Taking a business online is a meticulous process of understanding the industry and digital space you are entering, followed by gathering of the digital assets of your business, then optimizing them to amplify your presence, researching trends, creating awareness by finding the right audiences and crafting a conversion strategy aligned to your business goals which finally rolls up into a recursive process of customer lifecycle management. Once all the pieces of your digital puzzle are collected and put into place, test it with a soft launch and UAT. Once UAT is successful, it is time to launch your business online. But wait, what are these digital assets required by a business to be successful in the digital world and how do I know where all these pieces fit in?
Pro Tip: Don’t rush into the process.
It is similar to putting dominos into place, connecting them to form a meaningful larger picture. One wrongly placed or missing domino (asset) can lead to the collapse of the whole system.
Great digital presence is curated over time. It starts with building your digital assets – website, mobile app, social media pages, listings and more…
Once your digital presence is set up, test it – ask your friends and family to interact with the assets and follow you on social media. Get their feedback on how to improve further, especially on content and graphics. This will help you to set things straight before revealing yourselves to the world.
You can divide your digital assets checklist into two parts:
Owned
Claimed
Owned assets are the ones you develop inhouse or get developed and integrated – Website, Blog, Mobile App, PWA, AMP pages, Forms/Calendars, Ordering/Booking engines, Ecommerce engines, Inventory Management or Logistics platforms (as required)
Claimed assets are usually social media handles, channels and listings –
Social Media Handles – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest & more
Listings – Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp (Restaurants), TripAdvisor (Travel) & more
Marketplaces – Amazon, Flipkart, Indiamart, Industrybuying (as required)
Channels – Youtube, Vimeo, Whatsapp, Podcasts, Blogs
Google Search Console, Merchant Center (e-commerce) & Knowledge Graph Panel
Paid Marketing Channel Accounts – Google Ads, Quora, Taboola, DV360 & more…
Ad-ons: Google Analytics account, Google Search Console, & Google Tag Manager
Setting up Digital Assets of Your Business:
During the development phase of your owned assets, ensure that all assets are linked to each other. Processes are automated on ordering & ecommerce engines. Data is passed to analytics platforms and attribution is set up.
Post development phase, thoroughly QA the assets, linkages, processes, automations, content & data integrity of all assets.
Once you have collected all the relevant digital assets of your business, it’s time for UAT (User Acceptance Test). This is the part where your near and dear can help you with feedback on all your digital assets and suggest improvements. Always remember, the more feedback you get in initial stages, the easier it is to implement it.
Make sure you have all relevant formalities completed on Marketplaces. It is highly suggested to set up API syncs between your platforms and marketplaces if you are into online selling or e-commerce.
Now with all the owned and claimed assets in place, you are ready to take your business online.
This is only the first step and here are the next few:
You now have to create awareness about your brand, products and services
Keep a check on all data streams with regular audits
Keep an eye on user experience and customer journey. Keep listening to your customers via all channels
Price yourselves competitively
Keep optimizing your website, content, SEO and paid marketing efforts
Everyone can build a basic digital presence of their business and it is advisable to do it yourself in the beginning. As your business grows, you will need more focused attention on other aspects of your business and you will also need domain experts to handle digital aspects. These resources will include web developers, technology architects, social media managers, content writers, graphics designers, video editors and so on.
A lot of times, you will require these resources part time only and that is where marketing and technology agencies come into play. You can save money by hiring digital agencies with experts in each domain and function to take care of these tasks while you focus on other aspects of your business.
I help businesses build digital presence. With our comprehensive checklists and detailed processes, we are able to quickly and flawlessly take a business online.
Over years, I have built the digital presence of several businesses, growing them month over month to reach their true potential. Our team ensures that all aspects of the digital presence of your businesses are covered. I have curated best practices and guidelines for setting up and optimizing digital assets of businesses in various industries including B2B SAAS, Fintech, Restaurants (F&B), Hospitality, Healthcare, Education and more.
Feel free to reach me on pj@pragunjain.com for all the digital requirements of your business.