The internet is a big, complex and rather overwhelming place, particularly for businesses who are increasingly reliant on it to generate revenue and growth.
The online landscape is replete with challenges, but what’s the biggest challenge for businesses going online?
As it turns out, there is a single, simple answer to this question. In this guide we’ll take a closer look at the major challenge that businesses face as they move increasingly online, then we’ll break it down into bite-sized chunks that are easier to digest and solve.
What is the biggest challenge for businesses going online?
So, what’s the biggest challenge for most businesses when going online? The answer is seemingly simple, yet when you dig a little deeper, increasingly complex:
The lack of a plan.
Almost all modern businesses understand that they need an online presence. It’s the most effective way to ensure your target customers know you exist. It’s a means to build familiarity and trust with your audience. Set up an ecommerce sales funnel and you can also make sales in your sleep.
But while the potential is easy to understand, it’s far more difficult to capitalise upon.
Sure, between a website, Google Business Profile and social media accounts, your business is granted access to a huge number of potential customers. The problem is that all other businesses, including your competitors, enjoy that very same access.
In order to rise above the noise in such a vast and hypercompetitive space, you need a solid plan. It must be well researched, expertly crafted and ultra-flexible, able to adapt to customer, competitor and market changes. At Growth Partners we specialise in creating this exact type of plan: one designed to deliver significant, sustainable online growth.
The 4 biggest challenges for businesses going online (and how to solve them)
The lack of a plan is such a big challenge, in fact, that we need to break it down further in order to better understand what it is and how to solve it.
1. The temptation to set and forget
You’ve created a beautiful, fully functional website. You’ve got a presence across all relevant social media platforms. You’ve set up your Google Business Profile.
It can be tempting to think that your work is complete. At this point, however, you have simply built the foundation for online success. And like the concrete foundation of a house, if you leave things be, it will slowly crumble.
In order to compete on the internet you need to constantly optimise your online presence. You should improve website KPIs like site traffic, bounce rate and average session duration. You should A/B test ads and marketing materials to increase conversions. Not only that, but you should grow your social following and identify the most effective ways to drive your audience down the sales funnel.
The internet is not static. To set and forget your online presence is to waste all that initial effort and watch your competitors speed past you. A long-term plan ensures you avoid that.
2. Not understanding your customers
You may have an idea of what your average customer looks like. But do you know them on a deeper level, such as the words they use when they search for your products and services online?
When you develop a strategic plan for your online presence, such as the ones we create at Growth Partners using our DigitalArchitect System®, you’re forced to think about your target audience more deeply – who they are, how they act, their fears, frustrations, needs and desires.
This process can even help you to identify geographic and demographic markets that you never knew existed.
3. Not capitalising on growth opportunities
Many businesses see the internet as a directory or a giant billboard – a place where potential customers will simply discover your brand. They may therefore fail to consider the incredible opportunities that the internet presents for generating leads and sales.
By researching the market you can identify the lead generation and ecommerce opportunities available to you, then develop a plan to capitalise on those opportunities, from crafting downloadable content that you can trade for customer information, to setting up an online store.
4. A lack of online expertise
Ultimately, the lack of a proper plan often comes down to a lack of in-house knowledge and expertise. The internet is a vast, complex and ever-changing beast; tools and technology, market trends, competitor behaviour and best practices are always in flux, and what worked yesterday won’t necessarily work for you today.
A healthy dose of knowledge and expertise is required if you are to develop a plan for your online presence and update that plan in response to changing circumstances.
That’s where we come in.
Capitalise on online opportunity with DigitalArchitect
At Growth Partners we’ve spent years helping businesses craft ultra-effective plans for digital growth using our proprietary DigitalArchitect System®.
DigitalArchitect is designed to give us a deep understanding of your business, including your customers, competitors and market. It reveals the strength of your current online presence, and the knowledge needed to improve it. The ultimate goal is to drive business growth, so we even include a three-year ROI projection that offers unmatched clarity on the business case for the investment.
If you’re ready to transform your online presence, we’re ready to help. Get in touch for no-obligation chat today.
FAQs
What is the biggest challenge for online businesses?
If your business doesn’t have a physical storefront and lives entirely online, a strategic approach to digital growth becomes all the more important. There’s simply no bigger challenge than developing a solid, data-driven plan to grow your online business.
What is the top concern for most small businesses?
Budget tends to be the primary concern for SMBs looking to develop a more strategic approach to their online presence. It’s why we offer a three-year ROI projection as part of DigitalArchitect: so businesses can enjoy some clarity on the returns their investment is likely to generate.
- Posted by Jack Papworth
- February 27, 2024