New markets we are not looking at today
In earlier articles we have highlighted how important digital transformation is. To recap: it is not something about to happen — it has already happened.
There is enabling technology available to companies at low cost.
A wide range of smart devices for producing information on digital products and services is broadly distributed.
A digital culture prevails for working on products and services with immediate access to information.
Social networks enable B2B and B2C interaction with low-cost advertising.
Customers have both collective and individual discernment, with the ability to cross-check information from many sources.
Social networks matter especially because they are the natural channel for developing new markets, for several reasons. The two main ones are:
Traditional communication channels — print, television, radio — make advertising messages expensive, which is why a small or medium-sized business is unlikely to spend on them.
Social networks not only offer highly granular segmentation for advertising messages, they do so without borders and at very competitive cost. As an added value they generate interaction with the audience, unlike the passivity of traditional media where the message travels one way.
Cost aside, measuring the effect of advertising effort on traditional channels was always a challenge. Ratings and readership figures are plainly too vague to support audience analytics. For social networks there are tools that measure the effect of advertising efficiently and also steer the effort put into interacting with audiences.
Understanding a company's target public — its audience — no longer requires specialised focus groups run by marketing experts. Today it is enough simply to listen to the company's social networks and to the sentiment around particular topics in order to understand the market and position correctly within it.
As always, understanding the market is enough to generate clear strategies and to reach it with coherent messages tied to the brand, image or product the company wants to position. Today those messages travel directly, once business pages have been built, with content that interests end users and a consequent increase in sales opportunities.
Getting started is simple. Build a digital presence by generating consistent, frequent content on your social networks. First, though, you need a clear digital strategy:
Defining the target market.
Analysing the competition in the digital sphere.
Positioning messages by type of social network.
A plan of marketing pieces by type — photos, videos, forms.
Audience targets.
Promotions for the digital channel only.
Unfortunately these technologies are still expensive for a small or medium-sized business. The good news is that this is about to change. Watch for future articles on this blog: we will not only propose technology-related solutions, but also set out procedures for how to develop your market in the digital sphere.
