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The advantages of digital communication
Digital communication: 8 benefits for your business 994 537 Sebastian Loos

Digital communication: 8 benefits for your business

In this article:

  1. Digital media and its impact on corporate communications
  2. What is digital communication?
  3. Examples
  4. These are the advantages
  5. It all depends on the targeted use!

 

The advantages of digital communication

Digital media and their influence on corporate communications

Digital media are changing our communication behavior. We can be reached from anywhere and are in touch with people from all over the world. And where two decades ago we had to pick up the phone, nowadays friends simply send a quick message via WhatsApp. Maximum flexibility says hi. 

Companies have also recognized these advantages and are using digitization to improve their customer communications. Since the start of the Covid pandemic alone, almost 80% of all companies surveyed have expanded their digital communication channels. Whether digital signage, social media or blog, both the addressing of target groups and internal exchanges will primarily take place digitally in 2023. 

The growing possibilities in digital communication promise versatile applications. Not only does your marketing benefit from it, but you can also keep appointments regardless of location and enable your team to organize projects collaboratively and centrally. 

 

What is digital communication?

Digital communication describes the exchange of information through the use of modern technologies. In specialist circles, the term is understood as an independent type of communication, while in the corporate context it refers to the exchange between medium and end customer or the exchange between employees. 

In the context of marketing, many in particular mention digital communication, which in this context describes all measures to improve customer interaction. Content marketing and gamification are just two of many well-known methods. 

The exchange does not necessarily take place between two people, but can also take place between the customer and the software/application. This is the case with digital signage, for example.

 

Examples of digital communication

Thanks to digital communication, companies benefit from a variety of ways to interact with their customers and employees. Emails, MS Office and also social media have been part of the basic repertoire for many years. But other applications, such as meeting and project management tools, have also become part of everyday business life.

Concrete examples of digital communication in the company:

  • Social media channels (e.g., Facebook and TikTok).
  • Digital signage
  • Content marketing (e.g. blogs or podcasts)
  • Design tools (e.g. Canva)
  • Entries in company and web directories
  • Rating portals
  • Project management tools (e.g. Asana)
  • Chatbots
  • WhatsApp
  • Meeting tools (e.g. Meet or Zoom)
  • Apps
  • Cloud-based solutions (e.g. Google Drive)

 

Digital communication: Advantages at a glance

Digital progress promises your company some advantages in communication. These relate not only to automation or marketing but also to availability and process optimization. This results in scalable and also sustainable work processes. 

In the following, we will go into more detail about the advantages and how your business can benefit from them. Note that the advantages apply equally to a variety of measures/applications but we usually only give one or two examples to illustrate.

 

Brand building

Thanks to social media, it has never been easier to reach a national or even international target group. On platforms like LinkedIn, many German companies post in English, because they can reach a broad target audience. So you have the opportunity to decisively expand the radius of your appeal. 

 

Flexibility

Digital communication allows for flexible adjustments in your marketing activities. Content created with digital signage can be adapted in real time and access to other applications such as social media or design tools like Canva is also possible regardless of location. 

But it’s not just in marketing that there are advantages in terms of flexibility, but also in communication via Zoom, for example. Meetings no longer take place in offices but can be conducted from home.

 

Availability

With the help of chatbots, companies communicate with their customers 24 hours a day. And thanks to applications such as WhatsApp, they can be reached for a longer time than by phone at the company.

In terms of availability, there are also advantages in terms of employee communication, because you can take part in a Zoom meeting even when you’re on the move using your smartphone.

 

Process optimization and automation

Digital communication measures collect data sets that are relevant for companies. Monitoring enables precise evaluation of the collected data in order to optimize processes in the long term. This also opens up opportunities in process automation.

 

Digital Signage promises you all the benefits we have mentioned in this article! You can expect a modern and intuitive way of marketing like you have never seen before. >> Read more!

 

Increasing sales

Digital communication promotes understanding of individual customer needs. Be it through surveys, data analysis or ratings. This enables you to address target groups more precisely and respond to individual wishes. And that in turn results in increased sales.

Insights from collected data records also support analog sales. Improved customer understanding optimizes the approaches of your sales staff, because they can also respond better to different needs.

 

Customer feedback

Rating portals and reference areas on websites give customers the chance to share their experiences with your company. This promises an open dialog and you recognize your potential for improvement. 

This results in a nice synergy effect: rating portals give you a better overview of your customers’ wishes and you can then initiate optimization measures. Your customers feel that they are being taken seriously and will commit themselves to your company in the long term. At the same time, an improved understanding of your customers promises more efficient work processes and thus also more sales. 

 

Sustainability

Emails and WhatsApp are slowly replacing postal traffic. As a result, less paper ends up in circulation. And digital meetings also help the environment, because they save you the commute, which means less CO2 is emitted. 

 

Easier exchange

Digital communication simplifies the otherwise laborious exchange of documents. The craftsman sends his work report via smartphone and invoices arrive at the customer’s door within seconds via email. Companies save resources and errors in the content of documents can be easily corrected. 

Communication within a company is also much easier. Project management tools such as Asana centralize team collaboration, and thanks to Zoom or Google Meet, appointments can be held from the comfort of one’s own home.

 

Disadvantages only exist to a limited extent

Many may argue that there are also disadvantages to digital communication. After all, they say, it is emotionless, personal contact is lacking, technical difficulties prevent smooth processes, and not every application is secure. However, it should not be overlooked that digital transformation is addressing these challenges and increasingly mastering them. 

Digital communication has changed in recent years. The exchange with customers is no longer static, nor is it emotionless. Intuitive design options promise a versatile and varied target group approach. Just think of the creative designs that catch your eye every day on Instagram or the possibilities in the area of gamification

Technical difficulties are a rarity. Website hosters meet high quality standards, which practically rules out serious disruptions. 

Possible drawbacks exist, that’s a fact. But digital communication measures undergo a constant optimization process, which is why the disadvantages exist only to a limited extent. Customer communication is becoming more transparent, measures to improve the user experience are gaining the trust of older target audiences and security measures as well as GDPR obligations are safeguarding the implementation of digital communication methods. 

 

Digital communication: it’s all about targeted use!

Digital communication promises your company many advantages. The decisive factor for targeted use is weighing up the measures. A craft business, for example, benefits from digital signage, but a chatbot on the website makes little sense. 

As a first step, determine your individual needs and use digital communication measures in a targeted manner. Every company benefits from meeting tools such as Zoom or digital appointment calendars, but particularly in marketing you have to make sacrifices in order to use your existing budget efficiently.

 

Pictures: © Canva.com

What is a digital blackboard? 462 260 Linda

What is a digital blackboard?

Digital blackboards are the perfect alternative to conventional information terminals.

In this article: 

  1. What are digital blackboards?
  2. Digital black board software: How does it work?
  3. Virtual blackboard: The advantages
  4. Best industries for the digital displays
  5. How much do digital black boards cost?
  6. What’s the difference between digital blackboards and digital signage software?
  7. Conclusion
  8. FAQ

 

Digital Blackboards: An important step towards digitalization

Many people see digital black boards as some kind of terminal to get further information about something. Others associate it with a bulletin board in a kitchen. Both perspectives aren’t wrong, speaking from an analogous point of view. In the following article, FRAMR gives you answers regarding how digital black boards work, their advantages and the costs you should consider.


Digital boards as a flexible source of information

 

What are digital blackboards?

Again, speaking from an analogous point of view it makes sense to say it’s a bulletin board. However, you shouldn’t take it too literally. Digital blackboards are an electronic solution to display video- and picture content (as well as PDFs). The color is significant – the more known whiteboards show content on a white background, the casing or the background of blackboards on the other hand is black.

The contrast in color comes with an advantage for companies. Especially in brighter shopping malls digital displays are almost invisible because of the same accent in color. A black board on the other hand is more recognizable.

The goal with digital displays is to reach more customers and because of the outstanding color contrast, companies even have advantages for their marketing as they gain more attention.

Digital blackboard software: How does it work?

Basic requirement for displaying content is compatible software. Through the connection to a device, software displays content. Reproduction can be configured so that contents can be shown for a specific period and then be replaced easily.

That creates flexibility in the content creation and the possibility to reach out to the target group. The connection to a cloud makes the device work without a permanent internet connection (only required during the data transport).

Virtual blackboard: The advantages

Modern technology meets stunning design to display digital content. Digital blackboards aren’t just a pragmatic solution to provide information (although that’s one way to use it), because their design makes them a real eye-catcher.

Speaking from a marketing related point of view, communication with customers gives companies a big advantage. Virtual blackboards serve as a source of information, inspire for an exciting shopping session and provide important safety notices. Thanks to this diversity, companies benefit and market their products as well as their services effectively.

Digital blackboard advantages overview:

  • Vandalism prevention
  • Remote access
  • Cloud based solution to display content
  • Made for continuous use
  • Design by own preferences

Content is short lived because the own target group wishes for variety and the growing competition on the market requires companies to regularly come up with new ideas. Conventional banners reach many people but design and printing takes long and is expensive. Digital black boards come with many advantages in that case because all you need to do is to create content and then display it on the board. Besides that, companies don’t produce personnel costs because they don’t need staff to exchange advertising banners.

Best industries for the digital displays

In the age of digitalization all industries benefit from mobility solutions. The use of blackboards is not limited to display advertising or information because every company is free to show the content they want.

Shopping malls show exciting advertisements and the administration of a company displays industry news. Restaurants even have a double advantage because a digital menu looks good and is informative.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter which industry your business belongs to. More importantly, businesses need to know their target group and what they want. The number one question companies should ask themselves is: What are the interests of my target group and how do I reach them with my content strategy?


Know your target group to make your advertising more effective

 

How much do digital black boards cost?

Virtual blackboards (display only) start at 1.000 €. But even more important than a display is a high quality and compatible software to display content. Companies make the best choice by buying software that includes the desired use.

FRAMR offers attractive solutions with all important features and modules for a monthly fee. Our products promise maximum performance, high flexibility and customer satisfaction. We adjust to the needs of customers and therefore only offer products that promise high quality and high technological standards.

Feel free to contact us to get to know our products better.

Overview to our products: https://framr.tv/en/products/

What is the difference between digital blackboards and digital signage software?

Digital signage solutions are digital-visualized screens that display pictures and videos in a compact form. Therefore, digital signage software is the general term for all screens that show content. What makes digital blackboards special is their color – as already mentioned, pictures or videos are either displayed on a black casing or a black background.

-> Article: Digital Signage Software: The future of communication?

 

Conclusion: A must have for companies

Digital blackboards aren’t only beneficial for shopping malls. Even smaller businesses such as doctor offices, property managements or restaurants take advantage. That underlines the biggest benefit of digital marketing methods: No matter the industry or company size, businesses reach customers with digital signage solutions. If you know your target group and their interests, then you will use digital boards successfully.

FAQ

How does a digital black board work?

A screen is connected to software or a player to show pictures or videos. Content-collection happens in the background through software and the digital display shows the content.

Digital blackboard apps: Which ones are to recommend?

FRAMR offers packages with all kinds of integrations for digital signage solutions. The unlimited number of content is one of many advantages which improve the overall performance of your digital displays.

Picture © Canva

7 Best Practices for B2B Lead Generation in 2023 765 536 Lukas Aumair

7 Best Practices for B2B Lead Generation in 2023

The best methods for B2B lead generation! ✔ 7 tips ✔ Start successfully in 2023

In this article

  1. What is B2B lead generation?
  2. Which channels can be used to generate leads?
  3. 7 proven methods for B2B lead generation
  4. These strategic questions need to be addressed 
  5. Don’t rely too much on freebies
  6. Make inactive leads curious again 
  7. Conclusion
  8. FAQ

 

Gone are the days of annoying cold calls, because most companies rely on strategies from inbound marketing. According to statistics, it is now even more than 90 percent. And the goal is the same for all companies, namely to generate leads. Hardly anyone talks about more sales or new customers in the first step of their marketing strategy, but leads. They are the fine line between “My target group doesn’t want to have anything to do with me” and “I’ll win over customers who will stay loyal to me for 25 years.” And for two reasons, many businesses fail to walk this fine line.

One reason is a lack of strategy. Many companies have a rough idea of their lead channels, but are unable to use them effectively due to a lack of planning. This is why approaches to convert leads into customers fail in the end.

The second reason is a lack of know-how in using available channels for lead generation. With the constant changes in content or social media marketing, some businesses find it difficult to reach their target audience. And even when they do win leads, they don’t know how to retain them.

In this article, we address both of these challenges. By doing so, you’ll set the stage for successful B2B lead generation. We concretize best practices and go into strategic aspects that promise more leads in 2023.

 

The most important facts in a nutshell

  • Leads are prospects who share their contact information with companies.
  • For lead generation, consider strategic questions about your target audience, your available budget, and long-term prospects for success.
  • Set realistic expectations for lead generation.
  • Content marketing promises the most leads in the long run.

 

What is B2B lead generation?

A lead is a qualified contact who is interested in a company’s services or products. In contrast to a customer, a lead has not made a purchase or contacted the company yet.

The lead can be in different phases. For example, they may be on the verge of making a purchase, but they may also be interacting with a business out of pure curiosity.

The term “lead” often divides opinions. Not because of the definition, but because of the meaning of a lead. Some see leads as nothing more than prospects. For others, they are a measure of success that promises a lot of sales. Experts have therefore created the terms “cold leads” and “hot leads” to qualitatively classify and distinguish between prospects.

When making this distinction, it is also important to consider how sustainable a lead is. After all, some prospects quickly become customers, but they only buy from a company once. On the other hand, some prospects remain in the lead phase for a longer period of time, but then develop into long-term customers.

So much for the definition. In the next step, we’ll go more into detail about B2B lead generation channels and methods to help your company generate more qualified prospects.

 

Which channels can be used to generate leads?

Leads can be generated anywhere your target audience is located. Your options are not only limited to digital methods, because potential customers are also waiting for you in the outdoors, for example. The following channels come into question for lead generation:

 

-> Trade shows & events: Since 2022, outdoor events are again an interesting way to generate more leads.

-> Content Marketing: The undisputed number 1 in B2B lead generation. This includes blogs, videos and podcasts.

-> Social Media: In the B2B sector, LinkedIn is proving to be a promising channel to strengthen one’s brand and generate leads.

-> SEO: Search engine optimization is only partly a part of content marketing. However, it is a separate, independent area for expanding entrepreneurial reach.

-> Newsletter sign-up forms: Discounts and exclusive offers are still helpful lures for B2B lead generation in 2023.

-> SEA: There are commercial intentions behind many Google searches. And paid ads specifically address this demand. Google Ads is therefore one of the best lead engines in digital marketing.

-> Freebies: E-books, videos and whitepapers belong to the most popular methods among free downloads.

-> Print: Print media lost relevance in the last few years, but depending on the target group, they still support lead generation.

Don’t forget to provide your target audience with a “point of contact”. Your channels should ideally lead to a website where prospects can leave their contact information or contact you directly.

 

7 proven methods for B2B lead generation

The following methods complement the channels mentioned in the last point. Every company knows the advantages of a blog or a whitepaper, but often fails to implement them correctly or to build a sustainable lead strategy. Our following tips will help you to use the available channels in a target-oriented way.

 

The seven methods at a glance:

  • Don’t just use newsletters as a decoy
  • Prioritize the user experience
  • Don’t forget the customer journey
  • Place call-to-actions in the right places
  • The strengths of versatility
  • Interact with your target group
  • The overall impression must be right

 

Don’t just use newsletters as a decoy

The paths from leads to customers are often relatively short, because many prospects make impulse purchases. Even in the B2B sector. The reason for this are discounts that companies offer in return for newsletter sign-ups. You probably know this when you visit an online store and after a few seconds the newsletter registration form with discount code appears.

This method is great for quick sales, but the goal is to build up customers in the long run. A newsletter is more than a tool to give discounts. It’s a way to build long-term loyalty with your target audience.

Let’s say you’re the owner of an online workwear store. Your newsletter marketing options are many in this area, ranging from safety tips to information about textile properties. So why would you only use your newsletter to offer a one-time discount?

Of course, you should continue to offer discounts to attract buyers. But first and foremost, a newsletter should add content value and build trust with your target audience. The newsletter is not an entertaining marketing tool, but your digital corporate magazine.

 

Prioritize the user experience

People buy where they feel comfortable. And the feel-good factor is lost if a new pop-up window opens on your website every three seconds. Long loading times on your website or too much advertising are just as annoying. But optimizing the user experience doesn’t just mean eliminating disruptive factors.

The competition is getting bigger and your target group knows that they are only a few clicks away from the products or services of your competitors. That makes it even more important to clearly communicate USPs and benefits from working with you. You can produce the best content or even be a luminary in your field – but it has no meaning for B2B lead generation if the communicative approaches are not right. Set a clear tone, communicate key messages, and make it clear what you offer.

 

The last point is particularly important. Some websites advertise with promises such as “More sales with XY” or “Increase your brand awareness with XY”. In doing so, they ignore the questions that are actually important for cooperation. Among them the following:

  • What are our focal points?
  • What additional services do we offer?
  • What do our services cost?
  • What are our references?
  • What makes us stand out from our competitors?

 

Advertise not only with objective advantages, but with personal strengths and UPSs. Exceptions are B2B services in need of explanation, where potential customers have not yet recognized their benefits. But in most cases your target group has a clear search intention and knows what objective advantages they get from your product or service.

 

Don’t forget the customer journey

Your target group has several touchpoints before taking action. Especially in B2B, impulse buys or quick contacts are rare. Rule of thumb: The more complex the product or service, the more information your target audience wants.

You can’t expect leads if your company doesn’t provide quality content. Write blog articles, publish social media posts or produce videos. Use these mediums to answer questions about your offering. Your target audience has objections and needs information before making a decision. 

Ask yourself: Would you subscribe to a newsletter or interact with a company more often in the future if it didn’t offer you value? Or if you didn’t even know what the company offers? Probably not.

 

-> Content marketing doesn’t just have the function of promoting your offer or providing information. You also build a trust base with your target group with regular postings/uploads. 

 

Often, lead generation also fails because of your content prioritization. The best example is our company, FRAMR.

Digital signage are B2B products that require explanation. Therefore, we can’t expect leads if we don’t go into more detail about the strengths of digital signage on subpages/blog articles or communicate information about application options and pricing. That’s why we created relevant content first and only then focused on guides on other topics (e.g. marketing).

 

Take-away: The more expensive and complex the product, the more touch points your target group has. A bottle of wine for 8 euro is bought because of the beautiful label. But a high-priced service is only claimed by interested parties who have insights into the work processes and in-depth product information.

 

Place call-to-actions in the right places

Successful lead generation is based on decisively motivating one’s target group. Not only through facts and information, but also through prompts. The call-to-action should not be missing from any website, newsletter or social media post description. But there are two important points to consider when it comes to the CTA.

First, the CTA must not appear anywhere in the text. Make sure to place the calls to action cleverly. This can be in the context of a challenge, for example, or after you appeal to possible “trigger points” in a blog article.

Example: You are a marketing service provider and write a blog article about seven mistakes in B2B lead generation. In this context, it is a good idea to place a CTA after the seventh mistake, worded as follows: “Mistake No. 8: You are not yet using the strengths of a professional service provider to increase your success rates”. Alternatively, you can describe a complex problem in the text and offer yourself as a helping hand.

In this context, it is also important, and this brings me to the second point, to place the CTAs strategically. Don’t just think of the CTA as a call to action to generate leads, but also consider the customer journey here. CTAs can also be references to use cases or informative articles. The request to contact or buy is the last step in the customer journey. Before that, it’s about answering questions from your target audience.

 

The strengths of versatility

The more content channels you play on, the better you communicate with your target audience. Of course, content marketing requires a lot of resources and the production effort should not be underestimated. But the investment is worth it, because the more reach your company generates, the more leads will stick. Consider all your options and think “outside the box” too. There are not only blogs, videos or podcasts, but also apps or rather “unconventional” social media platforms like Reddit.

 

Interact with your target group

Between reach building and lead generation, there is one more intermediate step which is the engagement of your target audience. Don’t just use the available marketing channels for advertising messages, but ask questions and invite interaction.

Everyone likes to be the center of attention and wants to present their opinion, accordingly people comment or at least mentally participate in your posts. Sure, the mental interaction has no effect on your KPIs, but your company will still be remembered. After all, the point is to set impulses.

Have the courage to post a clear statement on LinkedIn. Opinion leaders are not afraid to communicate something more daring. Your interaction rate will increase and more people will follow you.

B2B lead generation is not something static based solely on strategic approaches. Emotions and strong opinions also reach people. Sometimes even better than the pragmatic way.

 

The overall impression must be right

Lead generation is part of a holistic marketing strategy. Also, focus on building your brand awareness, strengthen your corporate positioning, take care of search engine optimization and also consider design elements on your website. Successful lead generation is based on a holistic approach.

 

These strategic issues need to be addressed

In addition to implementation, it’s also important to consider strategic components. And that doesn’t mean just thinking about content channels or user experience. Rather, companies need to clarify strategic questions to set the course for successful lead marketing. Among them are the following:

 

  • What budget do we have available for external service providers?
  • What measures do we take for lead generation?
  • In how much time do we want to generate how many leads?
  • How do we target the leads and convert them into customers?
  • How can we actively involve cold leads in the company’s activities again?
  • What alternative actions can we take in case our strategy does not work?
  • Is it a push or pull campaign?
  • How can we identify and implement our optimization potential for a campaign?
  • How can we automate lead generation processes?

 

To answer these questions concretely, we recommend the SMART method. It is known to most and is considered one of the best goal setting methods. The graphic below details all five steps and how to use them for your strategy.

 

Don’t rely too much on freebies

Whitepapers and e-books are definitely on-target methods for lead generation, but they don’t promise the same growth they did a few years ago. B2B audiences in particular know that freebies are just a means to an end. And not everyone wants to receive your newsletter.

Our recommendation: Don’t use freebies as a lead magnet, but use them to strengthen trust with your target group. Give away the freebie and use it for positioning rather than lead generation. Your target group appreciates it when they get something for free. And that in turn has a positive effect on your business, because those who create trust position themselves more strongly among the competition and arouse curiosity.

In this context, we would also like to talk about expectations. Freebies and other lead generation measures do not promise quick success. Even today, many entrepreneurs think that they have a good foundation for lead generation with two blog articles. Others think that a 100 euros budget for Google Ads will generate many new customers. But these ideas miss the reality. To stay competitive, companies ideally produce weekly content. And if you want to take advantage of the strengths of Google Ads, plan on at least 250 euros in costs per lead.

 

-> Expectations have a major influence on business success. Only those who set realistic standards can develop a target-oriented strategy.

 

Make inactive leads curious again

Generated leads are not the only quantitative factor, but also converting prospects to customers. Leads only have value to your business when they buy products or claim services. Accordingly, consider customer acquisition via existing leads in your strategy.

Also, focus on re-mobilizing inactive leads. Many companies don’t realize the potential of inactive prospects because they are only focused on lead generation. But optimizations in your marketing can bring back many prospects.

Sure, you can’t increase the open rates of your newsletter marketing to more than 50 percent, but that shouldn’t be your goal. Instead, it’s about improving KPIs in general and adding quality to your lead inventory.

Remember that you are in competition with many other companies and have to fight for your leads. Change the language of your newsletters, make campaigns more engaging, and encourage engagement on social media. Interactive measures like gamification also mobilize inactive leads.

 

Conclusion

In 2023, B2B lead generation continues to pose challenges for many companies. The reasons vary, but many fail mainly due to inadequate content prioritization. Answer basic questions about your offer on your website and communicate added value.

So before you optimize your current lead strategy, it’s better to ask yourself what content is still missing or what objections exist to your offer.

 

FAQ

Finally, we answer frequently asked questions on the topic.

 

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is a method of acquiring new customers. Companies provide informative content via blogs and social media to attract attention.

 

What are cold leads?

Cold leads are unqualified leads who don’t know your product or service well or have no in-depth touch points with it yet.

How to successfully expand digital competence in your company 781 537 Lukas Aumair

How to successfully expand digital competence in your company

How do businesses expand digital competence? In this article we will answer questions about digital skills and how to teach your employees properly.

In this article:

  1. Digital competence definition
  2. How important is digital competence?
  3. The 10 most important digital skills
  4. Build up digital competence: Our 5 step guide
  5. Possible hurdles and challenges
  6. Will analogue processes soon be replaced completely? 
  7. Conclusion

 

The most important in a summary

  • Digital competence has become increasingly important in the world of work.
  • Ideally, businesses aim for a step-by-step execution in which all employees are equally involved.
  • Analogue processes become less important but a complete digitization of existing structures will take time.

digital competence in companies

 

Digital competence definition

The term “digital competence” describes all required skills to use computers and other devices as well as to manage and process information through these devices. That includes the successful usage of specific applications to edit, save and publish content.

For a long time digital competence was limited to answer mails and to use office applications such as Word or Excel. But in 2023 the requirements are much higher. Cloud applications, online meetings and digital administration determine the daily life of office employees.

The expansion of digital competence requires a holistic approach which doesn’t only consider the skills of your employees but improving existing business structures too. Keyword: Digitization.

Ideally, businesses aim for the goal to encourage the knowledge of their employees as well as the renewal of existing structures. Without expanding existing structures, digital competence has no value. On the other hand employees don’t know how to use digital ways if they don’t acquire relevant know-how.

 

How important is digital competence?

More and more employees work from home and use the possibilities of digital communication on a daily basis. That is one of many reasons why the expansion of digital competence becomes more relevant. Businesses are responsible to encourage their employees to work more efficiently and to establish smooth working processes.

The right handling of digital applications has not only gained in importance in recent years. Already in a survey of 2018, 71 percent of managers said they want to open up new ways of income by using digital ways. The covid pandemic has further spurred this trend, as online retailers in particular have increased their sales.

 

→ Competence expansion goes hand in hand with the expansion of business structures. Every expansion or adjustment of processes requires adequate know-how.

 

The 10 most important digital skills

Digitization affects almost all company departments and they all require different skills. Therefore, there is no such thing as the “one” skill but rather a variety of many competences. Including the following:

Search engine optimization: Essential to improve the positioning of a website. Without SEO a website will disappear in the “google nirvana” and possible competition advantages remain unused.

Social media marketing: Platforms such as instagram, pinterest or linkedin have developed to profitable sales channels for businesses in the past years. That is even confirmed by statistics: In 2021 businesses earned more than 150 billion euros through social media.

Web hosting: That includes management of a website, blog or online shop. Web hosting is not only about uploading new content or creating new sub pages for a website, it’s also about evaluating statistics to improve performance.

Content production: Social media won’t ensure growth if businesses post low quality content. Possibilities in content marketing reach from picture design to video production.

Digital communication: The usage of applications such as zoom or google meet belongs to the basic knowledge of all employees.

Product management: Develop, manage and market digital products. Hereby many businesses focus on lead generation by offering digital products for free, so called “freebies”.

User experience: It takes 50 milliseconds until website visitors get a first impression. Many businesses ignore user experience because they primarily focus on technical requirements (e. g. SEO). However, the target group should always be the number one priority.

Cloud solutions: Using applications such as google docs makes it easy to share data and saves time as you don’t have to send mails with attachments.

Service and customer management: Data banks and customer relationship management systems simplify the management of customer data and reveal more about the wishes and desires of your target group.

Programming: The king discipline among digital skills. There are thousands of programming languages but the most known ones are PHP, java and python.

8 important digital skills

 

Build up digital competence: Our 5 step guide

To successfully promote the digital skills of your employees, you need to take measures but also consider hurdles and possible challenges. We have prepared the following guide for you so that the implementation is successful. It will help you to encourage the digital competence of your employees in just five steps.

 

Know the needs of your team and your business

The expansion of skills costs resources, especially time and money. That’s why the first step requires a plan and a goal oriented needs assessment.

Let’s come back to the ten digital skills: Almost every business takes advantage when it schools its staff in the area of digital communication or service. However, it doesn’t make sense for businesses to invest in programming knowledge. There are only a few businesses which take advantage of this kind of internal know-how.

 

The following questions will help you to purposely determine your businesses needs:

  • In which industry is our company active?
  • What goals are we pursuing?
  • What is the current level of knowledge of our employees?
  • To what extent do we benefit from the development of digital competence?
  • What knowledge and skills do we source externally?
  • What are the costs associated with expanding digital skills?
  • Are employees we train for specific areas likely to stay with the company longer?

 

Recognize the value of further education

Sure, further education is a purposeful way to expand the competence of employees. But it’s even more important to invest in the right measures. Online platforms such as Udemy can indeed provide valuable knowledge but on such websites are also course suppliers who don’t even understand their own profession properly. Hereby it’s better to consider other sources, even when they are more expensive. Get back to expert knowledge to school your employees as well as possible. Sure, that costs more at the beginning but ensures a purposeful investment in the long term.

Sure, there are also ways to get free access to know how. Platforms such as LinkedIn or YouTube provide a variety of possibilities for further education. Especially in the field of digital communication, cloud usage and user experience it’s not necessary to invest in expensive education measures to school employees properly.

 

Obtain external knowledge

In many cases it’s much cheaper and more sustainable to get back to external knowledge. One example is building and maintaining the business website or programming an app.

Businesses also have the possibility to combine internal and external knowledge. Here, the business website is again a great example: External web designers or programmers promise a purposeful investment because their expertise, including the areas of social media and SEO, requires years of project experience. In turn, employees can manage and maintain the website. But also other tasks such as entering new products in an online shop don’t require external knowledge for execution.

Through a cost-benefit analysis businesses determine the goal oriented usage of their budget and such a consideration is to be used for each investment. But as a rule of thumb we recommend the following: Big projects, for example building the business website, are better given into the hands of external experts. It requires too many resources to properly teach employees how to do it. In turn, it is cost wise more reasonable to, for example, build social media channels with an internal team.

 

Don’t get lost into details

Expert knowledge ensures advantages in competition and more growth possibilities but in many cases the basics are completely enough. Your business doesn’t need professionals who know every single detail function of Google Docs or Google Meet. Knowing the basic requirements is enough. Therefore, don’t only consider which measures are purposeful but also to which extent.

 

Consider current trends

The term “digital transformation” describes the current situation perfectly: We are in a constant transformation which doesn’t allow standstill. That also means that our level of knowledge is constantly sinking. Who would’ve thought that we would use social media channels such as TikTok only a few years ago or that the stationary trade will focus more on e-commerce. But it is exactly these unpredicted changes which bring businesses into the position to find ways to expand their employees’ knowledge. The expansion of digital knowledge is not a one time project but a long term process. Therefore, initiate steps to ensure a long term expansion of knowledge.

 

Possible hurdles and challenges

Executing a plan is not a one-way street. When expanding the digital competence of your company, some hurdles and challenges might be in your way. Including the following:

  • No unified level of knowledge
  • Personnel fluctuation
  • Growing requirements

 

No unified level of knowledge

Further education, as purposeful as it is, comes with a major weakness: The educational content is aimed at several people at once. As a result, some employees have too low or too high a level of knowledge. Beginner oriented training provides no value for advanced employees, on the other hand, programs for the advanced are no good approach to introduce newcomers to a topic.

Solution approach: Don’t only consider training programs for all employees. Instead, help your staff to find suitable mentors to expand strengths individually.

 

Personnel fluctuation

Qualified employees can choose between many employers on the market. This also increasingly reduces operational loyalty. This is a big challenge for companies as they lose internal knowledge when employees leave. As purposeful the investment in the knowledge of employees is, it might not have any long term advantages because other companies appear more attractive.

Solution approach: Don’t forget to prioritize the expansion of a positive working climate. Employees aren’t just human resources, they are human beings who belong to your business. You can’t avoid job changes completely but you can initiate measures to make your business more attractive to employees to make them stay.

 

Growing requirements

Digital progress promises solutions and makes business processes easier. However, requirements regarding operation, administration and editing grow too. That on the other hand requires higher investments in training and the expansion of competences. There is no doubt that the expansion of digital competence is worth it but you shouldn’t underestimate the volume of investment.

Solution approach: The already mentioned cost-benefit-analysis helps to determine goal oriented measures. Know your team’s level of education and focus holistic as well as individual approaches equally.

 

Will analogue processes soon be replaced completely?

Prognosis regarding the future influences of digitization suspect a successive omission of analogue applications. But this process will take time. There are still too many businesses which primarily rely on analogue processes and although many of them pursue the goal of digitization, they often don’t have a concrete plan.

The development of start-ups and new founded businesses suggests that young businesses rely on digital structures from the very beginning. Business size and smaller structures play a role here too. The digital construction of a small business is done less complicated than restructuring analogue processes of bigger businesses with more than 100 employees.

But big businesses digitize their processes successfully too. German statistics actually confirm that especially businesses with more than 250 employees use the strengths of social media. Furthermore, there are barely big businesses without their own website or a digital marketing strategy.

In some areas it is to expect that analogue processes will be replaced completely, especially in marketing. Reasons are measurability and that businesses reach out to a broader audience. But digital marketing strategies require deep knowledge in social media and SEO. Therefore, businesses are responsible to school their employees to not only expand digital structures but to ensure long term results as well.

 

Conclusion: Build on progress

Digitization is advancing and so is the expansion of internal competencies. New trends, especially in marketing, put companies under pressure to pull. Digital change may progress faster than the level of knowledge in the company is growing.

It is necessary to weigh up which trends and competencies offer added value. In addition, it is purposeful to build on existing strengths in order to ensure specialist knowledge. As already mentioned, it therefore makes little sense to get lost unnecessarily in details. On the other hand, it has disadvantages in competition if companies do not offer further training in certain areas.

Data warehouse simply explained: Definition, advantages & tools 994 537 Florian Friedl

Data warehouse simply explained: Definition, advantages & tools

In this article you will find out everything you need to know about data warehouses. All information about definition, advantages, tools and application.

In this article

  1. What is a data warehouse?
  2. Data warehouse: Components and functions
  3. These are the pros and cons
  4. Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake
  5. Which data warehouse tools are available?
  6. This is how businesses use data warehouses
  7. FAQ

 

The most important in a nutshell

  • A data warehouse is suitable for processing and evaluating company-related data
  • Disadvantages include long loading times and that only structured data can be processed
  • Access to data lake is easier but the method is not useful for processing structured data

Data Warehouse

 

What is a data warehouse?

Data warehouses describe a database which was specifically optimized for analysis. The system collects and processes relevant data from a summary of sources (e. g. apps or internal departments) and provides it clearly for businesses. The goal is to get a general overview of all important data.

A data warehouse is some kind of a data management system which supports business intelligence activities as well as it collects and saves huge amounts of data. The collected data passes through a formatting- and import process which compares existing information of the data warehouse. The following saving process ensures a simple data access. From this page, companies can derive important business data and optimize decision processes.

 

Data warehouse: Components and functions

A data warehouse normally consist of the following four elements:

  • ETL solutions to prepare data for analysis
  • Data mining functions
  • Relational database to save and manage data
  • Analysis applications to evaluate data and to visualize it easily

 

This is how a data warehouse works

Data warehouses don’t have a unified architecture. Instead, the specific requirements of a business determine the structure. When the business requirements are defined, conception follows. This includes the logical design (relationship between elements) and the physical design (best method to save and retrieve data).

During the design process of the data warehouse there are some steps to consider, including the frequency of data update, the supported system environment and the relationships between the different data groups.

The following process, the so-called “data warehousing”, normally takes place in four steps:

  • Data acquisition + integration: Data is obtained from sources and loaded into the data warehouse
  • Data storage: Data is held
  • Data evaluation: Full analysis of structured data
  • Data provision: Data is made available for analysis

Description of how a data warehouse works

 

These are the pros and cons

Businesses have specific advantages when using a data warehouse. The probably biggest advantage is that huge amounts of different data can be analyzed and evaluated purposefully. The data is easily accessible, goal oriented and relevant. That improves data quality and the decision making process within a company. Hereby, flexibility doesn’t get lost and businesses can, for instance, reduce data volume for an accurate verification.

Disadvantages include long loading times for complex data and increasing data volume. Furthermore unstructured data (e. g. audio) can’t be processed and live streaming isn’t possible either.

 

→ The access through a data warehouse is principally uncomplicated but associated with high effort.

 

Data warehouse pros and cons

 

Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake

Data Lake represents an alternative to the warehouse variant for data processing. Data lakes are better for unstructured data such as pictures or live streaming because they are easier accessible and therefore don’t require any expert knowledge. Furthermore, businesses have the opportunity to analyze bigger amounts of data on different ways to win new insights regarding relevant company data.

The data warehouse on the other hand has the advantage that structured data builds a good base for analysis which matches with the predefined business goals. The evaluation also happens much faster. And through the precise data evaluating processes, businesses can trust on the results and make decisions fast.

 

Use the strengths of both methods to bypass disadvantages

You don’t have to choose either of the two methods to evaluate data. Both ways complete each other and in combination provide a goal oriented approach to evaluate data. Data lake has more storage capacity and allows the deposit of big data quantities. The processed raw data can be structured and further processed with data warehouse tools.

 

Which data warehouse tools are there?

  • integrate.io
  • Informatica
  • Oracle 12c
  • IBM Infosphere
  • Amazon Redshift
  • Ab Initio Software
  • ParAccel
  • MarkLogic
  • Cloudera

The tools belong to the ten most known and popular tools for processing data. Each of these tools has its individual advantages and was made for different application areas. For businesses it’s worth it to use at least one of these tools to make processes of data evaluation easier.

 

Cloud data warehouse: Which options do businesses have?

Cloud data warehouses become more popular to collect and process data from different sources. Data warehouses require a lot of effort in administration but cloud solutions provide a user friendly application which doesn’t even stress beginners. Furthermore, a cloud data warehouse ensures advantages regarding costs because there is no maintenance needed and businesses don’t have to invest in additional safety software.

But that doesn’t mean that internal solutions are bad. The opposite is the case. On-premise-servers ensure more safety and businesses have more control over data procession. So whether cloud-based solutions offer a better alternative is a matter of individual consideration.

 

This is how businesses use data warehouses

Businesses have many application possibilities with data warehouses. They primarily use it to provide reports to evaluate processes and to optimize them. This also results in more transparency to provide stakeholders a better insight into business processes. Processed data can also be used to determine information regarding commercial transactions.

Other application areas:

  • Determination of resources and costs
  • Getting information about business related KPIs
  • Evaluation of concrete processes
  • Structuring of data

It’s important to define goals and to know the requirements of users to use data warehouses properly. A data warehouse is a centralized collection of earmarked business data. Furthermore, changing data causes a lot of effort whereby inadequate goal planning may waste resources.

 

FAQ

Lastly, we will answer common questions regarding data warehouses.

 

What is an ETL process?

ETL consists of the individual steps Extract (E), Transform (T) and Load (L). The ETL process ensures that data from different sources is integrated into the data warehouse. It’s used primarily in scenarios with large volumes of data (e. g. big data).

 

What are the primary differences between a data warehouse and a data mart?

A data warehouse is normally larger than a terabyte and ranges across multiple areas. Data marts on the other hand are mostly smaller than 100 GB and are limited to a single purpose for one line business.

 

What does a data warehouse cost?

The costs of a data warehouse vary but typically it is between 350 and 400 euros annually. Cloud services and on-premise-solutions hardly differ in terms of costs.

 

What is the ultimate outcome of a data warehouse?

A data warehouse ensures precise insights into business data which makes decision making easier and therefore helps to save costs. Stakeholders get access to visualized and analyzed data which was evaluated based on business related goals.

 

Sources:

https://www.talend.com/de/resources/was-ist-data-warehouse/

https://www.weclapp.com/de/lexikon/data-warehouse/

https://www.bigdata-insider.de/was-ist-ein-data-warehouse-a-606701/

https://www.oracle.com/de/database/what-is-a-data-warehouse/

What is data management? Strategy, tasks and advantages 779 537 Manuel Renje

What is data management? Strategy, tasks and advantages

In this article, we will answer all your questions about data management. Advantages, examples, data security and best practices for your strategy.

In this article:

  1. Definition: What is data management?
  2. Data management tasks
  3. Three steps to successfully execute a data management strategy
  4. These are the challenges
  5. Advantages of data management
  6. Advice for your data management strategy
  7. Conclusion

 

The most important in a summary

  • Data management provides many advantages such as safety, cost savings and efficiency
  • Innovative solutions don’t cause any problems regarding GDPR
  • Many businesses complain about the missing transparency in data management

Data management icons

 

Definition: What is data management?

Data management belongs to the digital competencies and combines all elements of information transfer within a company. The goal is to establish methods and processes to save, to minimize and to archive data.

Many businesses have already established data management to automate working processes and to relieve staff. Furthermore, they pursue the goal to minimize mistakes and to ensure more transparency. Last is especially important because only when businesses consider current data they have the possibility to optimize processes sustainably.

In this article we will talk further about data management and its tasks. We will show you all pros and cons as well as common challenges. Other than that we will answer questions regarding data security and strategy.

 

Tasks of data management

Basically, the main task of data management is to save business related data transparently. Through that, stakeholders get insights into data and structure to make solution oriented decisions. Furthermore, businesses minimize their error rates and use their budget efficiently.

Data management is not limited to essential operation areas. Many might think of financial stuff and bookkeeping when they hear the word data management, but evaluating marketing KPIs and factors to improve quality management is also considered in the process.

Data management is a holistic process which takes over the following tasks:

  • Easy access to business data
  • More transparency
  • Establish automated and efficient working processes
  • Ensure safety and prevent data loss
  • Comply with retention obligation
  • Eliminate old or not needed data

 

Three steps to successfully execute a data management strategy

To successfully execute a data management strategy, businesses need to consider questions regarding data sets, data structure and data saving. The following three steps help you with that.

 

Know and understand your data sets

The first step of a successful data management strategy requires knowledge about data itself. Without understanding data sets of your business you can’t create a goal oriented strategy. A systematic analysis considers three types of data, namely personal-related, “High-value”-business data and public data.

Personal-related data includes all data sets regarding your target group and other natural persons. This includes name, address and email. For these data sets the requirements of GDPR are to consider.

“High-value”-business data is sensitive business data. This includes bookkeeping data, tax documents and financial data. The encryption of this data is highly important.

Public data is accessible for everyone and concerns the area of marketing. Through transparency regarding marketing KPIs (social follows, website visitors etc.) businesses have easy access to relevant data but they have to consider to avoid intellectual property damages.

 

Structure data properly

Data-lake and data-warehouse belong to the most known methods of data saving. The data lake is a large store of raw data whose use has not been determined. In contrast, the data warehouse is a central collection of business data that is tied to a purpose.

Data lakes are easily accessible and do not require specialized knowledge to modify new data. However, data can only be accessed with specialized tools or by experts (e.g., data scientists). Data access via a warehouse is much less complicated, but data modification requires more effort.

Many businesses use both methods to have more advantages. Data warehouse requires less expertise for data retrieval and is more secure. On the other hand, data lake has advantages in terms of flexibility and data storage.

 

Storage environment

The best-known model of data storage is the cloud. This offers a variety of benefits to businesses, including secure data storage, greater flexibility and resilience. As an alternative, many companies are turning to server-based computing in the form of an internal storage environment. Hard to beat in terms of security, but not accessible to third parties without a cloud service.

To form better interfaces, there are so-called “data fabrics” on the market as storage environments. This concept combines the strengths of cloud services with those of internal storage environments and equips them with additional functions to ensure greater security as well as flexibility.

 

These are the challenges

Data management has many advantages (more about this in a moment!) but businesses face many challenges during the process of implementation. Some of them are:

  • Costs
  • Data volume
  • Requirements of stakeholders

 

Costs

Data administration causes costs. Although data management ensures cost savings, it’s still recommended to carry out a cost-benefit-analysis to invest available budget efficiently. Therefore, it’s less about if a data management strategy is financially worth it, but rather to which extent the budget is invested.

 

Data volume

With too much data volume, transparency might get lost. The usage of data management software reduces this risk but the danger of loss still exists. Without a goal oriented organization and planning, there are also no advantages regarding transparency and efficiency because your business might evaluate the wrong data.

 

Requirements of stakeholders

Data management pursues the goal to establish solution oriented as well as efficient working- and business processes. Hereby the requirements of stakeholders are to consider to evaluate collected data purposefully.

The bigger the company, the more complex are probably the requirements of stakeholders. That possibly aggravates goal oriented data management because wishes and expectations of single persons might go too far apart through which no clear goals can be determined based on the evaluated data.

 

This is how businesses master these challenges

Clarify requirements, knowing goals, planning resources purposefully and choosing high quality software. These four steps build the base for goal oriented data management. Especially stakeholder requirements and data saving are no hurdles with a detailed plan. In terms of costs, there are advantages with a data management strategy anyway, but insufficient calculation of personnel deployment may waste financial resources.

→ Simply explained: Planning is everything!

 

This is how you ensure a GDPR compliant realization

In May 2018, the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), creating a legal framework for data processing. This legal framework is based on principles such as fair processing, lawfulness, adequacy of data processing, integrity, purpose limitation and accuracy.

Companies have a responsibility to ensure these principles in their data management. But in practice, this is not so easy. Even one incorrect setting in the website cookie banner may already lead to unlawful data processing. Good compliance prevents such difficulties.

Declarations of consent form the basis for DSGVO-compliant data processing. In addition, companies must comply with their administrative obligations and delete data upon request. A regularly changing legal situation complicates this process, so staff and involved stakeholders must be trained regularly.

 

The advantages of data management

Regardless of the mentioned hurdles and challenges, a goal oriented data management has many advantages for businesses. Some of them are:

  • Transparency
  • Problem identification
  • Eliminating disruptive factors
  • Targeted working processes
  • Process automation
  • Better user experience
  • Recognizing customer needs

 

Transparency

The accumulation of big amounts of data are barely overlooked by businesses which is why they often oversee important sets of data. Through a targeted administration, businesses ensure more transparency and can evaluate as well as organize data purposefully.

 

Problem identification

Transparent processes result in better problem identification. Organizations have a lot of interactions going on, whether between software applications or protocols – and good data management helps identify the problems created by processes.

 

Eliminating disruptive factors

Problem identification ensures an uncomplicated solving process of disruptive factors. Besides that, it’s easier for businesses to execute prevention methods to avoid difficulties in the future.

 

Targeted working processes

The main goal of data administration is to optimize working processes. Through transparent data evaluations, businesses recognize their potential and use it. No matter if it’s for marketing, human resources, bookkeeping or quality management. Businesses recognize, for instance, which marketing methods generate the most leads or which benefits motivate employees the most and then can improve existing processes based on that.

 

Process automation

Through performance and process monitoring, business can stop processes and methods which require too many resources. That, on the other hand, ensures possibilities and process automation.

Example: If companies try to implement too many marketing measures, the test phase takes longer and requires many resources. With more transparency regarding the target-oriented marketing measures, it is possible, for example, to optimize and automate lead generation. This is because companies can see what their marketing team is investing time in and thus shift the focus to the processes that lead to the goals.

 

Cost savings

The elimination of non-targeted processes results in financial advantages. Businesses are less focused on such tasks and approaches which don’t promise any success. Furthermore, they reduce the effort for testing phases.

 

Better user experience

The advantages of data management are not only internal to the company. Data administration reveals important information about customer wishes and which advertising works best. It’s also easier for businesses to react to trends. Hereby, there are advantages in the area of user experience and target group approach.

 

Recognizing customer needs

Feedback and ratings are among the most important sources for businesses to get to know their target group better and to identify customer needs. Structured data management helps to evaluate all collected sets of data better and to recognize customer wishes accordingly.

 

Advice for your data management strategy

Data management strategy

 

Develop a holistic and waterproof strategy

A good and goal oriented strategy should be your number one priority. Without knowing the requirements and goals of stakeholders, your business will collect too much irrelevant data. Also, deal in advance with questions regarding storage locations, file formats, monitoring of KPIs and which data protection regulations have to be observed.

A goal oriented strategy considered the following aspects:

  • Clarify roles and responsibilities in the team
  • Consider legal aspects and compliance
  • Determine measures and methods
  • Set up criteria for external business partners

 

Find the right data management software

Only use software which suits your business goals. The offer on the market is growing and there are suppliers for different goals. Clear the following questions to find the right data management software:

  • What are our business goals?
  • What is our budget?
  • Which requirements must a software fulfill?
  • Does the software fulfill legal requirements?

 

Consider changes

In the area of data management a lot of things have happened in the past years. There are different software providers on the market, the goals of stakeholders change regularly and customer needs are in an everlasting change. Data management doesn’t only mean to establish purposeful structures once. Instead, targeted processes require regular optimization to ensure long-term results. 

 

10 best practices for data management

  • Weighing costs and benefits
  • Know your business goals
  • Use databases which fulfill the requirements of your business
  • Centralize communication of involved parties
  • Teach your staff
  • Inform stakeholders and work transparently
  • Use data discovery to track processes and ensure good compliance
  • Act purposefully but thoughtfully when optimizing processes
  • Don’t only think of business processes but also about the effect on your customers
  • Don’t get lost in numbers but orient yourself on the wishes and desires of your target audience

 

Conclusion: Data are digital gold

Targeted data management ensures transparency, process optimization and cost savings. First, you need to clarify questions regarding software suppliers and responsibilities. Data management is a business process, a good strategy is therefore the fundament for a successful implementation.

What is corporate communication? Definition, goals & examples 781 537 Lukas Aumair

What is corporate communication? Definition, goals & examples

What is corporate communication and what measures companies need to take? Everything about definition and goals + examples.

In this article:

  1. Corporate communication definition
  2. Which goals need to be achieved?
  3. Business communication as a part of corporate behavior
  4. Corporate communication examples
  5. Rules of business communication
  6. Business communication checklist
  7. Consider and overcome linguistic hurdles
  8. Corporate social responsibility: An important message for businesses
  9. Our final advice
  10. Conclusion
  11. FAQ

 

The most important in a nutshell

  • Corporate communication considers both, internal and external communication
  • A goal oriented corporate communication improves working climate and the interaction between staff
  • Good communication structures will have a positive impact on your business image and promises competition advantages

 

Corporate communication as a key element to a working business

Efficiency and sales will always be a company’s number one priority. There is nothing wrong with that because only economically strong businesses will survive on a highly competitive market. But it’s about under which circumstances this goal will be achieved. In the past decades most businesses have recognized that employee satisfaction does not only depend on salary but rather on other factors. One of them is corporate communication.

Corporate communication in business

In this article we will talk about corporate communication and how businesses can use it to their advantage. Moreover we will dive deeper into the importance of individual approaches and social responsibility.

 

Corporate communication definition

The term corporate communication sums up all measures to improve the communication within a company. This concerns not only the communication between a company and its staff (internal) but also the interaction between a business and customers, partners or suppliers (external).

 

Which goals need to be achieved?

Corporate communication follows the goal to create consistent dialogue structures between a company and its stakeholders. But there are other reasons which speak in favor of improving communication structures of a business.

A good corporate communication improves working climate and strengthens the trust between a business and its staff. That in turn has a positive effect on productivity. Encouraging the internal dialogue also comes with the advantage that there will be less conflicts and that businesses can react better to the wishes of their staff. That results in a healthy business culture with open dialogue structures and strengthened trust between employer and employee.

In external business communication it’s primarily about such factors which will make a business stand out against its competitors. We are talking about corporate identity. Many don’t associate corporate identity with open dialogues or information exchange but rather with nice looking logos and convincing messages. That is a way to communicate too – corporate communication doesn’t necessarily mean to seek out dialogues because visual elements and messages will also improve business communication.

Therefore, the goal is not only to communicate transparently and openly but also to use the advantages of visual elements.

 

At its core, corporate communication pursues the following goals:

  • Improving corporate identity
  • More transparency for employees
  • Ensuring employee satisfaction
  • Establish a good working climate
  • Reaching business goals
  • Secure competitive advantages
  • Improving business culture as a whole
  • Expanding customer loyalty and customer acquisition as well as improving customer experience
  • Strengthen the business image
  • Cultivating business relationships

 

Business communication as a part of corporate behavior

Corporate behavior is a part of corporate identity and describes the behavior of a business towards its stakeholders. The focus of corporate behavior is on the achievement of goals and whether companies act in the way they communicate to the outside world.

Corporate behavior is seen as a separate area of corporate identity but it also has an impact on reaching goals and therefore on a business’ behavior as well.

One example: Through good communication structures businesses will increase productivity of their employees because open dialogues and information exchange build trust as well as satisfaction. This will ensure reaching goals in the long term.

In general, communication always has a positive impact on corporate business. Possible disadvantages only occur when an information flood limits scope of action and paves the way to micromanagement.

corporate business identity

 

Corporate communication examples

To develop your sense for practical application of corporate communication, we will take a closer look at some examples. Hereby it’s especially important to differentiate between internal and external business communication.

Corporate communication examples internal:

  • Employee interviews
  • Feedback talks
  • Regular trainings to promote knowledge
  • Transparency in information exchange (e. g. through digital signage)
  • Communicating wishes through open dialogues
  • Defining goals clearly and communicating reached goals openly (e. g. through monitoring)

Communication is key. So approach your employees openly and ask for their feedback. Monthly employee interviews help to recognize wishes and to expose possible conflicts. Corporate communication also means to create a good working climate by avoiding conflicts within your team.

Every business ideally seeks out dialogues with its employees to respond specifically to wishes and needs. It’s harder to execute this approach for information exchange regarding events or internal changes. A centralized and automated communication structure will help you hereby. Information terminals for example provide a centralized approach to inform employees about news with little effort. Monthly employee meetings will improve and automate corporate communication as well.

At an external level you need to differentiate between marketing and PR. Companies can increase their positive image through newspaper articles and press releases. Marketing methods on the other hand will help to strengthen the corporate identity and to force customer acquisition.

 

Corporate communication examples external: 

  • Press releases
  • Social media channels
  • Digital advertising
  • Interviews
  • Use cases for more transparency
  • Sponsoring
  • Posters and flyers
  • Content marketing
  • Reports for business partners and stockholders
  • TV spots

Don’t underestimate the effect of sponsoring and press releases. These supposedly old-fashioned PR methods have a strong impact on a business’ image. While they don’t build brand awareness as specifically as maintaining social media channels for example, they do position your company more strongly, especially on a regional level.

 

Rules of business communication

Many businesses primarily focus on external communication because they will win new customers and business partners with it. The key factors for more sales.
But without satisfied and educated employees, productivity will decrease and your company will have disadvantages in competition. Therefore, you should improve corporate communication as a whole. To improve internal communication structures, you can establish rules which equally apply to all employees. Obligatory rules will ensure a better together within the team and help to reach goals.

With the following rules of business communication, you will improve existing structures:

  • Openly talk about conflicts
  • Informing employees about changes
  • Monthly employee meetings (to talk about collective challenges)
  • Obligatory trainings for all business departments
  • Showing appreciation towards your employees

There are two things to consider when executing these rules. On the one hand you should make sure that these rules will become part of the business values. Every team member needs to know about these rules and recognize that they follow a purpose. On the other hand you shouldn’t ignore financial and timely aspects. You better ensure to have enough resources to establish regular employee meetings or employee interviews.

 

Business communication checklist

  • Involve all employees into the process
  • Talk about the current situation and challenges with your team
  • Define clear goals and which tasks need to be done
  • Consider budget and human resources
  • Establish fix days and times for employee interviews, trainings and feedback talks
  • Approach the worries of your employees and convince them with good arguments
  • Consider your customers and your business partners
  • Determine channels to communicate business internal messages
  • Don’t give empty promises but rather set realistic measures
  • Talk regularly about the approached measures and if all employees are okay with it
  • Repeat all the steps and optimize them where it’s necessary

 

Consider and overcome linguistic hurdles

Corporate communication is aimed at different groups of persons but exactly this aspect is often ignored by many businesses.
Law changes in data security need to be communicated differently to human resource employees than to a data protection officer. It’s also pointless to use information terminals as the only source of communication when many employees work at home or in the field service.

Linguistic barriers hinder goal oriented approaches. Ask yourself the following questions to eliminate possible hurdles in internal corporate communication:

  • Do all employees have access to information?
  • Are there linguistic barriers because of different nationalities?
  • Do we use too much professional language?
  • Is our communication directed towards the perspective of our employees?
  • Do we grow faster than we can improve our communication structures?

In external communication it’s especially important to consider the principles of marketing. A basic differentiation between B2B and B2C clients is a good start but a deeper selection will help more in the long term.

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Corporate social responsibility: An important message for businesses

In 2023, external communication means more than just good PR and marketing. Businesses show more social responsibility, be it through better compliance, approaches to expand environmentally friendly working processes or more accessibility.

There are laws as a guideline to execute these measures. But there are other objective measures which support the execution too. One of them ist the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

In the core, CSR describes the voluntary contribution of a business to a sustainable development of the economy. This includes climate protection, measures against corruption or an ethical justifiable business culture. Some guidelines of specific countries (e. g. Germany) force bigger businesses to create reports about their CSR approaches but for other companies the contribution is voluntary.

CSR sends an important message to businesses: Social consciousness and responsibility become more relevant. When thinking of corporate communication, don’t only consider promising messages or convincing marketing but social aspects as well.

 

Our final advice

Take care of executing corporate communication in a holistic approach. Many businesses strongly focus on external communication because marketing promises more sales and a stronger public image. Thereby employee satisfaction and internal conflict mastering have a massive impact on the success of a business as well.

Before you execute measures for a better corporate communication, deal with the question if your team equally builds structures for both internal and external communication to approach a holistic process- and structure optimization. In order to promote corporate communication, your company should also push the development of digital competence in order to create more efficient structures and also keep communication channels shorter.

 

Conclusion: The human being is in the foreground

Businesses face the challenge that a standardized approach through corporate communication is barely possible. Because of the already mentioned linguistic hurdles, businesses can only partly automize their communication processes.

Therefore, it’s better for businesses to follow the goal to establish automated processes which consider individual customer wishes or desires of employees. It’s also important to overcome linguistic hurdles.

 

FAQ

Finally, we will answer commonly asked questions about corporate communication.

 

What is the difference between corporate communication and marketing communication?

Marketing communication concerns commercialization of a product or a service. Corporate communication on the other hand also considers the appearance of a brand and the image of a business.

 

Why is corporate communication important?

Corporate communication does not only focus on the advantages of a product or a service but will ensure the communication of the business image. At an internal level, businesses ensure higher employee satisfaction and increased productivity.

5 ways to more accessibility in marketing 776 537 Lukas Aumair

5 ways to more accessibility in marketing

Inclusion belongs to the biggest challenges of our society and of businesses. We present 5 concepts to increase accessibility in marketing.

Table of contents

  1. Accessibility in marketing: A challenge with many facets
  2. Greenwashing 2.0? What businesses need to consider
  3. 5 ways to more accessibility in marketing
  4. Conclusion
  5. FAQ

 

The most important in a nutshell

  • Methods to increase accessibility facilitate the interaction between businesses and people with disabilities or handicap
  • Inclusion must not be promoted under the same guise as other societal challenges (e. g. sustainability)
  • Changes in communication and advertising increase accessibility in marketing

Accessibility in marketing

 

Accessibility in marketing: A challenge with many facets

Inclusion belongs to the biggest challenges of our society. Our economy as its engine accordingly plays an important role. But many businesses fail to face challenges in accessibility. The main problem is not the comfort zone but rather the fact that accessibility requires an optimization and restructuring of existing business processes. 

In this article we will further talk about accessibility in marketing and which opportunities are given to improve communication between businesses and humans with handicaps. Limitations mostly affect human senses, especially listening and seeing. But often there are linguistic hurdles – many people have a reading and spelling disability for instance which is why they don’t understand complex content.

Some businesses already succeed in executing accessibility but there is still potential left. Digital transformation ensures a precise optimization of existing business processes but many companies fail to establish methods to increase accessibility.

 

→ Just ask yourself at this point if you have ever seen static facebook advertisements with audio display? Or how many websites do you know which provide functions to support accessibility? You will probably realize that there are no pioneers in this area. 

 

Countries like Germany even agreed to execute a law to increase accessibility. The law will be executed in 2025 and that comes with some pressure because yet, too many businesses fail to improve accessibility.

 

Greenwashing 2.0? What businesses need to consider

Accessibility in marketing should not become some kind of guise to purposely seek out advantages in competition. This development can be seen in sustainability – many businesses, even big ones like Aldi, promote their supposed sustainable products and advertise with sustainability-seals to position themselves as pioneers in this area. But often these products aren’t sustainable and those eco-seals can be attained under the easiest requirements. This is called “Greenwashing”.

Inclusion shouldn’t reach this dimension. It would be too much to ask that companies no longer see their own advantage in restructuring existing processes, but that is not the point. Furthermore, businesses shouldn’t place themselves as pioneers when they don’t meet their responsibilities fully. Who considered accessibility in marketing, but won’t execute it in other business areas, isn’t any different from companies which claim to be sustainable but still produce tons of CO2.

But back to the topic of accessibility: Don’t use inclusion as an advertising medium. Good service will pay off sooner or later because businesses which consider accessibility will have advantages over their competitors in the long term.

 

5 ways to more accessibility in marketing

To push accessibility in marketing further, innovative improvements are required in the first step. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to ensure that. Simple rethinking will help you to try out new ideas or to execute existing approaches in a way to meet requirements of accessibility.

Overview of the five ways:

  • Plugins for your website
  • Focus on new marketing methods
  • Content distribution
  • Make interaction easier
  • Creative elements

 

Plugins for your website

In times of digitization more and more businesses take advantage of a blog to expand brand awareness and to generate more website visitors. These visitors are turned into leads to interact with the business in the long term. That results in advantages regarding customer acquisition and loyalty as well as businesses selling more goods and products.

Because of the mentioned reasons, the focus is more on improving the user experience of a website. The goal is to provide better interaction possibilities for users in order to strengthen the brand image. Hereby businesses especially focus on improving the mobile version of a website.
But in the field of accessibility there is not a lot happening and there are barely websites which take on these challenges. Thereby there are many ways to integrate accessible functions on your website. WordPress users can easily expand their website with accessible functions by using plugins.

You can use the following plugins to ensure more accessibility in your marketing:

  • One Click Accessibility
  • Accessibility for WP
  • Text Zoom
  • Accessibility by UserWay
  • Screen Reader Accessibility

When implementing these plugins, make sure they are compatible with your website. Additional plugins possibly have a negative impact on PageSpeed which will also worsen the user experience on your website.

 

Focus on new marketing methods

Businesses which don’t recognize digital marketing trends will struggle a lot against their competitors in the next few years. Those who follow marketing trends will establish new ways of communication with their target group and will therefore position themselves in the field of accessible applications.

Let’s go back to mobile versions of a website once again. An optimized responsive web design belongs to search engine optimization criteria and will therefore improve your Google ranking. That’s why you will barely find a web designer who will not optimize the mobile version of your website anymore. Although the criteria of search engine optimization plays a much bigger role for businesses, it will still have a positive impact on accessibility in marketing.

-> So while you are trying to improve the position of your business by executing digital marketing methods, you will improve user experience and therefore accessibility as well. Win-win.

 

Content distribution ensures more accessibility in marketing

All forms of marketing reach different groups of persons and their preferences in processing information. For instance, blog articles are great for providing in-depth and very informational content. Podcasts on the other hand are convincing with practical examples and more flexibility.

→ Both marketing methods have one thing in common: They guarantee accessibility.

Blog articles communicate information in writing which is why they are a good alternative for people with a hearing disability which therefore don’t find any access to podcasts. But podcasts on the other hand are an auditive source of knowledge which is a great alternative for people with a reading and spelling disability.

Combine different content channels to ensure a barrier free interaction with your target audience. To be fair, a broad content distribution requires temporal as well as financial resources but a good content strategy will improve accessibility even when you only use a few different content marketing channels.

 

Creative elements

Creative elements support accessibility in marketing. Videos, for instance, work perfectly to communicate visual content and the subtitle function even ensures access for people with a hearing disability.

Emojis help to communicate messages better and give clues to the content for people with a reading disability. This approach works especially well for social media posts.

Using creative elements also means to make the right choice regarding the corporate identity. Avoid hard to read colors (e. g. yellow) and hard to read color combinations (e. g. dark gray font on black elements).

Accessibility in marketing

 

Conclusion: Focus on user experience

The trend in marketing clearly goes in the direction of user experience. Technical aspects and for search engines generated content will not lose relevance but in the foreground are human beings and their interests. Accessibility in marketing is part of user experience because businesses are responsible for reaching out to all users equally. With plugins / apps for your website, changes in design and content distribution you will reach this goal.

 

FAQ

Lastly, we will answer frequently asked questions regarding the topic.

 

What does accessibility mean?

Accessibility means that people with disabilities can easily access applications or participate in all aspects of life without difficulty or outside help.

 

Are wordpress plugins for free?

Most wordpress plugins are for free. However, many applications offer a chargeable pro version for additional functions.

10 stunning ideas for gamification in marketing + examples 779 537 Lukas Aumair

10 stunning ideas for gamification in marketing + examples

Gamification improves the interaction with your target audience and generates more leads. We present 10 stunning ideas + examples.

Table of contents

  1. Gamification in marketing: Interactive fun instead of dry content
  2. Gamification definition
  3. Playfully to more leads and new customers
  4. Overview of gamification advantages
  5. 10 gamification ideas which will leave your target audience stunned
  6. Consider this hurdle by all means
  7. How do I establish gamification methods?
  8. Gamification examples: 5 impressive marketing ideas of known companies
  9. Conclusion
  10. FAQ

 

The most important in summary

  • Gamification describes the playful interaction between users and applications
  • Software as a service ensures an easy design of playfully-interactive methods in marketing
  • Gamification does not only support lead generation but also increases quality of leads and improves communication with your target audience

 

Gamification in marketing: Interactive fun instead of dry content

Many businesses face the challenge that they can’t bind interests and customers in the long term. They either focus on the wrong marketing methods or they ignore current trends. Often, the target audience is missing incentives to interact more with companies. To face this challenge and to bind the target audience in the long term, we recommend the strengths of gamification. 

→ Playful interaction with the target audience improves communication, binds existing customers and forces lead generation.

But what are the advantages of gamification in comparison to other marketing methods? And which actions are available for businesses to execute gamification successfully? We will answer these and similar questions.

Important note: We will exclusively talk about gamification in marketing. Therefore, we will not talk about how gamification impacts, for example, human resources or health care management.

Gamification Definition

 

First, the definition: What is gamification?

Gamification describes a playful experience for users. Applications without playful elements ensure an interactive experience through integration of gaming elements. The goal is to improve the motivation of users and to win their attention.

 

 

Playfully to more leads and new customers

In general, gamification in marketing follows the goal to improve existing business processes. Which specific goals are prioritized, depends on the business and its target audience.

Gamification primarily focuses on lead management to either win more potential customers/interests or to improve the quality of existing leads. 

The classic way of lead generation often looks like that users subscribe to a newsletter and get a freebie (e. g. e-book or video) in return for giving a website their email-address.

But this process has some weaknesses. Users often only subscribe to a newsletter because they desire the freebie. It’s not a rare case that some leads leave unused email-addresses to receive no newsletter mails later. Other than that, many businesses fail to win the attention of their target audience with newsletter content in the long term. In e-commerce there at least is the opportunity to convert leads to customers through discounts but many businesses are not given this possibility.

Gamification ensures successful lead management. Through Sweepstakes or surveys your company interacts purposefully with interests or customers. The incentive exists within the playful interaction itself because it is fun and it motivates.

Example: You give away discounts to 20 persons. Through a sweepstake you determine the winner, the only condition of participation is to write a comment in the section of a social media post. That guarantees three advantages: First of all, the ways of lead generation are shorter because participation doesn’t require registration to a newsletter. Other than that, the playful component motivates your target audience to a (fun) participation. Last but not least, you potentially have more participants because social media has more users than your newsletter has subscribers.

 

Overview of the advantages of gamification

  • Playful lead generation
  • Customer loyalty
  • Image expansion of your business
  • Personalization through branding of gamification actions
  • Insights of interaction rates
  • Target group extension (gamification speaks to a younger audience)
  • Improved interaction and communication with the target audience

Gamification offers businesses the particular advantage to get further information about the wishes and desires of their target audience. The focus is not on collecting email-addresses but to improve user experience through interaction and to find out about the wishes and desires of your target group. 

The diversity of gamification ensures a holistic optimization of existing marketing processes. Set methods give exact insights in the interaction rates and this also reveals trends in terms of needs and desires, enabling you to optimize existing processes in a targeted manner.

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10 gamification ideas that will leave your target audience stunned

  • Surveys
  • Sweepstakes
  • Advent calendar
  • Rotating wheel
  • Quizzes
  • Personality tests
  • Swipe
  • Scratch cards
  • Games
  • Slot-machine

Gamification ideas

 

Surveys

Through surveys, your business wins important insights about their customers and their wishes. This gamification method works perfectly to create individual offers for customers.

Example: Through evaluation tools web designers can determine the wishes of potential clients. Interests can, for instance, leave information about which additional functions they wish and how extensive the website should be. Based on the result, the potential clients receive an offer.

Surveys not only follow the goal to create offers for potential clients but to improve business performance as well. Some businesses give away gift cards to everyone who participates in a survey through a digital signage device. The goal is to improve customer satisfaction because businesses want to know what their target group wishes.

 

Sweepstakes

Giveaways of all kinds always leave a good impression. The participation conditions are mostly quite easy to understand and should follow the goal to expand reach of your business. You can, for example, start sweepstakes over social media and set the participation condition that one needs to write a comment or share the post.

 

Advent calendar

Your own business advent calendar with individual branding awakes the inner christmas feeling (positive connection to your company!). Your target audience is even happier when they can expect exclusive discounts or helpful tips and tricks.

 

Rotating wheel

You often find this concept in apps. Through tipping on the touchscreen of a smartphone, interests move the virtual wheel to win something (e. g. a discount code). This type of playful interaction provides for variety when using apps which require you to act on or do something.

Example: Sport apps give users the possibility to create a flexible as well as individual workout plan. The rotating wheel determines the next exercise or the user creates a varied workout plan before sports.

 

Quizzes

Quizzes are the queen of gamification methods. They are fun and participants can prove their knowledge.

Idea: Create a quiz about your company or about your products/goods. That awakes the curiosity of your target group and strengthens the trust in your business.

 

Personality tests

Personality tests are very popular these days. This gamification method doesn’t work well for many businesses but the ones which take advantage of them will have an active and loyal target audience that has a great interest in personal development.

 

Swipe

A concept that many people associate with dating apps. The swipe function allows users to make decisions based on their personal preferences because a swipe either means “I like it” or “I don’t like it”. A good possibility to find out more about the preferences of your target group and to use gamification as fundament for market research.

 

Scratch cards

Less used and known but still executed successfully for some apps. Businesses often combine this concept with sweepstakes or giveaways.

 

Games

A more general term because gamification theoretically describes all games. With this point we specifically mean games which have received a digital conversion. One example: Memory.

 

Slot-machine

Nowadays you will not only find slot-machines in the casino, businesses use this concept for bonuses and discounts as well.

 

Consider this hurdle by all means

Gamification makes your business more attractive and establishes innovative ways for your marketing. But you should consider putting gamification methods in the context of your business and marketing goals. In the foreground is your marketing strategy and the determined metrics.

In the strategic process, weigh the extent to which gamification fits your objectives and whether the cost-benefit ratio is high.

Many think that gamification only works for claiming more personal data but this is not true. Gamification supports the customer loyalty through, for instance, weekly rewards or scratch card actions. Quizzes or memory work good as methods for e-learning as well.

But precisely because you have a wide range of options at your disposal, the first step requires a consideration of the marketing goals in your company.

 

How do I establish gamification methods?

To execute gamification successfully, you don’t need any basic knowledge in programming. Providers of software as a service programs facilitate the entry with gamification because such applications are based on the modular principle.

In the programming process of the FRAMR software, our team also paid attention to establishing individual design options so that our customers can easily implement their ideas and wishes. Digital signage harmoniously combines the strengths from the areas of gamification, information technology and marketing and takes into account important features to position itself strongly against competitors (e. g. user experience).

See for yourself and configure your individual customer experience with our FREE cockpit configurator. You will gain more detailed insights into the possibilities of digital signage and develop a feeling for the advantages and functions in the area of gamification.

 

Gamification examples: 5 stunning marketing ideas of known companies

Concrete examples still best illustrate the advantages of gamification. In the following, we present five companies and their measures in the field of gamification.

 

Truity

Truity is a website for advocates of personal development and behavior psychology. The website offers many different personality tests with final evaluation. Truity uses this concept to win over paying clients because the test and the results might be for free but exact evaluation of metrics is only available for those who pay a fee or start a subscription.

Website Truity

 

Audi

Audi configurators leave a strong impression on users. They convey the feeling to create something on one’s own and interests see the final result with their eyes. The free room for maneuver and exact price information also force the purchase decision.

Website Audi

 

McDonald’s

The US-American franchise giant has been known worldwide for its “McDonald’s-Monopoly” since 1987. In the past, there were various high-priced grand prizes which encouraged many guests to visit the fast food chain more often or to buy more products.
However, McDonald’s has also shown that it is better not to exploit the good nature of its target group. A few years ago, the fast-food chain made negative headlines because it came to light that it was manipulating sweepstakes.

McDonalds Website

 

Reddit

Reddit users collect so-called “karma points” through posts, replies and votes, which increases their reputation. With this system, reddit ensures that its users become more active and thus secure a stronger status within the community (need for status).

 

Duolingo

Duolingo users collect rewards and badges for completing lessons. It gives a good feeling to unlock achievements and Duolinge has recognized this advantage to motivate millions of users to learn foreign languages every day.

duolingo website

 

Conclusion

Gamification supports lead generation and customer retention. In addition, companies improve communication with their target group. Software as a service solutions do not require any programming skills which means that any company can easily create, establish and implement its desired measures. When planning your gamification actions, make sure to consider the wishes of your target group and choose measures that are in line with your objective. For example, it makes little sense for a software development company to focus on personality tests or advent calendars.

 

FAQ

Finally, we will answer some of the most asked questions about gamification.

 

Where is gamification used?

Companies use gamification mainly for marketing purposes. However, the concept of playful interaction is also suitable for staff retention, for further training and to establish new corporate processes.

 

Which industries benefit from gamification?

Gamification is a cross-industry approach. It depends less on a company’s industry than on its target group and which interaction measures bring the desired success.

 

Pictures: © Canva.com

Software marketing: 6 simple steps to generate more sales 994 537 Linda

Software marketing: 6 simple steps to generate more sales

Marketing is one of the most difficult hurdles for IT companies. We show you the six most important steps for successful software marketing.

Table of contents:

  1. Software marketing is not rocket science
  2. 6 simple steps to successful software marketing
  3. Example of a 6-step-plan: How to implement it successfully
  4. Ideas for your software marketing
  5. This is how much marketing budget you need
  6. Conclusion

 

The most important things in a nutshell:

  • Marketing is first and foremost a strategic process
  • Always align your software marketing with the desires of your target audience and identify your strengths relative to competitors
  • Use the strengths of different marketing channels to create content dispersion

 

Software marketing is not rocket science

Innovative ideas pay off and secure you a strong position on the market. That’s one of the reasons why software development has surged in recent years, especially in the area of mobile applications and business process automation (e. g. in accounting and marketing). But just like with any other product or service, software companies first have to find buyers / clients, and this is where one of the biggest challenges becomes apparent.

 

→ Marketing is the be-all and end-all in any industry, because without buyers even the greatest ideas remain undiscovered and the software sector is no exception. 

 

With this article we follow the goal to help IT businesses develop their marketing strategy. Many companies fail to win Clients because they make fundamental mistakes in the marketing process. And we are not talking about too little financial investments or choosing the wrong marketing channels, but about an insufficient strategy, poor positioning and wrong communication with the target group.

Many people think of marketing in terms of search engine optimization, social media or web design but these areas follow only after strategy development.
First, there are six important steps to follow to lay the foundation for successful software marketing. These steps will not only help you target the right audience, they will also save you resources.

 

6 simple steps to successful software marketing

To develop a good marketing strategy, you need to answer the following six questions first:

  • What are my strengths compared to my competitors?
  • Who is my target group and how do I address them?
  • Which communication channels do I use for my marketing?
  • Who is responsible for implementation?
  • What is the best way to spread our marketing presence?
  • How do I measure the results of my software marketing?

The implementation only takes place after you have worked out every single aspect of your strategy. A good marketing strategy will not only help you to plan your resources and approach, but will also give you a better overview of the required effort and the time buffers that need to be planned for implementation.

 

Position yourself

Every software stands out from its competition in its own way but your target audience may not be aware of these advantages. To use channels like social media or blogs effectively, you need to recognize your strengths in order to communicate them. But being aware of your weaknesses also has its advantages because it allows you to recognize potential for improvement and what possible objections your target group raises or what possible disadvantages they see in your software.

But don’t only focus on objective advantages of your software but also on how it meets the challenges of your target audience and what subjective needs your company addresses with its marketing strategy. When analyzing weaknesses, you should ideally consider the opinion of your team because it is often difficult for you to remain objective and even identify possible weaknesses in your own software.

 

Know your target audience

Many software businesses make the same mistake and explain any technical terms on their website or via their social media channels. But why? Your target audience probably are people who are familiar with the application areas of your software.
There are benefits of using a good glossary or encyclopedias to explain certain terms, especially if they are very technical, but don’t treat your audience like clueless people who need a primer on the subject first. Instead, communicate the advantages and which use your software promises. Also, creating informative as well as unique content should help position your company. 

This “I first need to explain everything” mistake is due to poor target audience analysis. Every company has an idea of its persona but still commits communication mistakes. As a result, it’s not uncommon to miss the mark, which means no sustainable growth and no leads will be generated.

Depending on your target audience, you need to consider different criteria when communicating. In the case of a B2C target audience, information regarding price or characteristics such as motives or personal preferences play a primarily role. In the B2B sector, on the other hand, solution-oriented approaches, industry and return on investment matter the most.

It should also be mentioned that every company has several target audiences which in turn are segmented into different subgroups – therefore, you should never focus your software marketing on only one group of people.

buyer persona

Buyer Persona: Profile of a fictive customer who represents the target audience

 

The right communication channels

It’s well known that social media and blogs belong to the best marketing channels. However, this does not answer the question of which exact channels should be used, how often and with which content. It makes a big difference whether your company is targeting a B2B or B2C target audience, as channels need to be selected accordingly.

The following table shows which (social media-) channels are particularly well suited for each target audience:

B2BB2C
Blog
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
Twitter✗/✓
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Reddit

Consider that the industry plays an important role as well. For example, Twitter is not bad for B2B businesses but it hardly offers any advantages for software companies. On the other hand, the platform “Reddit” has proven to be an insider tip because millions of people search there everyday for advice on different topics – with knowledge of software development, you can position your business extremely well.

But choosing the right channels isn’t everything, because that doesn’t answer any questions about posting frequency or the type of posts. In order to create a working content strategy, you should therefore clarify the following questions in the team:

  • Which channels do we use?
  • What content do we post?
  • When do we start with social media postings and blogging?
  • How often do we post on social media or our blog and what time buffer do we allow ourselves?
  • What are potential challenges? (e.g. copyright in image use for blog articles)
  • How do we achieve broad content distribution through different channels?
  • Are our blog articles and website aligned with search engine optimization (SEO) criteria?
  • How do we use your content to generate leads and retain them?

Are you looking for an exclusive content format that guarantees competitive advantages and triggers a lasting “wow effect” with your target audience? Then you should take a look at the advantages of digital signage!
Our software offers you a wide range of functions, starting with image playback and ending with interesting additional features such as the display of Facebook postings or YouTube videos. Of course, you can also use FRAMR as a presentation medium to communicate the benefits of your software. We promise: Your target audience will be stunned!

 

Internal vs external expertise

Blogs, social media, SEO, SEA (Google ads) – with all the given possibilities it’s difficult to find the necessary expertise internally, even when specifically choosing marketing channels. But that’s not necessary either, because through freelancer portals and Google research you can easily find a freelancer or even a big agency for your software marketing.

Both internal as well as external production of marketing content have advantages and with the following table we draw a comparison:

Strengths internalStrengths external
Faster communicationAgencies/freelancers know best practices
CheaperMore effective
Quicker access to knowledgeSpecialization
Staff is easily availableCan take on more tasks
Change of direction within the strategy is fasterStrategies can be worked out more purposefully

External labor requires good delegation. Don’t get it wrong, you don’t have to control every process in detail but working with freelancers or agencies is only purposeful if good framework conditions are created. For this, the first step is to clarify the following questions: 

  • Who is responsible for which activity and what is the goal?
  • Which deadlines do we set?
  • Which information and materials does the freelancer or agency need?
  • How well does the cooperation work and what can be improved?

 

Scattering

In the third point we have already mentioned content distribution – but why is this important at all? The answer: Many companies fail with implementing their marketing strategy and end up rearranging everything or plan all over again.

For successful software marketing, you have a variety of channels at your disposal, be it social media, SEO, SEA, PR or blogs. But just because you have so many options doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use the advantages of the different channels. Instead it’s better to set up multiple channels right from the beginning to see what content resonates best with your target audience and what content format gets good results. 

But make sure to ask yourself to what extent a good and broad content distribution is possible with the available resources because it doesn’t make sense if you have one person available for marketing, but you want to play ten marketing channels at once.

Content scattering

 

Metrics for measurability

Every company wants to achieve goals but surprisingly, this part of the marketing strategy in particular is treated quite superficially. Common goals are “growth” or “reach,” but no one mentions exact numbers or what metrics are used to achieve them. 

To measure the success of software marketing, you have several metrics at your disposal, be it website traffic, Google Analytics stats, social shares, newsletter signups or number of purchases or bookings. However, don’t make the mistake of focusing too much on the number of website visitors because even if high reach is an indicator of good marketing performance, it says nothing about the quality of your visitors.
Our recommendation: It’s best to use two metrics to evaluate the success of your marketing, for example website traffic and number of newsletter signups.

Don’t forget to use the results as a foundation for further development of your strategy. For example, if Facebook insights show that your target audience is mostly active between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., these numbers should guide the time of your future posts. Similarly, you should remove content types from your strategy if the metrics show that they are performing poorly.

 

Example of a 6-step-plan: How to implement it successfully

Below, we give you insights into FRAMR’s marketing strategy so that you can get a feel for how to implement the 6-step plan.

  1. Positioning: At FRAMR, we focus on speed and agile processes. This is because the Linux operating system starts even when power is lost and does not require a license. In addition, no complex installation is necessary and our cloud service guarantees permanent availability ofthe services. This flexibility also ensures constant expandability and good runnability on all platforms. We see potential weaknesses in the established market position of our competitors. Since we are competing with big companies like Sony or Panasonic, we have to position ourselves with good content and address our target group effectively.
  2. Target group: We specifically address B2B customers with our digital signage solutions. We don’t discriminate on industry or company size, instead our marketing agenda aims to convince the target audience with the benefits of digital signage and position ourselves as innovative pioneers in entrepreneurship.
  3. Communication channels: Besides our blog, we primarily use B2B channels because they best fit our target audience. We communicate via LinkedIn, use cases, workshops, and the FRAMR blog.
  4. Internal vs. external expertise: We rely on both internal and external expertise. With internal strengths we ensure fast communication within the team and with external marketing support we “buy” the necessary know-how to do so.
  5. Distribution: Two up to three articles are published on our blog every month. In addition, we post one LinkedIn post per week, publish guest posts on other websites for link-building, have already published case studies and regularly participate in knowledge-sharing events.
  6. Metrics: To measure the success of our software marketing, we consider website traffic, number of purchases, and completed subscriptions.

What are use cases? Definition and examples

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Ideas for your software marketing

  • Blog articles on industry-specific topics
  • Use case studies to show results of your work
  • Explainer videos
  • Google Ads campaigns with keywords targeting the search intent of the target audience
  • Free use of your software for a certain period of time
  • Live webinars to explain your software
  • Postings on Google MyBusiness
  • Digital brochures

Looking for more sustainable ideas? Then be sure to read our blog article on the best content formats – you’ll find valuable tips and tricks for implementing your software marketing strategy and which tools will help you do it.

 

This is how much marketing budget you need

The cost of good marketing has skyrocketed. Before digitization, people were less able to get information and it was correspondingly easier to sell products or services. But in the information age, different rules apply and your target audience has several touch points with your offer before they even develop interest. This is partly due to the growing competition, but also because access to information through search engines like Google is now available and your target group uses this offer. Because of that, you need to provide your audience with good content to spark curiosity, answer important questions, and get them to interact with your business.

How much budget you need to allocate to your marketing depends on several factors, including which channels you use or whether you cooperate with a freelancer or agency. Experience shows that the set-up phase with strategy development, setting up social media profiles, web design with texts and logo creation already costs well over 10,000 €. In addition, there are monthly costs for content, SEO and social media, which costs between 2,000 € and 5,000 €, depending on the factors mentioned.

 

Conclusion: Software marketing unfolds your potential

There is no question that marketing is one of the most important areas for the successful implementation of a business idea. There are high investments involved, but the long-term goal is a positive return-on-investment and most companies achieve this by working out a good strategy in the first step.

But that’s exactly the point: The first step requires a good strategy to set the stage for successful software marketing. The six steps from this article will help you establish your innovative idea on the market and set you apart from your competitors.

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