Preparing Your Business for Digital Disruption

Digital Disruption https://www.jeffkorhan.com

In a recent guest post about the intersection of customer service and marketing I realized this:

There are two questions every business should be asking:

#1 – How will digital change or even eliminate proven business practices?

#2 – How soon could that happen – and what then?

The premise of the aforementioned article was that these days customer service is designed to create favorable customer experiences, even before prospective buyers become customers. This makes it a new form of marketing.

Conversely, content marketing that helps customers throughout their entire experience with the business serves a customer service role.

Just studying the intersection of these two disciplines helps one realize how the influence of digital and social media are disrupting nearly every aspect of business. Thus, it would be advantageous to discern that disruption before it happens to be ready for it.

There are probably a number of ways to approach this, but the most reliable is probably starting with a reevaluation of what your customers want, as compared to what your business and the rest of your industry are giving them now.

What Do Your Customers Really Want?

Customer service used to be sitting back and waiting for customers to complain, and then responding to hopefully deliver an amicable resolution. Today customer service is being ahead of the customer, anticipating their needs.

You can ask customers what they want, but they may not be able to tell you without knowing the full extent of your capabilities, or that you would be willing to give it to them.

I’m not sure how Amazon came up with Amazon Prime (charging one flat annual fee to then provide free shipping within 48 hours), but I absolutely love it. Many customers like me hate to shop, and so the easier you can make the experience the more readily you will earn our loyalty.

If you were your customer would you buy from you? How would you like to buy? These are good questions to ask your team, as well as your customer.

What would your customers want if they knew they could get it?

Amazon Prime is just one example. Free shipping by Zappos is another. Words like easier, faster, and risk-free come to mind. Of course, don’t forget cooler, fun, and personal.

If it isn’t being done and it’s a cool idea, you can bet it will disrupt your industry if you can be the first to do it.

Content, Social, and Digital are Disruptive Forces

Who would have known in the early days of blogging that content marketing would become a mainstream force?

Next week I’m off to Content Marketing World to learn more about the state of content marketing for businesses both small and large. One thing is certain; content marketing is now an essential business practice.

Social media continues to impact business by giving consumers a voice for getting what they want. Smart businesses are monitoring those conversations. You may or may not like hashtags, but they are here to stay and amazingly powerful for listening and learning what your customers want, as well as what your competitors are thinking.

More than anything, our increased connectivity, especially via mobile devices, is sure to disrupt nearly every aspect of our business operations.  Connectivity and mobile give easier access to all kinds of information, which surely means there will be an expectation for businesses to better create, organize, and protect it, especially if you are in the information business.

How about if your business is a mainstream, brick n mortar store? With customers being better educated and informed, will that require adapting your selling process to it?

There is no question the lines between sales, marketing, and customer service are blurring, and content, social, and digital media are largely responsible for this. It’s amazing to think of a world where every business is now a media company.

Get ready for a world in which every customer is now his or her own brand. It’s going to be both exciting – and disruptive.

Is your business ready?

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, helps mainstream small businesses create exceptional customer experiences that accelerate business growth. Get more from Jeff on LinkedInTwitter and Google+.

Jeff is also the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – (Wiley 2013)

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Every Business is Now a Media Company

2013.6.2. News

There was a time when every business courted the media.

They (the media) were rightfully considered business partners because they could significantly help any company interested in publicizing an event or similar happening as news.

Today, every business (large or small) is now its own media company – and that is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly.

If your business makes the effort to learn the new forms of media it can build a platform that will become an essential digital asset for connecting with current and future customers.

Consumers are Hungry for News

“Consumers will always seek relevant news and information to make better buying decisions. Before social media, their primary sources for doing so were traditional media outlets such as radio, television, newspapers, and of course, word-of-mouth. According to a study by Pew Research Center, the Internet is now the leading source of information for consumers making buying decisions – ranking even higher than the recommendations of their friends.

The idea that consumers trust the Internet more than their friends may initially seem surprising. However, it’s quite likely that they’re simply using the Internet to validate those recommendations. Of course, this spells opportunity for small businesses that are ready to take the initiative with the considerable resources available to them, to publish solutions online that will attract the attention of consumer searching for them – especially those in their local communities.”

The preceding was excerpted from Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business, by author Jeff Korhan (that’s me)

Read further for some key points about being a media company that came from a recent podcast interview with Mike Stelzner, CEO of Social Media Examiner, and host of the Social Marketing Podcast. 

Better yet, listen to the podcast too, because Mike is an exceptional interviewer. It is sure to inspire you with the possibilities that small businesses now have with respect to their media marketing.

Your Business is the News

Your business IS the news – think about that.

Traditional media such as newspapers cannot publish the news without the help of people and businesses that are “making the news.” You make it and they publish it. Got that?

So, if your business is the news, then whom better than you to tell that story, especially now that you have abundant resources for doing so, with most of them being completely free?

Broadcasting the news was a practice for which one formally had to be trained. You also required access to the necessary equipment, studios, and supporting personnel.

Today media is easy to use, and the investment is negligible. Plus, the format is very forgiving – now mistakes are even welcome because they humanize the news, making it even more interesting.

Nevertheless, please do get the necessary training and advice from sources like this blog, SocialMediaExaminer.com, ChrisBrogan.com, MariSmith.com, RazorSocial.com, and Grovo.com, to name a few.

The Best News is Specific and Relevant

Nobody knows your business and its customers better than you do.  Therefore, you can personalize your news to make it highly relevant and relatable.

This is the magic behind the success of most blogs:

The top blogs today are simply more relatable than traditional media, which makes them cool – and that gets their content shared.  (opening quote from Chapter 6 of Built-In Social).

When you use media to amplify and extend your expertise, then you become a true media company.

How to Build Your Platform

Mike Stelzner started Social Media Examiner using his expertise in the white paper business, which is a form of educational content commonly used by larger enterprises. He translated that expertise to helping small businesses with their social media marketing, and developed a digital platform is arguably priceless.

Yes, priceless. How can a price on a digital asset whose value is potentially limitless.

You can do the same in your niche.

Read more about how Mike accomplished his achievement by picking up a copy of Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition.

 Signing copies of Built-In Social in the Wiley booth at 2013 Book Expo America


Signing copies of Built-In Social at 2013 Book Expo America

Last week while doing a book signing at Book Expo America I had the opportunity to take some time to learn more about small businesses and what their social media challenges are. The most common topic of conversation was how can you build a platform to reach customers.

The answer is simple: Take the risk of focusing on your customers and provide answers to their top problems or desires.

What are the concerns or opportunities on the minds of your customers? That should be the focus of your media programming.

Where businesses fail with media is focusing on what they do. Instead, concentrate on what your business can do to help those that it can best serve.

In other words, use this new media to build your tribe.

That tribe is your audience. Use your media to care for them, and together you’ll make some great news with mutual benefits!

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, helps mainstream small businesses create exceptional customer experiences that accelerate business growth. Get more from Jeff on LinkedInTwitter and Google+.

Jeff is also the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – Just Released April 2013 (Wiley)

Download a preview of Built-In Social here.

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Why Isn’t Your Business Blogging?

As a consumer yourself, wouldn’t you like to have easy access to fresh updates concerning the products and services you regularly use? Your customers are no different. Customers have been conditioned to expect answers whenever they need them. When they don’t get what they want your reputation erodes. Knowing this, why are so few small […]

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