According to Alibaba's Jack Ma "It is evident that 80-90 per cent of future business will be based online; only those who know how to use and utilize the Internet will win." This says a lot about the future of business. Unless you want to close tomorrow, then you truly have no otherwise. Traditional Marketing courses taught us that customers have preferences and tastes. It further taught us about segmentation and choosing your business niche. These are essentials of any business even in modern day. However, the internet has enabled businesses to connect to the customers better in this digital age. Businesses should therefore look at connecting to the internet and embracing it not only as a research tool but also as a critical marketing tool. In the last decade, online marketing was viewed in form of ecommerce applications and online shopping websites. In modern world digital marketing covers all aspects of the internet including social platforms like your Facebook page, your Pinterest, the Instagram, YouTube, among others. Around the world, there has been a very high uptake rate on these social platforms thanks to the smart phones. The mobile phones have made an indisputable contribution in connecting the world and making it a digital world. Today, everybody irrespective of their age wants to own a mobile phone. This reminds me of my three year old daughter saying she will save the twenty dollars I gave her to buy a phone next time she will be on holiday. Yes she loves playing games on my Android phone, Thanks to Google! The phones are also becoming cheaper with higher capabilities. With everyone having a phone, it’s true that almost 95% of phone users are on the internet. Statistics have shown that half of internet users access it on mobile devices. With these social platforms it’s very simple to reach all kinds of people in the world. The digital age actually enables all businesses to target customers based on different factors. Marketers will confirm that it’s very simple to study consumer behavior with the enhancement that comes with digital age. This can be achieved based on demographic and geography, and even languages. Further, you can be able to classify consumers based on what they like researching on, what they post on their social media. Based on the clothing style on someone`s profile picture, a designer can classify their clothing line and possibly offer suggestions on their Facebook page. So what businesses need to know is that there are lots of opportunities online. Using the internet they can be able to know what exactly their customers need, how they need it, and what time they need it. Let me illustrate to you how your business can achieve this. You will be amazed it’s simple! Let’s say you are in catering business and you own a chain of restaurants across major towns in Kenya. All your branches are open today and you are wondering how to drive all those people passing by your restaurant into your business. It’s pretty simple. You`ve been running your restaurant like any other traditional business man because you inherited it from your Grand Pa and you put effort to expand it and you now have several outlets thanks to your excellent management skills. But that’s not enough. To start, you need to hire someone to develop a very nice Advert on Google AdWords for you. Now you are a step further. But how often does it run and who sees it? And what is the campaign type? Google has several analysis formulas you can employ to know what time to run the Ad and in which pages. You can for instance target people near you and searching for places to eat! Also, you can use Google my Business free directories and list your business. So many people are searching for places to get their favorite Pizza and who knows they could be looking for you. Essentially, there are enormous opportunities for businesses online. All your business needs is the right attitude and effort to get online. This is the future and you either join or cease to exist References:image:http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2017/07/20/speed-up-grab-internet-opportunities-jack-ma-tells-kenyan_c1601212
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AuthorDavid is a Senior Business Consultant at Njuri Consultium Archives
November 2018
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