5 steps to making digital transformation a business reality

digital transformation a business reality | Blog | Closer Consultancy | Liverpool + London

According to research conducted by North Highland, 84% of company leaders think digital innovation is important to their business today while 86% think it’s important to their future.

However only one quarter feel like they are leading their industry when it comes to digital strategy. Prior to COVID-19 two-thirds of C-suite executives say their enterprises have a weak digital-physical strategy or no digital-physical strategy at all.

Despite the critical role of digital, many businesses are clearly still struggling with how to move forward. This is likely because there is a lack of meaningful “how to” guides that show the step-by-step process of making digital work in practice.

This is especially relevant because, unfortunately, when an organisation falls behind the digital curve, it’s often C-suite leaders who take the blame. Digital transformation is the process all companies must go through to operate effectively in today’s rapidly changing environment.

Digital transformation isn’t about the individual channel customers can use to interact with a brand. At its core, a digital organisation is simply an organisation that is eager to rise to new technological challenges.

Customers deserve a consistent brand experience in-store and online, which means there must be one version of the truth across all platforms.

Forrester Research found that companies that made customer-centric investments saw increased efficiencies from simplifying processes, and empowering customers.

Companies know that they need to head in this direction, but many get hung up along the way. How can they identify and overcome the barriers to becoming digital?

Here are five steps to follow to make digital transformation a reality:

  1. Assess the market

    2. Before you can begin your digital transformation, you must start by honestly assessing where your organisation falls on the digital maturity curve. To spur change within your organisation, do some scenario planning. Consider how you could interact with your customers in a world without digital boundaries. Then, consider what your business could look like if you did nothing and your competitors took action to engage customers through digital.

  2. Map the customer journey

    3. Digital transformation starts with the customer. The first (and perhaps most important) action you should take is to define who your customers are and where they’re engaging with you.

    Once you’re confident you’re pursuing the correct customer base, you need to map the entire customer journey. Don’t forget about customer touch-points that occur before and after the sale. These can have an equal or even greater impact on the customer experience.

  3. Align your organisation

    4. To mould your company into an agile, fully digital organisation, you need to take a top-down approach to change. This means you must have someone in place to take ownership of the entire customer experience and a team to implement digital initiatives.

  4. Build an agile environment

    5. Once you’ve appointed a team to implement your company’s digital initiatives, you need to examine the culture and environment of your business. If you aren’t working toward becoming an agile organisation, your company isn’t going to be able to keep up with the rapid pace of digital.

    Working to become more agile isn’t all something that can be achieved overnight; it’s a cultural and philosophical change that involves focusing on your customer, having the correct frameworks to implement new initiatives quickly, and building a culture that enables innovation.

  5. Remove barriers to digital transformation
    6.  People and technology are the two primary components of digital transformation.

    Embracing new technology isn’t just a tick box exercise anymore – it’s an essential commitment that companies must make to survive and prosper in the coming years.

    Digital transformation isn’t about the individual channels that customers can use to interact with a brand, and it isn’t about big data, social media or the mobile revolution.

    But more than anything, it’s an organisation that’s adopted a change mindset and empowered its employees to put the customer experience at the heart of everything it does.

To discuss your digital transformation journey, email: info@closerconsultancy.com

Remote working is here to stay, so outsource your marketing

Outsource your Digital Marketing | Closer Consultancy | Digital Consulting Agency | Liverpool + London

Transitioning out of the pandemic will be hard, and as a small business owner I can completely understand the struggles a lot of people are going through right now. Many are considering how to streamline their businesses and how to keep their overheads as low as possible as we ride out Lockdown 2.0.

Outsourcing and working with consultancies like Closer Consultancy may just be the most viable choice for companies hoping to get through this period and pivot their strategies to remain competitive and profitable  in our new working environment.

Now that employees have tasted the flexibility of not having to commute, there’s no going back to the “35 hours – stuck in a chair in the corner” lifestyle for most professionals in competitive fields, if you decide you require them to all return to your office daily, and one of your competitors continued to allow remote working, you would simply lose your top talent. Who wouldn’t take that second option!

We will now start to see that this is an expectation or requirement and there’s a market-force applied. Individual companies are not going to be able to opt out and say their employees have to come into the office.

I envision employees using the company’s offices for collaboration and meetings, then staying home on days that are made up of solo work. There is a lot of planning to do to make sure employees can be their most productive in our new reality.

Outsourcing your marketing makes sense

Whether you’re a large enterprise, a startup or a small business, having an established and effective marketing process is pivotal to your growth and success – now more than ever. For this reason, many organisations look to outsource their marketing to external agencies such as Closer Consultancy.

Outsourced marketing is exactly as it sounds: it is the process of handing your marketing activity over to a third-party. Outsourced marketing can be used in conjunction with your in-house marketing efforts, or it can completely replace the need for an in-house marketing team.

Depending on the services provided by the company that you outsource to, you can elect to outsource some or all your marketing activity. This may include:

  • Content strategy
  • Marketing strategy
  • Social media marketing
  • Website design and development
  • Content creation
  • Email marketing
  • Search Engine Optimisation
  • Graphic design and branding
  • Google Ads and Pay Per Click

A good marketing agency will generally compile a strategy before they start any marketing activity on your behalf. They will work to understand your business goals and assess your current marketing activity, before creating a strategy that will help you meet your goals.

Outsourced marketing agencies will then implement the planned activity and measure and report on the results – adapting the strategy as and when needed.

Who is outsourced marketing for?

Outsourced marketing is useful for any business that needs help in shaping and/or executing strategic marketing tactics that help them connect with their target audience in a meaningful way. This process takes time, skill and experience – which may well be lacking in your company, particularly if you’re new. In this case, outsourcing to marketing experts could be exactly what your business needs.

Outsourcing could also be beneficial for your business if:

    • You’re planning for growth

Outsourced marketing is super useful for any businesses looking to grow, because it offers more flexibility and scalability than is sometimes possible with an internal marketing team.

    • You’re lacking the marketing expertise

Many companies don’t have the data-driven expertise in-house that is needed for effective marketing. If your business doesn’t have internal staff with the time or experience to manage your marketing efforts, then outsourcing could be a cost-effective alternative to recruiting.

    • You want measurable ROI

When marketing is run on an ad-hoc basis, it can be hard to keep track of spend and return on investment (ROI). Outsourcing makes it much easier to manage costs and the return on your marketing investment.

    • You need help with specific aspects of marketing

Outsourcing doesn’t need to be all or nothing. You may already have some internal resources but believe that there are other elements – such as design – that it would be more effective to outsource.

    • You’re not getting the results

Perhaps you’re not getting the results you want from your current marketing campaigns? With a marketing agency, you’ll get a full team of marketing professionals at your disposal – which means you’ll have access to a broader skillset. Not only will this give you a fresh perspective, it’ll also provide you with a clear strategy that should get the desired results. If you’re already losing ground with your current marketing efforts, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying out an agency.

Four key benefits of outsourcing your marketing

Alongside addressing the various pain points listed above, outsourced marketing brings a multitude of additional business benefits.

Let’s look at some of them now:

    1. Save time and resources

When deadlines are tight or workloads are full, it can be tempting to neglect or rush your marketing efforts. And, if you’re falling behind on deadlines, you won’t have time to stay ahead of the curve – which is vital because marketing is always changing, and the most successful marketing campaigns are those that stay ahead of major trends.

What’s more, if you’re launching a brand new marketing strategy, it can take a long time for your entire team to be comfortable and familiar with processes and expectations. Time spent training staff could lead to missed opportunities in securing sales or leads.

Through outsourcing your marketing, your business can re-allocate internal resources where they are most needed and effective, whilst leaving your agency to take care of your marketing needs. A marketing agency will do all the leg work and ensure that you are up-to-date with the best strategies of the moment.

    1. Gain a fresh perspective

If the same team of people have been doing the same things the same way for some time, it can be hard to make a change. Whilst new hires regularly bring fresh perspectives with them, it can be all too easy for them to adopt the habits or mindsets of the existing team.

By outsourcing your marketing, you will avoid these issues entirely. Your marketing agency will be unaffected by stagnant methods, office politics or bad habits. Your marketing agency will see things differently, so that your company can do things differently.

    1. Access latest technology

A common issue amongst marketing departments is a lack of resources – particularly with the latest technology. Alternatively, your marketing team may be working with a combination of incompatible marketing technology tools – which comes with its own set of problems.

Not only is it expensive to invest in new technology for your employees, it’s also a minefield. With so many options to choose from, it’s difficult to know which would be the most effective for your specific needs. Having a specialised marketing partner means you can automatically benefit from their tools and guidance.

    1. Guaranteed return on investment

Whatever marketing strategy you go with, the ROI needs to be worthwhile and measurable. Even the most competent internal team can lead to an ROI that doesn’t quite justify the hours spent.

In hiring a marketing agency, however, you can rest-assured that you’re investing your funds properly. Marketing agencies tend to define success with ROI and are often held to very high standards when it comes to proving that they are delivering. As the cost of outsourced marketing is largely linked to results, projects won‘t go unfinished if an employee is absent.

Outsourcing your digital marketing to Closer Consultancy will also provide your business with measurable results that can be tracked through ongoing campaigns. This level of insight is vital in continuing to improve your marketing efforts.

To find out more get in touch via: info@closerconsultancy.com

Digital marketing will transform business in 2021

Digital Marketing in 2021 | Digital Consulting Agency | Liverpool

COVID-19 made what was once optional into a mandatory part of business strategy. 2021 is the year, the majority of businesses will invest in having a full-fledged digital presence and digital engagement will become the number one driver of customer value in 2021.

According to Smart Insights, 45% of companies don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy; and 17% of companies have a digital marketing strategy in place, but it’s separate from their overall marketing plan.

This means 62% of companies are unprepared for the digital revolution. They don’t have the strategy, tactics, or tools they need to market their business well.

Cloud-first strategies will dominate digital growth

Every new digital division will embrace innovation through ecosystems, and we expect a further 50% of enterprises to make cloud-centric transformation a priority, moving business-critical operational apps and all experience apps into the cloud.

“Buy” buttons will be everywhere

2021 will be a year in which businesses will toss a variety of sales channels at the wall to see which ones stick. “It won’t just be a decision between Shopify versus custom-coding a headless commerce solution – or Facebook Shops versus Amazon Business. It will be about experimenting with all these channels to build new types of direct customer relationships

Digital operations platforms (DOP), which combine back-office business tools into a single product, were hot in 2020, and they’ll continue to grow as a replacement for legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Greater DOP adoption will push vendors to differentiate their products, which is a good thing for their clients.

New DOP offerings will become AI-based and ecosystem-oriented, tailored to industry and even micro-vertical use cases and requirements. The payoff is digital bedrock for operations and insights – and surfacing the competitive core of your business to new products and experiences.

Outcomes-based pricing will grow for digital transformation services

Businesses looking to embrace digital business strategies will be looking to lots of outside vendors, according to Forrester, 50% of new transformation services contracts will include a pay structure based on meeting particular outcomes.

Why your business needs a digital marketing strategy

Your digital marketing strategy gives your business direction. With a plan in place, you’ll have the information you need to help your business grow consistently. Your digital marketing strategy should:

  • Define your businesses short and long term goals
  • Understand who your target customer is
  • Show you how to get in front of your customers
  • Outline what you need to attract your customers attention
  • Create a plan to hold customer attention
  • Regularly analyse and improve marketing performance

The more time you spend thinking about your goals, getting to know your audience and planning how you’ll approach your digital marketing, the more likely you are to achieve success.

To be successful, your digital marketing strategy should focus on these areas:

  • Setting goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Understanding and being specific about who your audience is
  • Creating and implementing your digital marketing strategy
  • Auditing and constantly improving marketing campaigns

You’ll want to break each of these areas down in enough detail so you (and your team) can work with each of these areas properly.

Working with a consultancy or agency that understands how to get this done can be the best thing you can do to transform your business in 2021.

It’ll be tough to focus on lots of metrics at once. Instead, you’ll want to focus your attention on a small number of really meaningful KPIs and metrics.

Some common examples are:

  • Unique visitors per day/month
  • Pages per visit
  • New leads per day/month
  • Marketing qualified leads (MQLs)
  • Conversion rates
  • Churn/attrition rate
  • Cost per conversion
  • Conversion rate per keyword
  • ROI per content
  • Click-through-rate on paid advertising

If you’re not sure which KPIs you should focus on, start with the common KPIs and metrics that have a direct impact on your business. These are typically metrics that focus on traffic, conversions, and optimisation.

Closer Consultancy can break each of these areas down in enough detail so you and your team can focus on running your business. We have the information, tools, and resources you need to create and master your digital marketing strategy plan.

We will be responsible for creating and implementing your strategy. We can monitor and report the KPIs and metrics that measure the success of your campaign using the tools and resources you’ll need to implement and improve your campaign performance.

Almost half of businesses don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy in place. So don’t worry yet, most businesses are unprepared right now!

Get in touch with us today to find out about our digital marketing services and our retainer packages to keep you ahead of your competition.

For a strategy call or if you have any questions, email Naima at naima@closerconsultancy.com

Succeed with business strategy consulting

SUCCEED WITH BUSINESS STRATEGY CONSULTING | Closer Consultancy | London + Liverpool

In our new and evolving Covid-19 world, businesses will have to change the way they think and act. What worked in the past won’t necessarily help you in the future. There’s been a radical seismic shift. Those who quickly adapt to the changes will survive and thrive. Those who naively act as if everything’s the same will be lost.

Business strategy consulting services can help organisations make a fresh start if they’re struggling, chart a course for success if they’re a startup or grow to new heights if they’re doing well and looking to grow intelligently. This type of service has become more important for a number of businesses in the wake of Covid-19 that forced many businesses to cut costs drastically just to stay afloat.

Investing in business advisory consulting may seem counter intuitive for a business trying to keep costs down, but the return on the investment can be substantial and long lasting, and more than worth the initial expenditure in the end. If you own or manage a brand and are looking for new ways to expand and thrive, a consultant may be the best qualified to help you turn things around.

A consultant can help identify key strategies

Organisations of all varieties are looking for new strategies that benefit their bottom line these days. For corporate businesses, there is also the issue of how to keep costs down without negatively impacting the brand name or reputation of the company, or hindering growth.

A business strategy consultancy can help to identify time-tested strategies that help a business grow and thrive by not only cutting costs, but making the most of their resources and making smarter business decisions based on a careful analysis of all the available data. The wrong action plan can cost exponentially more time and money than it would cost to simply hire a consultant. Hiring a consultant is easy and straightforward, they could be on a monthly retainer contract that may cover different areas of expertise such as a creative retainer or a marketing consultant retainer agreement.

Business consultants offer a wide range of services

Every brand has different needs and goals, and different motivations and considerations that spurred them to contact a consultancy in the first place. A reputable, trustworthy agency should be able to provide a wide range of business advisory services, so they can tailor each client’s service package to their unique situation and budget.

In the current economic environment, it is important that businesses find ways to stand out, whether that be through their brand aesthetic or tightening their operations to keep expenses low. As many businesses struggle to stay ahead of the competition, the day-to-day operations of the business are more than enough to keep management busy, especially in smaller businesses where owners or managers wear many hats. Choosing to use an experienced consultant may allow businesses the ability to grow, rather than simply attempting to survive.

Business strategy consulting

Whatever challenges your brand is facing, and whatever industry you’re in, an experienced consultant should be able to help you become more lean, nimble and responsive to changes in the market, creating a startup pitch deck is an example of the kind of support that returns tenfold in comparison to investment. Streamlining your business operations can save your company time, money and resources so you can continue to grow and thrive.

Marketing and sales

If you don’t have the in-house resources to manage your marketing and sales projects effectively, you could quickly lose your segment of the market to the competition. Business strategy consulting services can inject a fresh perspective and brand aesthetic to keep your marketing and sales efforts on the cutting edge.

Consultants also provide a significant amount of value for a brand. They can help to develop strategies for growth or manage projects. Since consultants are not committed to a single business, they bring experience from a variety of companies and industries, which allows them to offer creative solutions and enables “out of the box” thinking. They can provide an objective viewpoint, which allows for more diverse ideas than could be provided solely by employees within the organisation. A consultant may have a higher level of business expertise than the average employee and can provide unique solutions for businesses. Companies may want to consider the advantages of the level of expertise that can be brought by a consultant, as well as how they could benefit from having an established strategic plan.

For many companies, the flexibility provided by an outside consultant can be the most cost-effective and valuable option for a brands development and revenue growth.

Benefits of using a consultant

  • No taxes, benefits or human resource issues
  • Contract work is scalable
  • Easy to terminate when no longer needed
  • Independent advice
  • Diversity of ideas from other experiences
  • Flexible retainer contract that can be reviewed regularly (monthly/rolling contract) on agreement
  • Usually a higher level business professional than may be hired

To succeed in our new environment, brands must set themselves apart, hyper-focus your sights on your goals and go after them with everything you’ve got.

Layoffs, corporate restructuring, takeovers, re-organisations, relocating jobs to lower-cost cities and foreign countries will be common place. To adopt, you should be fluid, open-minded and always on the lookout for a way to do things better.

Complimentary breakthrough strategy sessions

Complimentary breakthrough strategy sessions | Closer Consultancy | London

We’ve opened up sessions during October to book in some complimentary breakthrough strategy sessions:

15th + 16th October

22 + 23rd October

29th + 30th October

During the session, we will discover the exact steps you need to take in order to generate consistent sales.

Where did September go?

Restrictions are being tightened up again and I fear we are about to enter a VERY difficult period – made even more challenging by the onset of winter here in the UK.

However, there will be winners through all of this and I am convinced that the single most important key to that success is MINDSET.

Picture yourself and where you are in your business, career and life. Now picture the person who has similar raw talent and ability to you but is at a different level.

Their achievements leave you in awe and if you were living their life you’d really feel like you had made it. Now investigate the difference. Dig really deep into the gap between you and them and work out why it’s there.

You might point to differing circumstances. Maybe you think you have more commitments, fewer contacts, or just less luck. Maybe you think they just happened upon the right place at the right time. They probably know the right people too.

You have exactly the same number of hours in your day. If you really wanted to, you could turn any disadvantage into something that makes you unique. It could form part of your success story.

I’ve referred to making money but read whatever measure of success you are optimising for. A lifestyle, a certain achievement, a change in the world or another level in your career or life.

There is always a way of solving a problem if you think creatively enough.

Now is the time to talk to your customers. Talk about successes. Talk about failures. And serve your customers the most value possible.

Through COVID I have been working with businesses, who have had huge commitments, obligations, setbacks and bad luck. They chose to push on in spite of those things, not use them as reasons not to.

Super-successful performers are constantly trying to better themselves to reach a higher level. Explaining it all away; pointing to chance or luck-completely misses the opportunity to take inspiration and learn.

There are people out there with the same abilities as you, running flourishing businesses throughout COVID. Find out what’s in the gap and take the steps to close it!

To book your strategy session, get in touch with Naima at naima@closerconsultancy.com

The importance of online presence for business

The importance of online presence for business | Closer Consultancy

The importance of online presence for your business goes far beyond setting up a website that contains the name of your company and contact details. It involves creating a digital platform for your business where people can find useful information and interact with you through social media networks.

Digital Era

Digitalisation and the current times has made it totally necessary for people to rely on the internet to look for products and services that they need. Any online business that does not effectively have an online platform risks losing new lucrative opportunities.

24 Hour Availability

The internet is always available and can showcase your business 24/7. This enables your prospective customers to find your products and services at any time of the day and from any location in the world. If you run a retail business, your online store will be accessible on a 24 hour basis and customers can conveniently order your products whenever they need to. This is a key advantage over retail shopping where you have to wait until business hours.

Brand Building

A strong and memorable online image allows you to build your brand and gain the credibility that you need to attract more customers. Along with making your business readily accessible, an online presence gives your customers an easy way to find out more about what you have to offer.

Positive Image

Interacting with your customers and getting feedback from them through online reviews as well as regularly updating your online posts will create a positive image for your business. Personable experiences and interactions will turn your customers into loyal fans and into your promoters. This type of image increases the likelihood of prospective customers doing business with you and boosting your sales.

Larger Audience

Getting online gives you access to a much larger audience that includes people within your location and beyond. This exposes your online business to even more opportunities and gives you the chance to operate on an international level.

Positive Reviews

A credible business that values its customers can look forward to positive reviews that will result in customer loyalty and a broader customer base. Customers often use reviews to make their purchasing decision and it’s important to prioritise quality customer service.

Effective Marketing

Having an online presence makes it easier for you to market your business and sell your products. A professionally designed and informative website with well written content enables customers to make informed purchasing choices. Getting your business online provides a marketing platform that gives you a cost effective way to reach a wider audience.

Accessibility

It is essential for both small and large businesses to maximise on the benefits of having a strong online presence. Aspects such as dynamic search algorithms and social networks are influential in the process of making it easier for customers to locate different businesses online. A business that does not have an online presence is regarded as non-existent in 2020.

Customers get all information they need from Google and search engines are an unrivalled source of data. You can hire professionals who can help you establish an online presence based on their knowledge of factors ranging from the latest algorithms to search engine codes. Marketing your business online includes launching your website, SEO and strategic use of social media.