”

IBGR.Network - PROFIT Radio. 
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​Introduction
Today we are going to be talking about ‘Introduction on the changing scene of the digital landscape and how to be digital ready in business ?’ By the time we complete the sessions, we will be gearing ourselves with enough capabilities to not only understand the digital marketing concepts but will know what and how we could plan for our digital marketing strategy to build our businesses.

By the end of our time together you will gain enough insights on what is critical in generating business for your digital marketing efforts. 

With the COVID-19 Lockdowns surrounding every aspect of daily life, small businesses are looking at ways to change.

Businesses are looking for the right opportunities to sustain themselves due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has not only impacted the buying power of the customers but also the labour workforce. When businesses are looking to cut down costs there will be more reliance on the digital landscape where businesses will look for better reach and also build up revenue. The communication will also have to be contextual and also local where we cannot have a cookie cutter model of one size fitting all.

Show Objectives
With the current lack of physical options and more reliance on the digital landscape, digital marketing continues to provide value to small businesses looking to expand their reach and revenue. It is hard time to look at what marketing strategies will work for us in the digital landscape.
 
Key Issues
To be able to leverage digital marketing efforts, we need to look at first setting the hygiene and building up resources to communicate with the customers.

Some basic hygiene tips would be to:

1. Build up and clean up your database for any concentrated marketing efforts
2. Checkout your website content to see for any factual errors and keep the content relevant and updated
3. Create simple product videos which is captivating and communicates the message
4. Have focused team members who could focus on digital marketing efforts
5. Don’t do away with traditional print and other forms of advertising—many of your target customers could be still on that medium
6. Understand your business needs and just do not try to copy paste something that has worked for other people, determine what your business goal is.

What You Need to Know
The question then is.. You will tell me that.. everybody understands this, but how to go about in planning our digital marketing efforts. 

Here are 7 tips for Digital Marketing specifically in the context of CO-COVID scenario.

1st Tip -- Website Marketing
2nd Tip -- Email is still very much alive
3rd Tip -- Video Marketing
4th Tip : Use of Social Media
5th Tip -- Leverage your existing resources
6th Tip -- Conventional is not dead 
7th Tip -- What are you looking for
 
What You Need to Do
The 1st piece – Website Marketing
Your company website is a great marketing tool. You own the website domain and it talks about your business. It represents your business on the Internet and it’s one of the key digital marketing channels available to you and you can use your own website to get more traffic or make more sales.

The 2nd piece – EMAIL MARKETING.
Email marketing seems to be there in our ecosystem since ages now and there is a good reason for the same. Though it looks like a traditional way of communicating with the customers it is still the most direct and effective way of connecting with your leads, nurturing them, and turning them into customers, consistently winning out over all other marketing channels.

The Why of Email marketing!
Even with the rise of social media and unsolicited spam email – which is not a good marketing idea—in fact a total ‘No-No’, email remains the most effective way to nurture leads and boost customer loyalty.
There are many reasons you should make email marketing one of your top priorities, some of them could be –

Reason 1: The first thing people check when you get up in the morning is your Social Media messages and your emails. Most of us will check our email on a daily basis.
Reason 2: On any social media platform, your account (along with all your fans and posts) could be suspended or deleted at any time, for any reason, without notice. However, you own your email list. No one can take those leads away from you. You own your database.

Reason 3- It is a proven fact that people who buy products marketed through email spend  more than those who do not receive email offers. Email Marketing is said to have an ROI of more than 4000%. What it essentially means is that even with a small investment and even with 1-2% order closures it could be effective. This has been proven across markets.

The HOW of EMAIL Marketing
The first step is to start with your own list. Create your database in any database capturing platform or any CRM tool to capture those leads right away. 

The second step would be to choose an email service provider. There are hundreds of them out there (say Mail Chimp) so that you’re reaching your audience and really connecting with them. Plus, you’ll be able to set up build automation in your service which will make things much easier for you.

The third important step is to constantly improve your mailing list by attracting the target group with offers, schemes or information so that they are interested to read about your organization.

The Nuances of Email Marketing

1. Create an opt in form
2. Segment your email list
3. Communicate with your segments 

How to design your template

1. Design tips: When designing email campaigns, focus on your message and keep your design straightforward. We suggest laying out all the elements for your campaign in a hierarchy, putting your most important information or the main takeaway toward the top so people can quickly scan your email if they’re short on time.
2. Test your emails: Send test emails to friends and co-workers. If you have any friends or co-workers who can check your email for typos and give you some feedback on the layout, you can send them a test email so they can preview the campaign directly in their inbox.
3. Effective use of marketing automation: Unlike regular campaigns, automated target mails is a targeted email or series of emails that you can set and forget. From a welcome email to follow up mails to a thank you mail or rewarding mail, automation helps you streamline your communications with customers so you have more time to focus on creating content and improve your ROI  

 
Your digital marketing strategy is an important piece for generating leads and improving your engagement with the customer. A digital ready organization is important in today’s context. It is a dynamic landscape and you need to constantly evolve and learn to improve.
Getting more business is essential for success and performance marketing plays an important role.
 
Ramdas Shenoyy is a Performance Marketer, Senior Marketing and communication professional, Founder of www.Stirfrymba.com – a media portal which features business, life and young leaders across the globe, Senior thought Leader in the B2B domain for Asian Markets and CMO at Silicon IT – a SaaS based CRM solutions Company.

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