b2b order portal banner for digital commerce

 

Many B2B operators, dealers, and sellers utilize an ordering portal to achieve their business objective. The demand by customers has risen sharply for an easy-to-use, highly intuitive platform with the means to search their product catalog, place and track orders, and manage invoices, payments and account information.

There are a wide range of ordering portal solutions on the market today, claiming to offer an all-in-one user friendly, seamless solution.  Truth is, each B2B entity has unique requirements based on their business model, customer interactions, catalog and pricing structure, and back-end system.

The features of the portal, the size and condition of the data sets, specific customer needs, as well as its technical design, must be the drivers for platform selection. That means starting with the scope of capabilities and catalogs, and complexity of the technology ecosystem.

Continue reading “Profile of an Ordering Portal – Key Features & Capabilities”

digital-engagement-tree

 

Every brand must craft their digital axiom of excellence. Marketing in 2021 demands transformation and overcoming blind spots. Marketers must take an agile approach and embrace center-points of change, best practices in process, and an open lens on audience behaviors.  

As you move into the new year, let’s polish your plan by setting profit-bearing objectives that will gain more attention, penetrate markets, incite actions, increase revenue, and leave your mark on the industry. This 2021 groundwork series starts with:

Engagement

Develop your road map from the following;

  • Breadth and Depth
  • Who, What, Where, How and Why

 

Continue reading “Digital Marketing for 2021 – Engagement”

innovate workshop think plan act

 

[Day One]

Refresh the Core Competencies and the Value Proposition

  • distinguish your brand from the competition
  • consider messaging that resonates in the digital ecosystem

Blend your Mission and Vision into a story

  • share socially, on your website, in a video and organically

Assess new and future Macro Conditions – PESTEL

  • Political
  • Economical
  • Social
  • Technological
  • Environmental
  • Legal

Evaluate Supply Chain

  • sourcing goods and services
  • suppliers and procurement
  • production and processes
  • sales and fulfillment
  • inventory management
  • customer satisfaction

Redesign Production for Agility, Ideation and Innovation

  • introduce new ways of thinking and leading for stakeholders
  • recognize that changing mindsets and processes takes time
  • set goals with incremental advancements

Continue reading “Innovate, Evolve & Grow Workshop – 3 Day Action Plan”

digital services globally

 

Many companies are grappling with the concept of transforming digitally. It certainly sounds smart, recognizing that the world is rapidly becoming digitized in its work, daily activities, commerce and entertainment.

Understandably, for many leaders, the technology landscape appears complex. Extensive. And costly.

The best approach is incremental and experimental. Advancing technologies, and creating a digital-savvy workspace, should be done in a climate that is eager to innovate while still driven to steer pragmatically.

The cutting-edge elements of digital are, first and foremost, not a ‘one size fits all’.  You must craft your own game-changing journey by trying out, testing, exploring and shaping the map.

Continue reading “Strategy Tips for Your Technology Playbook”

digital-marketing-touch points

 

 

Critical for digital commerce are a defined strategy and well-structured plan. Every component of the plan should have a clear objective. That gives all initiatives a North Star and the means to measure results.

Objectives & Key Results (known as OKRs) must be precise and individualized to a particular channel or campaign. Additionally, being quantifiable gives a basis for benchmarks, forecasting and validating performance.

Examples of measurable goals are:

  • New customer acquisition
  • Existing customer retention
  • Conversions
  • Revenue, profit margins or incremental sales
  • Search engine ranking and quality score
  • SEO performance and organic traffic volume
  • Market share, market penetration or new market entry
  • Brand awareness, equity or advocacy
  • Competitive advantage and positioning
  • Audience targeting and personalization
  • Customer journey and UX performance

Gaining attention and visibility online is just the start.  Lead activation, user engagement and triggered activations require an emphasis on brand image, tailored messaging, tactical design, intrinsic interface, and imperative solutions, all with the aim to improve the bottom line.

Continue reading “Cultivating Digital Relationships and Revenue”

communication channels tree

 

A brand relies on many different methods to get noticed and build trust, engagement and equity.

A sure-fire way to tear down momentum and damage the brand reputation is failing to communicate effectively.

There are numerous factors that make content potent, including the following:

  • Segmented Audience
  • Relevancy and Value
  • Voice and Visual
  • Quality of Content
  • Flow and Patterns
  • Form and Framing
  • Personalization
  • Timing
  • Call to Action
  • Respect for Privacy

Continue reading “Communication Essentials – Intrigue, Elevate, Evoke & Hook”

cloud-services-in-digital-network

 

A significant element of digital transformation is shifting to serverless cloud computing to leverage services, storage, and processing capabilities. 

Businesses are assessing their technology and recognizing the many advantages of cloud solutions, such as:

  • Cost efficiencies
  • Structural flexibility
  • Cohesiveness of event-driven performance
  • Ease of operational management
  • Real-time data processing
  • Integrated systems and applications
  • Compatibility with different languages
  • Automated scaling
  • Quicker deployment
  • Reliable support for databases, dev/ops, and AI programs

By moving to the cloud, many complexities of a back-end system are removed. Another benefit is eliminating the need to estimate usage. Often, projecting demand can cause unnecessary expenses when reserves and resources are idle.

Continue reading “The Merits and Momentum of Cloud Services”

social-puzzle-icons

 

Social Media has become a key component of business development and brand engagement for companies across industries and of every size. Because business models and objectives are unique, there are logically a wide number of strategies employed to attract attention, create opportunities and connect with the target audience.

While we fully expect social interactions and activities to be different, there are tactics and trends that can benefit all kinds of organizations in pursuit of brand lift and higher profitability.

Tip #1  A Bridge, with no Toll

Use social media as a customer journey bridge.  As you develop touch points and test campaigns, use social platforms as a means to bring people from one interface to the next. A barrage of email reminders or website pop-ups can be annoying, whereas creative social posts that are boosted and shared will have greater appeal. The more visually compelling the better.

Tip #2  Love Thyself, and Social Media

Smart marketing has a foundation of evolving strategies, utilization of influence and persuasion to garner attention, balancing efforts across channels, and continually aiming to strengthen relationships.

The primary value of social media includes:

  • create moments that delight, inspire, inform and engage
  • opportunity to listen to customers
  • build credibility
  • develop a community around your passion and purpose
  • turn customers into advocates
  • expose your brand to new customers
  • offer ease of actions (to shop, to access, to request assistance)

At the start of every week, set tasks that will advance each of these values.  Progress in a brand’s social presence and potency is a measure over time and offers significant long-term gains.

Continue reading “Tips for a Profit-Bearing Social Media Program”

brand-elements-structure-color-pencils

 

Our new digitally driven business landscape is rapidly changing how consumers interact with a brand.  Because sentiment is key, now is the time to reassess the elements and structure of your brand to ensure they are evolving alongside shifts in societal values, focus, intent and ambitions.

Precedence

Brand equity relies on a company creating its own distinguishing benefits and signature. The gelling factors are the magnitude of the messaging, the authenticity of the voice, and the relevance of what the brand offers.

Questions to ponder…

What is the brand’s strength and how will you illustrate its significance?

What aspects of the brand stand out as influential? 

Do consumers believe that your product or service is essential?

Brand Tenets

Along with a strategy to expand your brand prominence, take time to go through other critical brand tenets including:

  • Drivers
  • Characteristics
  • Indicators
  • Expression
  • Differentiation
  • Positioning
  • Performance

Continue reading “Brand Anatomy Part III – Elements and Structure”

spool-of-purple-thread-needle-thimble

 

My love for digital commerce is much like a clothing designer’s passion for trendy wearables.

Outfitting a company for digital growth requires several garments such as data, business intelligence, automation, agile project execution, iterative campaigns, multi-device performance, interactive media and omnichannel experiences.

Like fashion itself, one’s digital ‘style’ says everything. Engagement, activation and triggered events occur when your presentation is undeniably attractive.

An effective digital strategy requires stitching together meaningful touch points, including social channels, editorial sources, search engines, web platforms, communication avenues, micro moments, and brand experiences.

Much like apparel that has a myriad of patterns, countless brands and endless fads, a target audience is wide-ranging with unique needs, interests, requisites and restrictions. Motivation to make a purchase is best understood by defining the persona of the buyer and tailoring your message to activate their reasoning and response.

In digital marketing, being vogue means knowing if the spectators have an appeal to bohemian, chic, grunge, casual, vintage, or couture. A sensory connection is critical, as well as having the brand’s value proposition sewn into the fabric. The aim is to be digitally distinctive.

The real catalyst for any consumer is believing your brand is the right fit. Generating enthusiasm and instigating a sale, service or subscription requires skillfully shaping an influential and value-driven experience.

To be optimally executed, digital initiatives rely on a foundation of tools, techniques and technologies. The past practice of threading together promotions, taglines and incentives won’t cut it.

Bottom-line, use this period of digital transformation to assess your IT wardrobe. Empty the closet and start re-assembling the technology stack piece-by-piece, maintaining a clear goal of raising efficiency, expanding capability, strengthening security, and reducing costs.

Be ambitious and a little audacious. Every Monday is the digital start of fashion week!