I often ask the question of companies are they digitally transforming? They usually reply, they are. Then I ask, which departments have transformed. The answer usually is a little vague.
Digital is not an IT project.
It is not a Marketing stack or a Sales Stack or cloud or IOT or Blockchain or an App.
Digital is not doing what you have always done and then treating digital the same. Advertising, email marketing and cold calling is all about interrupt and then you pitch. Just like you did in the 1980s and the 1990s.
Us modern buyers hate it.
So please don't treat social the same as you did treat sales and marketing in the 1990s!
If you interrupt me on social and pitch, for example sending me inmails. This is 1980s Marketing but in a 2019 context. This is not "digital marketing" or "social selling" it is cold calling on a social network.
What got you here, won't get you there!
We meet so many companies where they tell us "social" and "digital" does not work. We ask them why and then they describe how they use digital technology to do 1980 marketing.
Here's an example.
"What we do is take corporate content and then inmail people with it".
So that is content all about a companies products and services. Sorry folks, but we are not interested. I know your product is amazing, but we just don't care. I know your product pays your mortgage, but nobody else cares, we have our own worries in life.
You then inmail it to me. So you interrupt me with something I don't care about.
Last time I heard this I asked the VP in the room. When you get an inmail what do you do, he said "delete it". Exactly I said. I then asked the Marketing Manager and she said "delete it". Exactly! So why do you think the people you are trying to contact are any different? Of course they are not.
The VP and the Marketing Manager looked at each other and you could hear the penny drop.
The only way that your people will become change makers with digital. The only way your people will create you more efficient and effective processes, is by you training them. Training them on the importance of digital and by giving them permission to be digital.
My suggestion is you use outside organisations, but there again I am biased. :)
Let's not forget the Richard Branson discussion:
Finance Director: What happens if we train our people and they leave?
Richard Branson: What happens if we don't train them and they stay.
The digital champions are not investing in tech to drive digital. They are investing in their people and getting them to drive the change in process.
Digital will come from the skills your people have and the new processes you implement.
If you want to understand what sets digital champions apart from digital laggards, take a look at their investment priorities. Champions invest aggressively in digital efforts, devoting a sizable proportion of funds to building a world-class technology/IT function. They dedicate a significant percentage of their workforce to digital projects—and have ambitious plans to expand their digital talent base and upskill their existing workforce. And they invest in pushing digital efforts to scale, with what is now an increasing focus on scaling up in data and AI.
