I want you to put this into perspective: Amazon, a tech company, just purchased one of the biggest retail food chains in the nation, Whole Foods. Only two months later, Whole Foods significantly reduced the price of their food.
Some startups with 10 people can’t even make decisions and execute in less than two months. A multi-billion-dollar conglomerate purchased another billion-dollar conglomerate, made a crazy fast decision and executed it in an amazingly quick time, especially for the size of the acquisition.
Now, other grocery chains have to make some big decisions to figure out how to survive. That’s how fast things are changing. This means that you need to adapt your thinking to how technology can impact your business. Not only do you have to worry about a big tech company coming in and immediately changing industry standards, you have to worry about how you can adapt to technology to make the most out of it for your brand.
Here are my recommendations on how to utilize technology to grow your company:
Respect the impact of technology on your business.
When I started my agency 10 years ago, I sought out to help businesses through digital marketing. This was before Facebook Live, Facebook Groups, WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat. Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yelp just got started, and the term “social media manager” wasn’t even close to being a thing.
Each one of these technologies has made a significant impact to how businesses and brands market themselves. You can’t sit and wait for technology to adapt to your business; you have to adapt to the technology and figure out a way to help your business.
If multi-billion-dollar conglomerates are adjusting to the fast-changing market, then so should you. The best way to assess what technology is best for your business is to limit yourself to a few technologies that you have seen work for your industry and give it a chance. Hiring an agency is usually your next bet if you need the help.
Understand how technology can help your business grow.
Marketing used to mean ads in the Yellow Pages, direct mail pieces and cold calling. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Yellow Pages is not in a good place, and they just recently shut down the print book in the U.K.
Of course, cold calling and direct mail can work in certain scenarios, but in many instances, it doesn’t.
Instead of having a few options to market your business, you are now presented with what seems like hundreds of options to drive traffic, sales and leads to your business. How do you decide which is the right one? You have to be able to figure out what’s in your marketing funnel and make appropriate decisions. As guidance, you should always start with your target customer. Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, for example, may be great candidates for Instagram or Facebook ads, whereas business-to-business (B2B) companies may find LinkedIn to be most useful.
Another concept regarding marketing is that your brand isn’t always in control of the message. A great example of this is when Patti LaBelle couldn’t sell pies fast enough due to a viral Facebook live review video. Walmart was selling a pie per second after the video dropped.
In those cases, you need to adapt to what’s happening around you to make sure it’s always a positive for your business. Each area of digital marketing can have a significant impact if you do it properly.
Learn what your competitors are doing.
I’m an avid networker, and when I started my business I went to every marketing event and conference humanly possible. Outside of meeting incredible entrepreneurs and marketers, I made sure that I visited every company booth that was similar to the agency I had created.
I found the best companies and analyzed what made them successful. I wrote down what they did right and, most importantly, where they went wrong. I asked them what tools they used, how they used them and how it added value to marketing their business. Even though we were competitors, my network was willing to share their secrets with me and I also openly shared with them. As a small business, it’s important to know what your competition is up to. When it comes to marketing, knowing how your competitors stack up in the digital world is crucial. What does their online presence look like? Their social following? Their local reviews? Knowing this is key to maximizing your own business potential.
Technology is making a big impact on businesses and the change is happening faster than ever before. Understand it, embrace it and learn from the best in your industry.
Solomon Thimothy is Founder and CEO of OneIMS, where he works with clients to develop customized and effective marketing strategies.
