Understanding the importance of Digital for Brands in the Online, Social & Mobile age

How important are digital, social and mobile to brands? Short answer, very! If you think your brand can survive with just having a webpage, social media account, and a mobile app, than you’re really do not understand how things have changed over the last 5 years.

Having all three – a website, being on social media and having your own mobile app is just covering the basics. If you want to keep up with the digital race you have to be more proactive and take initiatives to jump ahead of your competitors. Let’s take an individual look to be able to understand the bigger picture.

Website:

If your website doesn’t communicate who you are as a brand, then it really doesn’t matter if you have one. I’ve come across websites lacking product information, having tabs and pages that are either outdated or lack content altogether – yes, empty! What message does that convey to someone visiting your website? Yeah, “These guys aren’t really serious about it!”

Customers come to your website primarily for information. If they can’t find any, they’ll go to a competitor who has what they want. Boom! Lost one! The importance of a regularly updated website with relevant content can’t be stressed enough.

You can add an e-commerce solution to your website to help customers directly buy your products from your website as an added convenience for them. The reduced cost will also allow you to offer discounts which is an added bonus and a win-win for both.

Social Media

Human beings are social animals and they will talk about your brand online. Facebook is now one of the first places a person goes if they want to know about a brand. Twitter is where they use hashtags to start a discussion on your product. LinkedIn is vital to create a professional presence with clients and suppliers.

Having presence on social media is vital for your brand but that’s just not enough today. If you just have social media presence but aren’t very engaging then what’s the point? Social media is the ideal tool to get the buzz going about your products. The more people talk about you, the more will notice. On the flip side, no one likes to be ignored. Failing to engage with customers on their comments and tweets is a recipe for disaster.

Social media management is a field in itself and you either need to train people in-house or hire experts to handle your brand socially. Bear in mind that be it internal or someone from the outside, whoever handles your socials, must speak in the tone your brand image has established. This may require training staff or having detailed sessions with an external social media team. Both have their own costs but are essential for a successful social media strategy to work.

Mobile

Mobile apps are cool. They help you have a presence in people’s pockets, literally. But what do they give your brand in terms of ROI?

You’ll have a better search visibility, for one. You’ll have your brand presence on various application stores for smartphone apps.

A mobile app can be also be your mobile store. Customers can purchase your products directly from their phones using an e-commerce solution embedded in your app.

We all know that this is the age of the customer and that can’t be stressed enough. The data you collect from your smartphone app will enable you to deliver a personalized customer experience which will boost your brand image.

A mobile app can also used for marketing purposes. You can have location based promotional offers using the GPS feature of smartphones. Make special offers and discounts on special occasions and dates important to your customer e.g. birthdays, anniversaries. Loyalty based programs can be used to offer discounts to longstanding customers with a certain number of purchases through your app.

It is very essential that all three i.e. your website, social media, and mobile presence give out the same vibe. If a customer gets one message from your website, another on social media and your mobile app carries a third voice, it’ll only lead to confusion about your brand. Synergy between your digital, social and mobile strategy is as important as being there itself. Ignoring any one is not an option for a brand manager anymore. So how do you plan to shape your digital strategy using your online, social and mobile presence?

Creating Memorable Customer Experiences in the F&B Industry

The restaurant industry has come a long way. Eating out has moved from an activity to change things up, to a much needed convenience in people’s busy lives. Specially the younger generation of today who’d rather pay to go to a place where they’re served delicious food than risk their own cooking – believe me, I’ve tried, and suffered!

For years the dining experience has consisted in two forms. Either it’s a self service model, where diners order and collect their own food and carry it back to their table, or a waiter waits on diners, gets their order, and serves it as well. A few have introduced tablets to take orders instead of paper based menus or offered free Wi-Fi connections but has the restaurant industry really embraced the technology that we literally eat and sleep with?

Unless you’re living in some remote cave, you should know that this is the age of the customer. Delivering a customer experience that leaves your diners in awe will give your restaurant a lasting benefit. It’s all about wowing your guests.

Here are a few ways to deliver awesomeness to your customer before they even taste your food:

• You can offer a dedicated homepage to anyone who logs into your Wi-Fi network, with menu and ordering details right on their browser (mobile + laptops).

• Use digital loyalty cards to know and record customer data. For example, if they order a meal regularly you can suggest that meal as soon as they enter their card information into your system before ordering.
  

• You can use a dedicated app for your restaurant to amaze customers before they even arrive. The app can have:
• Reservation – Amaze customers by giving them the option to reserve their table, and decide their actual location through a map of your restaurant’s interior within the app.
  

• Menu – Enable diners to see your menu before they arrive, and decide what to order, even enable them to order food from home so that they receive it as they arrive. This will save them time as well as free tables for incoming customers more quickly.

• Ordering & Billing – Allow separate ordering and billing through your app. For example, if three persons are have ordered food; allow them to pay separately depending on their individual orders.

The technology is there! It’s just now up to you to use it. For example, Microsoft Surface is an amazing tool that can turn your restaurant table into digital communication tool, displaying detailed dish information, live videos from the kitchen as a dish is being made, interactive orders and much more.

Explore the possibilities and share with us your ideas for a dining experience that will leave our jaws dropped – and not just for the food!