Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the Rogers Talks event here in Montreal. This half-day conference brings together some of Canada’s leading small business experts to focus on how you can leverage technology and innovation to drive your business forward.
This post recaps my biggest takeaways.
Digital Presence & Community
Ethan Song, Co-Founder, CEO and Creative Director of Frank & Oak talked about the importance of a digital strategy and generating online awareness of your brand.
- Customer service is just as important as the product
Your product is all the touch points that a customer or potential website visitor interacts with. Song used the example of a bike- it’s no longer just the bike but rather the experience on your website, during the checkout process, the offline experience (if there is one) that matters and sets you apart.
- Social Media & Personality
When you decide to have a social media presence, you have no choice but to have a personality as a brand. Defining brand values is important and helps guide decisions.
- Community
Build your community before you build the product and make them part of the process.
- Everyone is in ecommerce
ecommerce is no longer an industry of its own. You are in ecommerce because you have a website. 30% of transactions happen on mobile first, and as a result your website needs to evolve.
What Motivates Canadians To Buy
In this talk, survey results where Canadians were asked how they discover, evaluate and interact with businesses online were presented.
As business owners, there are so many choices when it comes to social networks and where to establish an online presence, that too often businesses throw themselves everywhere without any real strategy.
It comes down to:
- Who are you trying to reach?
- What’s your social media & content strategy?
- What tools can you use to reach them?
- What are their needs and expectations when it comes to searching online?
The results from the survey showed that Canadians still heavily rely on Word of Mouth to learn about new brands, but today’s WOM is heavily influenced by the web and amplified through social networks.
It’s also important to look at your website and see if you are providing enough information for visitors to make an informed decision.
- Do you have testimonials?
- Pricing?
- Maps/directions (very important for restaurants)
In fact, millenials are looking to make appointments directly via businesses’ website and bypass picking up the phone entirely.
Ultimately, it’s important to look at your website objectively and see if you are providing enough of the right information for your target audience. And engaging on social networks where that target audience is hanging out.
The importance of Focus
During this talk, Password Box founder Daniel Robichaud discussed the importance of focus.
Whether you are building a startup, launching a website, or a social media strategy, focusing on the ultimate goal with each decision you make is important.
Ask yourself, what is the goal?
- Steve Jobs wanted to build devices that were as easy to use as a typewriter and worked right out of the box
- Bill Gates wanted a computer on every desk running Microsoft software.
Robichaud stressed the importance of visualizing your goal and taking that ultimate goal and working backwards from there.
By having this goal, anytime you are faced with a decision point, you can easily see if it aligns with your vision and where you are trying to go with your business/product/service.
I’m a member of the Rogers Small Business Leadership Network. I work with them to produce and share content that can help Canadian small businesses be successful. I am not compensated by Rogers.