The 4 Steps to A Successful Digital Transformation

We are in the midst of a major shift in how brands operate. With brick-and-mortar stores not allowed to let customers in, as a result of COVID-19, businesses were forced to either embrace the digital transformation or go dark. 

This movement to digital has set the precedent for how customers expect to interact with brands going forward. With multiple touchpoints along the customer journey, both digital and physical, customers are becoming accustomed to consistent, cross-channel marketing approaches.

As technology becomes more prevalent in the daily lives of customers—and marketers—brands need to adapt a digital-first mindset to undergo a full blown digital transformation. The good news: you’re not in this alone.

We’ve put together a guide that highlights the importance of a digital-first mindset and the four phases of digital transformation to help your brand understand what a digital transformation journey may look like and how you can get started.

To give you a glimpse of what you’ll find in the guide. Here’s a sneak peek of one section from inside. 

The Importance of a Digital-First Mindset

According to Top Down Systems, a digital-first mindset is: 

A philosophy of content creation that calls for optimizing the design of communications for delivery via responsive digital channels (i.e., web, mobile, etc.) over the page-oriented print channel; it does not preclude print as a potential delivery channel.

It may sound obvious, but it wasn’t always this way—especially when media companies were struggling to transition from print to online. And the trend has only continued a decade later, with people spending more than 6.5 hours a day online. There’s no denying it any longer: a huge opportunity—or need, depending on the industry—exists for companies to distribute their products and services via digital means.

But based on what we’ve seen helping brands move from email-only marketing to cross-channel customer experiences, a massive point of contention in organizations is finding a piece of technology that marketers can use to drive high conversion rates without burdening their engineering teams. 

Despite the numerous benefits of upgrading digital platforms, it can often be difficult to convince decision makers to support the change and encourage individual contributors to modify their processes and martech stack. Change can be hard. 

So not only is it important to get your organization on board with a digital-first mindset, it’s also crucial to understand the four phases of what a digital transformation can look like for your brand.

Building a Foundation for Digital Transformation Success

While change isn’t always easy, it’s vital that brands begin to weave digital channels into their marketing strategies. The end goal, of course, is to improve the customer experience. Physical channels add a unique one-to-one experience for both salespeople and customers but digital channels can as well. 

These channels aren’t mutually exclusive, however. A digital-first mindset does not mean sunsetting any physical locations or channels. Digital transformation means adding digital channels into the marketing mix to ensure customers are getting the best experience when interacting with your brand. Aim to build digital connections in a human world.

To learn more about the four phases of digital transformation, download the full guide.