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3 WAYS BRANDS TRANSFORM INTO THE DIGITAL AGE

As the digital age has been developed genuinely, platforms have a more robust transformation, marking a significant milestone of globalization. Brands, of course, do not accept falling behind the market and continually innovating to suit the tastes of consumers. This worthy improvement helps brands attract customers’ attention and ideally bring the best user experience. To come into the digital age, brands transform in various ways, focusing on utilizing brand touchpoints, customers, and potential opportunities.

1. Invest in touchpoints to make brands transform

With no exception, brands transform as always to keep up with the digital age’s swift trends. To complete the digital transformation, investing in brand touchpoints is a concept that worth-considering. Most generally, the brand touchpoint is the simultaneous interference from both businesses and customers, creating the highest attraction for the business and providing the best customer experience.

However, some people argue that the concept of brand-touchpoint is vague and quite broad because any existing factors can potentially affect the movement of brand touchpoint for better or worse. This argument will be recognized if businesses do not know where to start creating a touchpoint. Brand touchpoints stem from business core-values, the level of customer experience, and a little bit of difference when needed.

Systematic

System assets help businesses grow in both quantity and quality. A standardized system not only allows products to shape within the unified normative framework but also ancillary services. A complete digital transformation of a brand does not stop at the product level. Developing and continuously improving the system are the keys to meet the second requirement of the brand touchpoint: user experience. The apt system helps businesses get in touch with product-and-service convenience and can create an isolated ecosystem to make brands transform.

product system in digital transformation — A complete product system create a much more convinience for customer experience

That was how Apple had been successfully producing a technology-product ecosystem that made a stunning attraction for users. Simply put, the term ecosystem in this context implies a group of products that can interact with each other in harmony to optimize customers’ convenience. Apple has generated an almost-efficient technology ecosystem that performs seamless interactions. However, what makes Apple enthusiasts completely satisfied is the personal ID system with high privacy and data security.

To take another example, Nike has wholly changed their business since their growth stalled, and the earlier business model was no longer sufficient. The mandatory change in the brand requirements has shifted to using an online business network to interact directly with consumers. The online trading system completely replaces the traditional product-distribution through intermediaries, as well as exclusive distributors. Nike also combines the accompanying member programs with trendy and fashionable items, creating a close connection with customers. As a result, the transforming system contributed to an increase in ecommerce revenue by 38% in November 2019 (data provided by Brands Vietnam).

Brand honesty

To transform successfully in the digital age, make sure that the brand is honest and authentic. All information about the business can be delivered more quickly than ever in the internet era. A restaurant with a 1-star review will undoubtedly make customers turn away. Therefore, providing authentic information will make users feel secure and reliable when using products. Brand honesty helps create a pure life for products while contributing to the user experience’s seamlessness, making the brand touchpoint in harmony. Transparency in product quality and working manner will create a unique touchpoint system.

Brands transform with simplicity and minimalism

That viewpoint may sound strange, but most customers in the digital age need simpler products, services than cumbersome and complicated ones. Simplicity and minimalism in branding still can create brand touchpoints while focusing on the pillar values of the brand, such as strengths, target customers, differentiation, missions, quality, and messages. These keys, eliminating other complex elements, will be more focused and orientated for businesses in the long run. Simplicity and minimalism make businesses quickly adapt to the ever-changing digital age.

simplicity in brands — The brands truly need simplicity and minimalism more than a complicated system to produce brand touchpoints

2. Customer-in-center to make brands transform

Product-centric is still an essential factor in most campaigns. However, customer-centric will be the necessary combination to enhance user experience, which making brands transform. Products exist in the world with the ultimate goal of meeting customer needs. Therefore, identifying customer needs is a crucial starting point for a digital transformation campaign.

customer-in-center philosophy — Growing up with customer-in-center mindset will create more brand values than only keeping a product-centric mindset

That is how the Maggi brand cleverly introduces cuisine recipes combining with soy-sauce on their website. This action increases convenience for cooking lovers. Customers feel more excited when their everyday-cooking gets more of the brand-attention though buying only one soy-sauce bottle.

In general, customer-centric is a long-term transformation requiring businesses to have a proper awareness of their target customers. This awareness should also form in every staff of the company to make brands transform. Besides, this customer-in-center philosophy acts as a value connecting businesses with their customers; but not a task to be completed and to get rid of.

3. Challenge-utilizing to turn into opportunities

The digital age witnessed rapid and unpredictable changes requiring businesses to have timely adaptive solutions. Products are not only produced for quality but for customer convenience. Other customer needs are also considerable except for products themselves, namely membership programs, accompanying promotional gifts. Customers also tend to shop more on ecommerce websites, which leads to a requirement to manage information, data, and technology platforms. Epidemics also become dangerous, increasing unforeseen risks for businesses.

Utilizing the challenges will be sure leverage when brands transform into the digital age. Besides, people are still the critical factor, no matter how advanced technology is. Therefore, businesses first need to focus on the internal structure: human resources, processes, products, and customer services to complete the transformation.

The COVID-19 crisis has globally worsened since the Government issued a social-distancing-order as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to increase. However, recently, the ecommerce industry has had a speedy growth, as people now prefer to shop online while staying home. This time is much higher challenging for every business in Vietnam and an opportunity to make brands transform themselves.

At SECOMM, we will accompany clients on every ecommerce step to ensure comprehensive solution-providing for their ecommerce transformation. The brands transform successfully in a digital age when they are operated with a sustainable website platform. We will be the starting point for this revolution. Contact Us for more detail.