Snapchat filters: The future of business advertising?

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How do businesses attract new customers and continue to engage with their existing audience when traditional mediums like print and live TV are in decline? The simple answer is to move online but that approach won’t cut it in a world where people need to be targeted specifically.

TV still has a place but it’s not like the 60s when the whole country would be watching the same show – shotgun marketing isn’t going to get you the returns you need.

The future of marketing is in the platforms that prospective clients use like Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat.

The Basics

Snapchat is a social media app that allows user to send messages, videos and pictures to their contacts but the catch is that media is only available for 24 hours. Now, Snapchat has added custom filters that allow you to add frames or even replace your face with a custom graphic.

The custom filters Snapchat has added to their app has given endless marketing possibilities to businesses. The majority of Snapchat users are millennials and post-millennials and with a market of over 100 million users worldwide (over 3 million here in Australia) you have an insanely large audience to target. If you’re after a conversation with millennials, then this is where you will find them.

Snapchat’s inherent functions allow you to connect with your customers in the following ways:

  • Sharing your story or brand through images or videos
  • Personalise filters that tap into the authentic marketing movement
  • Analytics built into the app that track views and content so you know what works

On top of this, you get a free platform that is nearly completely organic in terms of content. If you’re not using Snapchat or any social media for your marketing strategy, you’re missing out on a major opportunity to increase the ROI for your advertising budget.

How It Works

So how do you get in on this game changing form of marketing? To get started you should understand some of the basic requirements. For example, in order to create a custom filter you have to have a location where it will be applied and a design. You also have to determine the length of time the custom filter will be available.

It is crucial that you plan your targeting for custom filters. You’ll want to understand how the filter will be used and who will be adding them to their “stories”. Essentially, who will see your custom filter? Design is important, your filter needs to be memorable and humorous – Taco Bell’s filter made users’ heads turn into tacos for example.

Make the Most of Your Location

A defined location is a requirement of a custom filter and a successful custom filter campaign will largely be determined by the location you choose.

Custom filters can only be used by people within a certain, designated area. Everyone can see it and read it – so you can be sure your message has the ability to travel far and wide – but in order to use it, your audience has to be in your defined area.

Create a persona of who will use your filter and choose a venue that suits their interests or they are likely to visit – such as a local art or music festival. Your audience doesn’t want to be “sold” to so try to avoid restricting the location to your store as they won’t feel like you’re trying to create something fun they can share with their friends.

Unlimited Marketing Potential

Using Snapchat and custom filters to market your brand is an engaging and personal way to connect with your customers. You’re also using a relatively new and trendy form of marketing which also clicks with your target demographic – millennials and post-millennials.

This brand of marketing accepted and even expected by this audience. The results of early adopters explain why so many are jumping onboard. However, it’s still early doors for this type of marketing so now is a good time to get ahead of the curve and ride the wave. Snapchat custom filters are the next big thing worth getting in on the ground for.

Moving from television to social media marketing and other digital platforms makes sense, especially if you have a limited budget and want to maximise the ROI of you commercial resources. Contact us today to discuss how we can help leverage free to use social media features to engage your customers.

 

 

 

How to Define Your Customer Profile to Reach Your Demographic

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Customer profiling may sound like a politically incorrect term used in airport security but it’s actually an innocent business term for understanding who your customers are.

Imagine a manual for how to most effectively reach your target demographic with details on what they like to buy, how much the spend, how they use your products or services, what will help retain their custom and what matters most to them as consumers. That is your customer profile.

How to create your ideal customer profile

Customer profiles help you understand the things that matter to your customers so you can tailor your offerings and messages to better appeal to them.

Selling products and services without understanding what your ideal customer looks like is akin to doing paint by numbers with your eyes closed. You’ll get paint on the canvass, so in a sense, job done, but it’s not going to look pretty.

Let’s examine how you can easily create a customer profile to determine your target demographic.

There are four simple parts to creating profiles for the customers your business should be targeting: Describe. Connect. Locate. Understand.

Describe

The first thing you need to do is create a description sheet for each of your ideal customers. You need to determine, in a broad sense, the two or three main types of customer you have or want.

Build profiles by sorting customers using these basic criteria:

  • Demographics – age, gender, income, location, etc.
  • Psychographics – personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests lifestyles etc.

If you work B2B then what you should define includes: Sector, number of employees, revenue and budget, national/global reach, and decision-making process.

Each type of customer will have varying motives for why they chose your company or your product. Not appreciating their individual motives means you cannot address their individual needs. Don’t lump them together.

Connect

Lots of companies use data-mining or just good old-fashioned polling of their customers to gather information. Interview your current customers and ask them what they like about you, what they don’t; what attracted them to you, how they found you originally; what makes them stay, what makes them want to leave; what others do they wish you did, what you do others don’t. Encourage complete honesty.

The information you get back will enable you to create your customer profiles. This information is vital in so many ways. It not only allows you to use that information in the most effective manner for your market strategies but also gives you invaluable feedback on your strengths and weaknesses.

Locate

Knowing where your customers are isn’t as simple as where they live. We covered that kind of location in demographics. What you want to know is where they go — be that physically or digitally. Where do they spend their time? What websites are they visiting? What papers do they like to read? What social media networks are they attracted to? What do they search for on the internet? Where do they go on holiday? What continents do they prefer to visit?

When you understand where your customer types are at any given time you can target them more effectively. You might be spending money on ad spaces in a national gym with loads of members but few of them fit your customer profiles. That’s wasted money but it can sometimes seem like a good idea to go for numbers.

Knowing where your customers are located can help you decide what numbers make more sense. A small online forum where the average user is 60% likely to fit one of your profiles or a national newspaper with 5x the active readers but with an average profile fit of 25%?

Understand

We all have a purchasing process — an unconscious method for making spending decisions. Understanding what drives your customers to make the decisions they do is a key part of building a winning strategy.

You need to understand what their problem or need is. Are they making purchases proactively or reactively? Are they trying to fix a problem or fulfilling a desire? How are they researching solutions to their problem? How are they researching ways to fulfil their need? What benefits are they looking for?

How are they making their final decision? Are they looking at reviews? Comparing features and benefits with competitors? Are they buying on a whim? Do they need to get approval?

When you understand how they make purchases you can tailor your message to speak to them on their level. Your strategy can be designed to match the flow of their purchasing process resulting in higher conversions.

Create personas

One of the best ways to create specific profiles for each distinct group is to name them and give them a picture — this is known as a persona. Visual aids are really helpful in building customer personas and familiarising your team with the motives, desires and concerns of that type of customer. Also, down the line it will enable seamless switching of strategy between customer sets.

An extraneous example would be marketing for a new face cream. A broad target would be “active females in their 30s and 40s”. Customer profiling could allow you to break that down into ‘Molly the stay at home mum’, ‘Charlotte the career woman’ and ‘Adventurous Alice’.

Molly is in her mid-30s; she has two children, one at school, the other is under a year. She lives in the suburbs, drives a hatchback and has a household income of $80000. She doesn’t get much sleep so is concerned her skin is starting to look tired. She wants to try a new face cream but is easily put off by negative reviews on a mum’s blog forum she visits most days.

Charlotte is in her late 20s, has no children and is dating. She drives a convertible, lives in the city, travels for work a lot and earns $50000. She has noticed a few wrinkles around her brow and wants sometimes to help smooth them. She’s always busy so tends to take the advice of sales clerks or chooses products she has seen in her favourite magazine which often has free samples.

Alice leads a very active, outdoors lifestyle. She surfs, cycles, swims, rock-climbs and runs. She’s into extreme sports and spends most of her life in the sun. Alice is worried her lifestyle is drying out her skin and wants a product that is compatible with her activities. She tends to use consumer comparison sites to find the best deals and research the benefits of products.

All three would benefit from using the same product but they have different motives, purchasing processes, incomes, backgrounds and lifestyles. You can’t create a campaign that will reach everyone but by creating customer profiles you can create appropriate and targeted campaigns for your ideal customers.

Acutely targeted marketing strategies, created with these ideal customers in mind, should enable you to better reach the new and existing customers to positively affect sales and grow your business.

When Is a Good Time to Rebrand

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The decision to re-brand your business is a big one. A lengthy process that can sometimes cost a bit of coin, and it’s certainly a decision not to be taken lightly. However, if done for the right reasons and at the right time, a rebrand can be a great investment to the immediate and future growth of your business.

Done for the wrong reasons and at the wrong the time it can not only be a costly mistake but a PR disaster.  A recent example, one we can all learn from was by a household name, with a product we all grew up with and loved. Arnott’s rebranded their famous Shapes biscuit ‘updating’ some of their renowned flavours in the process. Australia went into meltdown. It’s possible we’re still in the midst of this meltdown as the benefits of this change have yet to be seen or understood.

Another famous example on the worldwide stage was when Coca-Cola made an attempt to re-brand their product to appeal to younger consumers in 1985. A strong consumer backlash forced the company to bring back the original “Coco-Cola classic” a mere three months later.

Evolving

If your business has evolved since opening its doors, it’s possible that the logo and brand you started with is no longer consistent with your current message or offering. It’s good practice to have a brand that consistently reflects your business’s message. New direction is the primary reason for re-branding.

Moving or Expanding

Moving your business or expanding geographically? If your branding includes geographic information or contains messages or meanings that only apply to one area, re-branding to appeal to the new location will be required.

Updating

Has the market or trends within your industry changed considerably? Has your brand become outdated as a result? Your brand reflects your business and is directly responsible for prospective client’s perception of you. An outdated and dull brand will not appeal to new customers- especially if you’re a company that sells these sort of services. It’s important not to get this confused with you feeling bored with your current branding – which can happen to the best of us.

While it is totally normal for any business owner to want to shake things up, it’s vital to recognise that this isn’t a good enough reason to re-brand, at least not on it’s own. If however you’re considering updating due to an outdated logo or niche a complete change may not be needed. A simple refresh may be enough.

Appealing to New Audiences

If you’re wanting to appeal or attract a new audience, then this is a solid enough reason for rebranding and one of the most popular. If you want to break into a new demographic, updating your brand to reflect their behaviours, likes and interests can position your business favourably. It is important to make a well-informed decision backed by research if considering this. Using an experienced agency to assist with re-branding is beneficial beyond the obvious design reasons. An agency familiar with branding will have years of knowledge and tested and tried experiences behind their expertise.

Merging or Acquiring

Another reason you may be considering a rebrand is if your business is merging with another or you are you acquiring a new one? Updating the brand to reflect the new dynamic not only creates and helps keep the brand consistent with offerings and message but it can also be a great marketing and PR strategy. Just be careful not to alienate existing loyal customers.

It’s not only important to get the timing and the reasons for re-branding right but to also make sure it’s done with longevity in mind. We can’t stress how important it is for a brand to remain consistent, solid and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers – no matter what type of business you’re in.

When considering rebranding you need to consider all elements of your business’s marketing platforms. With website and digital being a strong player in today’s business environment it’s important that a brand presents well in a digital environment as well as on traditional promotional material.

Get Expert Advice

Rebranding can be an expensive exercise and even more expensive if it isn’t done right. It’s a good idea (and a good investment) to get advice from a team who know and understand the branding process.

We recently re-branded our business to reflect the growth of our business and have had glowing feedback from many of our partners and customers. Digital is an important part of a re-brand strategy, contact us today to discuss how we can help.

White Knight becomes WK Digital

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White Knight Web Design was formed in 2008. The name represented a time in the industry where a customer focused quality web designer was needed, given a reasonable proportion of the web industry operated out of their car boots. We worked hard to not only provide quality websites but help those stranded by other companies who couldn’t finish the job.

We’ve grown together with many of our customers who are still with us from the early days.

White Knight to WK blog post image
 

The digital landscape is constantly evolving. We have added an office in San Francisco, at the heart of the evolution. We want to focus on maintaining our core services, but also ensure that you have access to proven cutting edge revolutions in the digital space.

Rebranding to WK Digital reflects your growth and our growth. We are still here to help, but we’ve grown to provide you with more. WK maintains our heritage and our core ethos; but it also reflects our transformation into a mid tier multinational digital agency.

We still have the same dedicated local staff and we remain resolutely focused on you. This rebrand to WK Digital reflects that we are now in a better position to provide you with digital tools that will enhance your competitive position.

The best CRM for your small business

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As more small businesses embrace the Internet and move, it is becoming essential to have the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software so you can keep track of customers. Having the right CRM also makes it easier for you to interact with your customers, providing help where needed and give them a good experience as they shop with you.

The CRM you choose, and how right it is for your business, depends to a large extent on the kind of business model you have. While there are many great CRMs to choose from, they don’t all have the same features. For instance, lawyers may need a document and file sharing feature and that would not be important for a retailer who would benefit more from a Live Chat feature.

Another consideration, especially for small businesses, would be budget. The cost of many CRMs is worked out by how many employees will be using them as well as what features they have. You may be surprised to find one – Zoho – is free and is packed with some handy features.

Zoho

The biggest advantage of Zoho is that up to 10 employees can use it for free making it ideal for small start-ups with a tight budget. Crucially, it also has a free mobile version. It is easy to use even for those with no previous experience and if you get stuck there is a help button and live chat.

Features include: client interaction tracking, files sharing (not real-time), web forms, purchasing reports and Google docs integration.

Like all freemium products many of the best features – like creating and sending invoices, data backups, multiple currencies, lead capture from social media, marketing campaigns, integration with Google AdWords, customer support, inventory management, analytics and greater security – are saved for paid versions. You can purchase software that will integrate seamlessly with Zoho to perform these tasks though.

SugarCRM

This is a trustworthy CRMs used by many businesses worldwide. A cloud-based service, its better features include: – sales force automation and forecasting, real-time sharing, email integration, mobile app, large storage plans, up to 24/7 support and support for MySQL, Oracle and SQL Server. The user interface, while uncluttered and easy to use, is considered a little too simple and overly-focused on commerce.

Workbooks.com

In spite of the downside of a 25 users limit, this CRM is has a powerful suite of sales and marketing tools that can support sales teams around the world. Features include real-time sharing and easy configuration and customisation. Some users recommend taking a staged approach to integration to avoid headache.

Maximizer

A popular CRM for over 20 years, Maximizer can automatically generate email campaign based on company input. The design, similar to several Microsoft Office applications, makes it very easy to use. With many features, it is available in the cloud or on the premises. Reviews suggest the cloud version is improving but still has many bugs.

MailChimp

Whilst not technically a CRM – and in fact MailChimp is mostly used as an integrated add-on to manage email marketing campaigns – many small businesses are using it as a form of Customer Relationship Management tool. If all you need is a simple way to bulk contact your customers and create email campaigns then MailChimp could be for you but be aware that you won’t be able to benefit from all the clever analytics, lead tracking and reports you get with a true CRM system.

Apptivo

Another affordable CRM, Apptivo offers customisable solutions and has 24-hour support. Considered one of the most flexible and affordable solutions it has many features for just $10 per month per user. This makes it ideal for small businesses or sole traders.

Batchbook

Its cheap cost makes it ideal for the tiny business or entrepreneur that only needs to monitor social media and streamline customer communications. It’s good at what little it does, but if you want automated features to take care of invoices or anything else, you won’t get it from this CRM without third party add-ons.

Salesforce

They say you get what you pay for and Salesforce CRM comes with a price worthy of its consideration as one of the best, if not the best, CRMs on the market. Salesforce is not only intuitive, uncluttered and easy to use; it also has a great many features that will help you reach your business goals quickly and efficiently. As a cloud-based system, Salesforce keeps your information from accidental deletion and boasts robust security to fend off unauthorised access.

Contact information from Outlook or Excel can be imported into this CRM and you can also dial clients, send out automatic mass or single emails or send only to specific groups. It also boasts one of the largest third-party marketplaces for add-ons and apps with seamless integration – and it has its own social networking platform.

One downside is that when it is necessary to add a new contact, a new company account with a designated account number must first be created. Then the new customer can be added to it. Some people find this extra step a little frustrating, especially when they are in a hurry. However, managers will find this software invaluable for keeping a check on customer/employee interaction to make sure that the customer gets what they need, as well as for many other jobs. Performance evaluations can easily be carried out by managers.

Having the right CRM for your business will ensure that things run much more smoothly and efficiently but don’t get wooed by functions you won’t use. Select a CRM based on what you need right now. It might cost you a little more in the long-run should you need to migrate to a different platform but it’s better than getting stuck with something you feel obligated to use because you paid a lot of money for features you never needed.

Why Your Business Needs to Focus on Google Reviews

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While Google+ has decided to say adios to their inbuilt review system, the standard ‘Google Reviews’ are here to stay. Most business owners can identify the importance of this review system but often fail in their attempts to get customers to leave reviews. In this post we will discuss what Google Reviews are for those of you who haven’t been acquainted yet, why they are so vital for your business and most importantly how you can get your customers to give you the glowing review you deserve.

What are Google Reviews?

Google Reviews is the app Google implemented into the popular search engine for customers to review a business or place. When someone Google searches your business name, the first thing they may notice is how many stars you have. They are eye-catching and give a pretty good indication whether your business is one they want to deal with. The reviews present the reader the only information they need before committing to continue to your website. See for yourself with this local example:

montville mountain inn Google Search

Why They Are Important

It doesn’t matter if you have hundreds of reviews on Facebook or other review sites in your industry, if you don’t have Google reviews you have no way to impress your potential customers this visibly. It’s almost like you don’t have any reviews at all if they aren’t on Google, which is arguably the most likely way for these prospects to find you. Your competitors also will have it one up on you in terms of outranking you, regardless of whether their reviews are favourable.

How To Give A Review

You need to understand how to give a review before you start asking customers for them just in case they ask you how. Luckily, it’s really easy to leave a review for a business. You just need to be logged into your Google account (Gmail, Google+ or Youtube). See below some handy screenshots:

1. Search for a business

2. On the card that appears below the search box, click ‘Write a review’.

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3. In the window that appears, click the stars to score the place. If you want, you can also write a review (try and keep the review constructive).

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4. Hit ‘Post’.

5. That’s it!

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How to ask your Customers for a Google Review

So now you understand what they are why they are important, how on earth do you get them? It’s pretty simple and sometimes you can overthink this step. The easiest way to get a Google Review is to simply ask for one. People are busy, so although they may have had an amazing experience with your business they may forget to give you praise. With this being said customers who have had a negative experience are more likely to leave a review, so it is really important you chase the feedback from the good interactions.

How you ask for customer feedback really depends on your industry but here are few straightforward ways to reach out:

  • Ask in person at the conclusion of your service.
  • Send a follow up email to your customer asking for their help. You can make it really easy for them if you include a couple of print screens.
  • Post a social media update requesting help. This is less personal, but you can reach more people this way.
  • Ask family and friends to give you a hand to establish your business reviews.

 

Creative Incentives for Your Customers

You’d be surprised at how many people will just be happy to help you, especially if they’ve had a positive experience with your business. If you are after a little more motivation for your customers though, a little incentive never hurt anyone. Again, it does depend on what your business does, but here a few suggestions to get your brain juices flowing:

  • Your humble gratitude. This is by far the cheapest option, being authentic is powerful.
  • Discount their next purchase (either a % off or a $ off gift voucher).
  • Monthly draws for a prize for one lucky ‘Google Reviewer’.
  • A thank-you gift. It doesn’t have to be physical, think about digital gifts like desktop wallpapers, downloadable guides or e-books and other types of useful downloadables relevant to your business offering.
  • Create a special ‘Club’ that receive access to specials and news before the general public.

 

There are lots of ways to approach your customers and get them to leave you a precious Google Review. Do try to keep it relevant to your business and keep it low key and not come across too ‘salesy’. With all types of reviews it is important to keep your eye on them and try to respond to them. Even the negative reviews can be turned around if you reach out and try to remedy the situation. Google is a powerhouse for your business so you need to utilise their tools if you want your business to have maximum exposure to your prospective customers.

How to Start Building Your Business Empire Today

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Back to the grindstone, back to the same old maybe not going anywhere job, feeling closed in by a company that is anything but merit-based? Time to run your own show?

Naawwww…yeah? If you’ve even spent an hour investigating running your own company then you’ve probably heard the black and white, the bad and the good, but what about the grey,  and the not so written about?

After 8 years in the digital space maybe our experience can help give you a picture of how you can start your own business and build it into something that replaces and then expands on the money bring in now.

 

Changing Financial Focus

 

Realistically starting a business means changing the focus of your financial investment strategy. You need to be prepared to budget for what you want to do, putting estimates around the costs you think you’ll need to outlay. You’ll also need to be realistic about other investments – thinking of buying a house? That may need to wait.

 

Supporters and Advisors

 

You need to run your ideas by people you respect and by people that know about the industry you’re about to jump into (these could be the same people). They’ll help you flesh out what you want to do and how you can get potential customers to respond positively to your ideas.

 

You need to talk to your significant other and make sure they support what you’re doing and can give you some encouragement on tough days when things aren’t going your way. And don’t forget about your mum or dad – at least one or both think you hung the moon regardless!

 

So how do you start making money?

 

Get a Shopfront

 

You need a marketplace/showroom/shopfront where people can come and find you. Even better if that place is open 24/7. eCommerce might not be for everyone but in our experience using a website to complete some or all of a transaction with your customers will mean they save time and so do you – this of course is almost as good as the thing you are selling.

 

Build a network

 

Maybe you already have one but they don’t know what you’re up to? Every week you need to be pursuing opportunities large and small to get noticed for what you eventually want to do full time.

 

If you’re selling to other businesses then LinkedIn is a great way to professionally advertise what you do and establish your credibility. If you’re selling to consumers then you need to consider Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or even Snapchat, it all depends on who your target market is.

 

Just as valuable as online is good old face to face networking. It’s so much easier to build credibility and get people’s attention when they’ve met you face to face. Investigate industry bodies and groups that potential clients belong to and make sure you attend industry events – this is always money incredibly well spent.

 

Know your Sales Process

 

Statistics continually tell us it takes an average of 7 interactions with a client to bring them onboard. That means you need to build a marketing plan around how you will reach them multiple times without having to invent 7 different types of marketing.

 

You should also have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that you can store current and future customer details in.

 

A CRM will allow you to track every time you spoke with a customer, what messages and marketing they received and where they are in the sales pipeline – cool, warm or hot lead?Preferably its something you log into online so that you can access it anywhere, anytime.

 

Back in 2008 we put as many of our tools of trade online as we could. That was surprisingly more challenging then you would have thought but it’s been the bedrock of scaling our business for success.

 

Having a shopfront, building a network and knowing your sales process will lead to the ever important dollars you are seeking. Even more than that it will give you control over your current and future destiny and that should continually lead to informed business decision making.

 

Even if you have another gig, it is possible to starting empire building right now. Good luck!

What Can Digital Mean for You?

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As technology – and human beings – evolve, new words have to be used to describe what is happening. The word ‘digital’ may have once been used very little, but these days it is on everyone’s lips; the main trouble is that it means different things to different people.

We might say, “It’s a digital world these days” and simply mean that almost everyone uses a PC or iPhone. But saying ‘We need to go digital’ has a somewhat different meaning.

Different Shades of Digital for Business

Even for the business world, ‘digital’ has different shades of meaning. It is more about how things are done. We can now store information digitally and find it takes up less room. We can contact people digitally and find it is quick and convenient. Or we can change the way the whole company works to embrace the digital age and become more efficient and competitive. The latter encompasses a whole different way of doing almost everything.

Analyse, Build, Measure, Repeat

Automating business reporting, building a website, accounting through a portal, a new logo or a new mobile app. These are examples of “going digital” that all businesses can embrace for a lot less than they think. A new digital project always requires examination of the desired end outcome and therefore a business already has a success benchmark that can be measured and reported. It also means that their customer base can expand exponentially once they have the results back to tweak, retry and/or try anew.

Too Much Communication?

To most people away from the world of business, the word digital simply means a way of communicating with their friends and family. Using iPhones is second nature to most people these days and means you can communicate with someone without actually talking to them, thus it is more convenient and less invasive. An email or text message can be sent quickly with hardly any interruption to your day. That said, much time is consumed in spelling out all the words and waiting for the reply. Checking their phone for messages takes up a lot of time. Being constantly available to friends and enemies alike means very little privacy or down time. No wonder people are feeling stressed.

Keep Learning through Digital

To the older generation ‘digital’ may mean they can do video calls with grandchildren they may not see very often otherwise. It is all about photos and maybe email rather than streaming music or movies. That is on a personal level. But what about a small business run by an older person who does not have much time – or the inclination – to learn about anything digital? They may one day find it much more difficult to get the services they need.

Online Forms, Not Fax

For instance, a farmer who sees no need to ‘go digital’ suddenly finds he cannot get the tail tags or forms that he needs to sell his cattle because the PP Board in his local town closed down. Now they have a central office hundreds of kilometres away and offer their service from a website. Suddenly, forms must be ordered from the website and paid for online. So he is pushed into the 21st century, complaining loudly all the way. Or if he is lucky, his grandchildren do it for him.

Opportunities to Run a More Efficient Business

Small businesses are less likely to have all the services they need, but will find that they work with digital service providers easily and quickly once they embrace the digital world. For instance, a glass cutter who makes and installs shower stalls cannot be at his place of business all the time when he is out on the job. Even with a mobile phone he can miss out on business, simply because he cannot work and answer the phone at the same time. But he could easily get a VA to answer the phone for him.

Or what about a truck driver who spends hours on the road, often out of his local area? He won’t feel like doing his books when he gets home – and may not even know how to keep proper records. But digital records are easy to keep and accounting can be done by a specialist so that he can spend more time driving and not be fined by the ATO for late – or no – tax returns.

Small businesses cannot afford to hire IT staff permanently, but they can still have a website built and managed to expand their business by working with the right digital service providers. There are many things in the digital world that can expand your business; you don’t have to know how to do it all yourself when there are professionals just a few clicks away.

A Feeling of Achievement, Every Day

So really, ‘digital’ really comes down to your own strategy for different and easier way of doing many things in both business and personal lives. Digital can help you refine what is important to you and the best way to achieve in the time you need it, and taking an active interest in digital opportunities, you’ll have a better sense of achievement day to day.

Power to the Digital Punt

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As the horses, jockeys and visiting royalty gather we are reminded of the great Australian urge to gamble. Do we love a winning result or the addiction of the possible?

Status Quo, Good Enough?

We think it’s both and in the digital world a punt can seem scary, and better that money wasn’t spent without a good result rather than risk a few hundred dollars on something that could just turn into something successful.

Digital, Built to Your Measurements

The cool part about digital is that it can be measured. Adword dollars can be linked to sales, return on website enhancement dollars can be measure directly by improved on site visitor statistics and sales leads, and it should be that way.

Champagne Now or Later?

It would be nice if those results showed up in fancy frocks, suit & tie with a bottle of champagne like your Melbourne Cup bet. Or maybe you treat your staff to a great Melbourne Cup party next year because today was the day you bet on your business success and won.

The Power of the Punt

It is possible to win with digital, in fact, its a certainty.