When digitally transforming businesses, clients ask us about online presence.  What should they say, how should it look, etc.  While moving your business online may seem foreign, it is quite similar to how you look, feel, and talk today.  The advantage is those small and medium-size companies are made of humans.  Humans are social creatures, and they have conversations, they sound human.  The human voice is open, natural, and uncontrived. 

Whether it is online or in the physical world, humans are the same.  Your business already has a voice, an image, and a following.  Digitally transforming it brings more opportunities to converse with more people. 

The digital world enables conversations among human beings in ways that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.  Modern marketing in a digital world cannot be hollow, devoid of character, or flat.  Your digital presence should be genuine, human, empathetic, welcoming, and engaging.

People now understand that online, they can get far better information and support from one another than from hollow sounding, disconnected, and one-way advertising from big corporations.  You can’t imitate the human connection; it must be genuine.  Engaging directly with your clients is one of the most significant advantages of digitally transforming your business.

Corporations that speak in the language of a pitch, presentations, one-way ads, and talking heads are no longer speaking to anyone.  Humans want to have conversations with other humans.  It is one reason your physical world business has been successful. 

You can’t merely position yourself. You need to take a position.  And just like your physical business, that position should relate to something relevant to you and your customers. By remaining digitally distant, uninviting, or arrogant, corporations build walls that keep their clients at bay—something you want to avoid when digitally transforming your business. 

Be Present

Speaking in a genuine voice in a digital world is not something that can be learned or imitated.  You must share the concerns of, and belong to your community. If you are not present, you become invisible.  Again, you are with them today in a physical world.  Taking yourself digital  can be natural and inspiring when using the right partners and tools to do so. 

Engage

Millions of people online today perceive corporations as little more than inhuman legal entities. They want access to corporate information, its best thought leadership, and genuine knowledge.  People simply ignore a remote controlled brochure, website, or information from a faceless entity.  People are immune to this in an online world. Your clients are searching for you, the real genuine you.  They want to talk to you when they want to. The great news is your greatest asset in a digital transformation is yourself. 

In the digital world, your clients want to talk to you.  They want you to tell them something. Something interesting for a change.  And likewise, they have ideas for you; new tools, products, and services they need.  Products and services they would gladly pay for if you are there to listen and respond. 

Delight

The unfortunate situation is that we have also become digitally impatient.  If you are not present, responding, and engaging, your clients have an entire world of others they can talk with who will engage and respond.  You know this from the physical world today.  The opportunities online are far greater because travel to these businesses is eliminated.   

An advantage of digital transformation is the ability to accelerate change in your business in response to the needs of your clients.  Digitally, you can achieve this even faster than you can in the physical world, and your customers will appreciate it.  They are changing too, daily in fact.  It is a journey you can take together.

Since you started your physical business, its success has been built on humans delighting other humans.  Digitally transforming this, especially for a small to medium business, is not difficult, it’s just a continuation of you.

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