Welcome to the first edition of ‘Brick to Click in 60 Days’! Over the next 8 weeks, we’re going to tell you all that you need to know, to take your business online.
Ready to start? Here we go!
All you need to do, is find the right answers to the Who, What & Where of your business!
WHO is your Target Audience:
The beauty of the world wide web (internet) is that it lets you reach out to countless people in a jiffy. A post, a forward, or a reshare is all you need, to reach out to millions of people simultaneously. But, not everyone out there in the virtual space might be your target audience. Like in the offline world you segregate audiences and reach out only to the relevant ones, in the virtual world too you need to filter out audiences and speak only to the relevant ones. The best part about promoting your business on online platforms, especially social media, is that you can search for your audience and choose them over others, based on a variety of factors such as likes-dislikes, places of residence, professions, etc. This makes your communication very targeted. It’s always a good idea to carry out extensive research to understand your audience; which city or country are your most likely to find them, do they live in Tier I or Tier II cities, are they digitally savvy or not, their spending powers, and such like. Ensure that you are in the right place at the right time, feeding consumers with information and content that satiates their needs.
Action Tip:
Jot down 3 personas of your ideal customer.
Make it as detailed as possible, like where do they live, how old are they, what do they like, etc.
WHAT Do you Want to Sell:
You may have a large inventory of products and services that your consumers fancy, but don’t get too ahead of yourself by listing all of these online. Some products and services are naturally made for the online business model, while others, simply are not. Remember, consumers everywhere like to touch and feel products before finally settling down on a purchase. Are all your products going to fulfil this prerequisite? In an online model, you might not always be able to offer this experience to them. So, think of what will click with them, and shortlist only your Hero Products to list.
Action Tip:
Choose only your top-selling and popular products to list online.
It could even be just your ‘top 30 best-sellers’. Can be lesser but definitely no more.
WHERE Do You Want to Sell:
The power of the online world is such that it allows you to sell your products and services to just about anybody who has an internet connection and is willing to spend. You may plan on having your own e-commerce website and aspire to ship your products across the length and breadth of the country or even across the globe. A brilliant idea as it may be, practically-speaking, can you really reach out to everyone out there? If you’ve done your initial research right, your insights will prod you to focus only on key markets where perhaps customer spending power is high, or your products/ services may create value for them. Secondly, you’ll find that many of your potential customers are also shopping extensively on aggregator websites. If they indeed are, then definitely include these aggregator sites and service providers in your plan. That’s the surest way to expand your digital footprint and reach out to more potential customers. This arrangement however does come at a cost, a percentage sharing arrangement with the aggregator perhaps. But then again, there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
Action Tip:
Shortlist the top-4 cities/ areas that your customers live in (based on the personas).
Make a note of the top-3 aggregator sites that they visit frequently and begin listing your products on these sites. It could take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to get your listing up. So, be sure to account for this time.
Final thoughts; understanding the Who, What & Where of your business is very vital if you want to go online. But, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Next, we’ll tell you about how you can create engaging experiences for your customers. Until then, try finding the answers to the Who, What & Where of your business. You’ll be amazed at what you come up with!