Imagine that you have 2 friends. Both of them are owners of small companies. Let’s call them Jane and Jack. As the majority of small companies’ owners, they both are on a tight budget. But they have one crucial difference: Jane loves technologies, while Jack doesn’t.
Jane is basically a geek closely watching new trends in technology, which might help her to deliver better services to her customers. She also knows that paying a couple of dollars for a good app can save loads of time for her employees and substantially boost their productivity, bringing thousands of dollars of profit to the company.
Jack is a far more conservative type. He thinks that all new fancy gadgets, applications, and craving for technologies is just a buzz, waste of time and money. He relies on old methods of business development, does not follow tech trends and thinks that 250 subscribers at the Facebook page is a pretty good result for a 21st-century company.
Now, when you get the difference between Jack and Jane, let’s speculate a little bit on how future will be like for their companies.
Jane’s company Jack’s company
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1. Clients, partners, and investors will get high-quality reports with cross-checked data. No need for her to explain something in lay terms as she will have visualized data. |
1. Less responsive. Without using neuromarketing tools it will be difficult for Jack to understand customers’ needs and their behavior to the fullest. If he won’t understand his customers, future of his business will be very gloomy. |
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2. Jane will definitely know what attracts her clients and catches their attention. She will have an opportunity to test customers’ credibility and better understand how to engage them. |
2. Constantly failing in marketing. Without comprehensive understanding of customers’ behavior, effectiveness of Jack’s marketing efforts will be close to zero. |
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3. Great at forecasting. The more information from customers and about them Jane will get, the easier it will be for her to tailor her services and products to the needs of her customers. |
3. Can’t retain customers. Misunderstood and unsatisfied customers will simply migrate to competitors, who know how to keep their clients happy, like Jane’s company, for example. |
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4. Trustworthy. Jane’s marketing campaigns promoting her product will appear more credible and attractive for customers, partners, and potential investors because they will be based on a verified data. |
4. Puts its future at greater risk. At best Jack will use surveys to learn what customers think about his services, which of course is not enough. Without proper customer feedback Jack will not know how to improve his services and how to plan long-term. |
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5. Profitable. A better understanding of client’s needs and behavior leads to a better product and thus to more profit. |
5. Can’t compete. By not embracing technologies Jack loses clients to competitors who are more skilled in using emerging tools. |
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6. Fun. Using tech is fun. By embracing technologies you get lots of handy and smart apps and devices with tons of functions which are fun to play with. |
6. Less fun for employees and customers. It’s a quite self-explanatory notion, isn't it? |
It is always up to you to decide whether to “Come to the Tech side” or not. I am not saying technologies are a magic trick with which you should approach all the future challenges your business might face. Though one thing I can tell for sure – technologies are the future, and if you see yourself and your company, regardless of its scale, in this future, you have to embrace them.
Written by Kate Khozroshyna, Head of Marketing at CoolTool
