How to Lift Your Digital Game for Growth

1. Understand your target customers

In every business situation, you are up against an existing solution, product or service, for example:

• A market leading new medical waste management solution is up against existing established equipment disposal behaviour.
• An online resource scheduler is up against trusted excel spreadsheets used by team leaders allocating shifts to contractors.

To effectively gain the attention of your ideal prospects, it’s crucial to have a deep understanding of your target buyers, their personas and the unique selling proposition (USP) that will entice them to choose your product or solution. 

If you’re new to using personas, start with a good template and any existing research, then build them out with fresh insights on who they are and what they need.

2. Map the online journey to drive leads

Armed with your understanding of your ideal customers’ personas and needs, map the steps of their discovery journey (how customers find you) and build an online experience that feels personalised and encourages action. 

Sales time is precious so digital lead generation is an excellent method of creating warmer leads and appealing to solution seekers. 

Treat your online resources as part of your sales efforts to capture opportunities and use extra time to become a trusted advisor to your prospects and customers. 

I have seen an online training company grow lead generation from a minimal level to receiving 50% of new business opportunities from online. This lifted the efficiency of their sales team and helped them to land better-quality clients.

3. Optimise the digital experience

The best websites treat every visitor like the customer they want to land. Remember these key elements to give your customers a great experience:

• Optimise for both mobile and desktop. Laptops and desktops account for 54% of internet use in Australia.¹ Many Aussies go from mobile to desktop when it’s time to finalise research, choose a supplier, or gather information to share with colleagues.
• Check your web performance and mobile responsiveness. For example, Australia’s mobile download speeds are almost twice as fast as fixed connection speeds.² A poor experience when switching from mobile to desktop will see prospects lose interest.
• Align your SEO or SEM to match the most commonly used search keywords for each customer group. I recently saw one business lift their click-through by 27 percent just by using terminology that was more familiar to their target customers. If you’re selling B2B, feature case studies with logos and locations if possible. 

• For phone enquiries and live chat, consider any time zone differences by customer location. Include hours of operation on your website and give information on response times and different ways to contact your team. In an emergency, your customers want more than impersonal, self-serve knowledge hubs. For certain software and service solutions, support is becoming a key factor in vendor selection.

With digital playing a significant role in every stage of the purchasing journey, it’s essential to adapt your digital strategy to your buyers for a competitive advantage to drive business growth.