Over the years, my team and I have helped many businesses with their digitalization strategy and game plans. Things got even more acute when COVID-19 hit, and we HAD TO digitalize everything. Luckily, things are getting back to a somewhat normal stage now, but what makes me happy is that digital thinking is here to stay.
- What exactly is digital thinking?
- What happens when a business starts on its digitalization journey?
- And: “Do I really have to…?”
Digital thinking: The Foundation for Your Digitalization Game Plan
Digital thinking is to prioritize your business’s digital activities. It’s a choice, just like growth is a choice (not everyone chooses growth, and that’s fine).
Digitalization is equally much about strategy as it is about tactics, the tools that you use to transform your business to be more digital.
The Definition of Digital Thinking
The definition of digital thinking is the approach that prioritizes and integrates digital technologies and strategies into all aspects of a business to improve efficiency, create value, and foster innovation. It involves adopting a digital-first mindset, where digital solutions are considered at the forefront of problem-solving and decision-making processes.
Digital thinking encompasses understanding and leveraging digital tools and platforms to enhance business models, customer engagement, and operational processes. It aims to drive growth, competitiveness, and adaptability in an increasingly digital world, ensuring that businesses can respond effectively to changing market dynamics and consumer expectations.
The 3 main areas of Digitalization:
- Business Model Innovation
- Demand Generation
- Operational Efficiency
Where to start Digitalization
The most critical function in any business is getting customers. While many experts tell you to “build an amazing website and the clients will come” or “just be yourself and the money will roll in…” it’s not that simple. What is simple, though:
Once you figure out the right way for you to attract prospective clients and turn them into paying customers and clients, your business is officially live. Without customers, no business.
That’s why we start with the most critical function of your business: getting clients.
What is Demand Generation
Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and demand for your products or services. It expands your audience, generates urgency, clarifies your solution, and transforms interest into action. It aligns 3 very important functions of your business: marketing, sales, and product/service development.
Demand generation is nothing new, it’s what growth marketers like us have been doing for a long time. However, it’s not only about traditional marketing; it’s an umbrella that covers multiple activities and aligns them to bring the results that every business wants: Return on Investment.
The sooner your customer acquisition system works, the sooner you and your team can spend your time on other activities, such as delivering amazing service and products to your clients and developing the business. And, of course, having a life.
Here’s one thing I have learned after being a growth coach and an entrepreneur for a long time and talking with thousands of others alike: nobody (almost) starts a company with the sole desire to SELL their stuff.
Most people, likely even you, start their business because they have a passion for their thing, be it design, wellness, leadership, or helping people in any way they can.
So, making sales is likely not your favorite thing either.
Also, HUNTING for clients is most likely the LAST thing you want to do, no?
“What to do?”
Well, engage in demand-generation activities.
That’s why when a business decides to start a digitalization journey, they often start with the most critical function: sales and marketing. Hence, we always build the Demand Engine first and then continue to other digitalization activities.
The elements of a Demand Generation Engine:
- client profile and target audience
- lead flow
- lead routing
- lead qualification
- sales mechanism
- nurturing mechanism
- content system
- metrics
Read: 8 Demand Generation Steps To Supercharge Your Business Growth
Business Model Innovation
Many businesses realize that they need to, sooner or later, digitalize their business models.
- What does business model innovation mean, exactly?
- Does it mean I need to start selling online courses?
Well, maybe, if that’s your thing, but there’s a whole other world besides selling online courses, even if the e-learning industry is still booming and is expected to reach a massive 1 trillion USD by 2028. So yes, if you want to add online education to your offer mix, that might be a great choice.
But there’s more!
You could sell digital downloadables, templates, online coaching, VIP membership, affiliate products, e-design services, monetize your blog with ads, mood boards, e-commerce, and so on…
Business model innovation is a constant process that keeps your business relevant, modern, and profitable. It consists of processes and designs for new, exciting revenue models and an improved business structure that can lead to massive gains.
Read: Digital Products For Interior Designers – 13 Great Ways To Add Extra Revenue Streams
So, should I start with Business Model Innovation, i.e., transforming my business to have digital revenue streams, or with Demand Generation, ie, sales and marketing of my current services and products?
The answer is yes and yes.
- If you already have a scalable business model, meaning you can and want to scale your capacity and grow your business, then it makes sense to focus on demand generation.
- Equally, if you don’t have any sales or it’s not consistent, you definitely need to focus on that.
- But if you already have sales and marketing working, we might engage in the transformation work, focusing on creating digital revenue streams, and then move on to digitalizing your sales and marketing.
So, like everything in business… it depends.
How about Operational Efficiency?
Operational efficiency is something we build all along, for example, by systemizing your sales and marketing and packaging your offers to be easy to buy, easy to sell, and easy to deliver.
But on your growth avenue, there will be new needs once you hit the next level of growth. You need to start thinking about how your systems work together, how your team uses the systems, and what kind of operational processes you need to build around all aspects of your business, not just for sales and marketing. This requires a deep understanding of the business infrastructure and multiple skilled team members and vendors.
