Every business has a different approach to digital transformation and digital readiness. Some believe they are immune to the immense challenges of the digital economy, while others have taken only small steps. Others have jumped wholeheartedly into digital transformation, due to a genuine need. Sadly, many businesses have fallen as they, like the proverbial frog in boiling water, have noticed the water boiling only when it was too late.
PENSO has led the digital transformation of a number of organisations, and in doing so, identified some clear patterns. In this first of a series on Digital Readiness, we highlight the first four elements of our eight key elements that make up a consumer-centric, “digital ready” organisation. It is the alchemy of these elements that makes for an organisation that can ride the digital wave, rather than being overcome by it
Content
How do we sell and tell better?
Advertising (awareness) content, and native/product (consideration) content are the primary forms of marketing content. Organisations have better results when they create advertising to raise awareness, and native/product content to make a “content pool” of Category Entry Points and reasons to buy. Best practice content strategy suggests content across all formats: Text, Audio, Video, Images, Software and Hardware (TAVISH). Consider also a content schema, to assist discovery by search engines, bots and consumers.
Who’s doing it well?
Political parties and candidates use a number of Category Entry Points (CEPs) and reasons to “buy”, generally around issues and topics that would resonate with different voters, allowing them to talk directly to everyone on a more personalised level. Further, they create content and advertising across TAVISH.
Channels
How do we reach our customers?
Consideration should be given to increasing the ways in which we can increase mental and physical availability; to reach / touch / transact with consumers. This is primarily across paid (media) and owned channels (websites, portals, apps, social media channels, integrated physical + digital). How these channels are designed and developed to deliver “Moments of Truth” are vital.
Who’s doing it well?
YouTube has created channels on almost every screen imaginable. Whether it be every brand of smartphone, smart TVs, gaming consoles and computers, YouTube’s major success is in its physical availability. It’s everywhere. YouTube sites, YouTube apps, YouTube screens, YouTube microsites…
Context
How to personalise and contextualise the communication?
There are various ways we might interact with consumers to facilitate outcomes through the consumer “funnel”. Examine when to talk to customers, why you talk to them, the timing of the interaction and the value exchange. Context and data also play a vital part — using data to personalise all experiences and focus on a segment of one.
Who’s doing it well?
When using Hubspot, they track your movements and actions on the site, providing interventions at various points. Struggling to send an email? You’ll get an automated email from one of their team offering assistance within minutes. Looking for a particular feature that your organisation hasn’t bought? You’ll get a call from their sales person within seconds. Haven’t used the platform in a while? They’ll send you a personalised message via email / Linkedin / other touchpoints inviting you back.
Customer
How do we make it data-driven and customer-centric?
As businesses scaled, they went from personal experiences to anonymous experiences; from one-on-one to service factories. The best organisations are bringing this back with a focus on customer-centric experiences; personalisation informed with data. What is the data? What is the data flow? What might we wish to know about our customers? What opportunities to personalise and increase utility?
Who’s doing it well?
Hull is a fantastic real-time Customer Data Management Platform that provides a single customer view of both known and unknown users across channels. Tools such as Hull allow firms to see the real-time engagement of any existing or potential customer and better personalise their path to purchase/conversion.