What to Do If You're in a Digital Meltdown

Written by: Michaela Barker | Guardian Angels Marketing

I have discovered a completely new thing in business. I have called it digital meltdown and it comes as businesses have tried to evolve into modern adoptors of "digitalness". They started doing a bit of social media and got people to help set things up. this may have been a friend or even a sibling or child, then they had a really beautiful website built with bells and whistles (Plugins).

Before they know it they have lost logins, so they have opened another account and tied some accounts to others in a hope to bring it all in together. Now they forget which is the current account and can not access half of the platforms for their business. There are tools, dashboards and all these analytical things so you can measure monitor and check its working and they don't connect either! Truth is over half the companies we meet are in this phase digital meltdown, nothing is connected to anything and its just all too time consuming.

What are the Symptoms

Because the approach is wrong its not working and people are not finding the business for what it wants to be known for. To entice customers they spend more on advertising and to create enticing offers they reduce prices. Now the margins are falling. Its a trap. The next step is to realise its not working and blame the website (or the marketing person). The number of people we meet that think they need a new site is phenomenal. So more cash gets tipped in to the new site to sell the service or product at a low price and makes no margin.

What is the fix?

Well the answer is to get the right people finding your business for the service and products it delivers. People seeking the service wanting you, and guess what people that think the price is ok, no continuous discounting, offered and promotions. How do they find you ? They search for what you do, on the internet. They search more and more specifically. Anyone that has trained with me will know the Cheap Shed analogy.

Related: How Internet Behemoths Are Keeping Millennials Poor

The Cheap Shed Analogy

A customer is looking for a shed and googles "sheds" gets a lot of national chains and big sellers. Realises he wants a cheap shed so types "cheap shed" and gets all the low cost deals. Not trusting these unknown brands paying to be at the top of the page in google with an AdWord he clicks one and bounces off the cheap looking website instantly.

He doesn't want a cheap shed he wants a good price shed from a trusted supplier. He tries again. "Best value shed" and he wants to get it locally so adds " best value shed near me" He sees a "blog 5 of the best value sheds in his hometown" he clicks to the website reads about a quarter of the blog on the website. However its enough once there he can look at all sorts of shed which are all good value propositions. He can see pictures of them understand the logistics and see some reviews about happy people delighted with their value shed.

From a sellers prospective its different if what you want to do is sell cheap sheds from a poor website with lots of money on an adword that can work. It will bring you clients looking for a really cheap deal. In this case however you will only really ever be selling cheap sheds. You will not attract those wanting a good product with value. Your margins stay low and you will be paying to rent that space at the top of google.

So what are the things that will get you the value customers?

Great content answering the questions the customer is asking found easily in a search.

Well optimised content not just a sales brochure

Easy to navigate website - easy on a phone/ tablet too

Images and videos to explain the product (we are the lazy generation)

Selling a solution to a problem not a product on price.

Channeling traffic through a well defined sales funnel from all your media and sales processes.

A remarking strategy that is not too aggressive but a subliminal reminder.

Being present in all media channels - e.g. I might google value sheds or I may use #goodvaluesheds on social media.

Understanding if its a local or online product and what the differences are in the SEO strategy.

Understanding if you actually need a website or an commerce platform for your business. Which will be the best to funnel the sales or give the information to gain business.

What to do if you are in Digital Meltdown

The first thing is work out the disconnect - don't go for the easy target - your poor website. Its only doing what you have set it up to do. websites are a bit like pets or kids you need to help them grow and nurture them. Our first step is always to run a health check on all the platforms and the website. Looking where the breaks are. It is really only then you can start to make the fixes.

Guardian Angels Marketing are a marketing agency that are committed to help small to medium businesses in Digital Meltdown. We offer a website health check for just £75 and the report will tell you what needs to be done, we can help fix it or you can fix it yourself.

My own work spelling errors etc are all mine too - so you know I have written it !