So you might have heard this time about a thousand times since covid shook the foundations of our lives, but consumerism is changing now and it will never go back to the way it was pre-covid from a business perspective. This quote from Bill Gates has never been more relevant than it is now;

“If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.”

Bill Gates

Even if the majority of your business is conducted offline, you need to have some sort of online presence whether its for brand recognition, customer interaction, as an informational database or to sell your products/services directly. Consumerism is changing and there’s no way around it, and there never will be for the rest of our lifetime. The time for consideration is over and the time for action is upon us. 59% of the population of the world are active online, thats close to 5 billion people – get amongst it!

A great quote from Bill O’Riley: “F*** it, we’ll do it live!” I read into this like the time is now, you need to just get out there and do it! Don’t wait around for your perfect opportunity, do it live!

Now you might be thinking, it won’t work for my business…

You might think your business is too small or your business is doing just fine offline. The fact is if you don’t present your brand online, as soon as possible, there will come a time when you will suffer for it. Now it’s not enough to just slap up a website and let it stagnate, this is almost as ineffective as doing nothing at all. Customers need stimulation, they need to see your brand alive, a living organism adding value to the industry. The days of “Build it and they will come” are dead by the way, if that’s your plan, you need to rethink your plan.

Is your business ready for the rise of Gen Z? Here’s a fantastic piece by Digital Marketing Institute which details what you need to do for long-term success when selling/marketing to Gez Z.

So, you have a business, you’re online and pumping out content, adding value to your industry, that’s awesome! You’re on the right track. Now what? Rinse and repeat? Absolutely, but you also need to take a look around, what are your competitors doing? What makes your business more appealing to your customers? Is there something more you can offer than posting to social media every five minutes and posting a blog every couple of days? The answer is a resounding f@#% yes.

How? That depends.

What does your business do? Do you repair broken glass? Why not build a web calculator that your customers can use from their phones to estimate the cost of repairs? That’ll save them time right, hide the results behind an email or phone capture field, now you’re building your customer base without lifting a finger. Are you a digital agency selling marketing services? How about a calculator that estimates a projects timeline and produces a cost estimation? A florist? Bouquet calculator. A clothing retailer? An outfit customiser. A spiritual guide? An astrology calculator. Get creative with your ideas, you might stumble upon some revolutionary.

What would be best for my business?

I don’t know exactly what would work for your business, but I could go on for hours – everything and anything can be a calculator by the way. Im serious. You might use a calculator on a website one day and you don’t even know it. I’m not saying if you’re a business looking to go online, build a calculator, i’m saying innovate your industry to stand out from the sea of competition that is online these days. A calculator might just be a killer idea for your business, who knows?