By Table of Contents
Introduction
Business development has many facets and works both online and offline. We have discussed BD for traditional businesses. Now, we’ll discuss digital businesses and how business development is important in each of the areas in the Digital world.
There are many types of businesses that entrepreneurs prefer for convenience and because there is only a little investment required. Many of these programs need only a single person to operate them and generate good revenues too.
This makes them different than traditional businesses as there are no departments involved.
In this sense, these digital startups don’t even need a business development department or role of any other department because hey, there are no departments! But, that would be a little simplistic. Why? Because even a small business has all these areas albeit handled by a single person.
In that case, would you say that you don’t need sales, or marketing, or planning? If so, then you need to read this article because you’re wrong.
The fact is, there are departments in even the smallest of businesses that we don’t see. That’s because there is no separate person or persons for those areas. One person is doing all the work of these departments.
Thus, business development is equally important and the general rules are also applicable to the digital world as well. In this article, we’ll discuss how each of these online businesses can improve their performance and increase revenue generation.
So let’s get started.
Digital Marketing and business development
Digital marketing is an overarching term that involves many sub-areas under its umbrella. We’ll discuss digital marketing as a field and later define each category under this field as a separate business. If you don’t know what digital marketing is, then read this article.
The questions we want to answer are, how does business development take place in digital marketing, and why it is important for digital growth? First, business growth and development starts at the very beginning of a digital marketing startup. We’ll describe the steps briefly now.
On the first day, you, an entrepreneur, must know the areas you want to explore and how you are going to do it. For that, you must conduct a thorough research to understand the market and the potential it has. This could be a product analysis that you want to promote online. Or perhaps a service that you think will be popular.
You then try to find out the manufacturers or service providers that can become potential clients. With a deep-rooted analysis, you must identify the needs and problems of these potential clients and try to come up with a plan to help solve those problems.
This whole process is about business development, and in digital marketing, it brings out the following solutions.
Affiliate marketing and business development
This sub-field of digital marketing is perhaps the most popular of all. Most of our new entrepreneurs are using this service either as a main or a side business. If you don’t know about it, then read what affiliate marketing is, and how it works.
The process, as mentioned above, starts with a problem and someone finding a solution to that problem. As they say, “necessity is the mother of inventions”, similarly, a problem is the mother of the solution.
A manufacturer has a product, you don’t. There is a customer for that product who needs it. What happens is that you solve the problem of the manufacturer and the customer, by becoming a bridge between the two. Problem solved and business created.
Now, you want to take your business further. Again, business development comes into play. You go online, advertise your service, reach more customers, and in the process, expand your business. That’s the marketing part of your digital business.
Now, your business is expanding but you don’t want to hire someone permanently. What do you do? Well, you go toFiverr, hire a freelancer, get your service done and say goodbye to them. That’s the cost control part of your business development strategy.
Next, you have your sights on a new website, you want to explore new avenues or different target audience. That’s the expansion part of your business development process and the one we discuss in this next topic.
Website use for business development
So, as we mentioned, your business needs a website. You go toSiteGround, purchase the best plan for you, and are ready to expand your business. Here, we assume that you already know how to run a website, so we won’t bother with the minutiae.
(If you don’t, then we recommend you take a course onFIVERR Learn)
The digital world has transformed the shape of business and a website has become a necessity. It helps in business growth, helps reach out to more customers, and creates in them brand loyalty. It can work as a stand-alone business or the face of a traditional business. In either case, it is essential.
A website is the digital equivalent of a new commercial asset that you buy for your company. It’s like a manufacturing plant in the digital world. It will produce digital products and services. It is almost impossible to work on the internet without a website. (A YouTube channel or an Instagram page can be called modern sub-websites)
So, for business development, it is strongly recommended to have a website or a blog that you update and use wisely.
Business development in online shopping and eCommerce
Marketing, sales, outsourcing, and many more, are traditional terms applied in online shopping and eCommerce. That’s because business development is as relevant in this area as in traditional business.
Let’s say you create a website for your online store on Expandcart and now want to promote your products. What do you do? I’m sure you have guessed it, you do some serious marketing. Obviously, this is business development in the digital world. The scope and extent are different but that does not mean that this process is invalid in digital marketing.
In contrast to traditional businesses, you don’t have a new shop to open for business expansion. You just need to introduce new products online and ship them from the same store you’ve been using before. This enables businesses to work across the oceans and in different continents. It makes it easier to expand the business to another geographical area as a minimum of your resources are used.
Thus, business development is the digital world works differently for products and services as there are more opportunities available.
Content marketing strategy and business development
Another sub-field of digital marketing is content marketing. Business development in content marketing works more on creativity and ingenuity than on investment and capital. That’s the best thing about this field. You create genuine and original content, publish it online and earn your share of the market.
The more you create, the more your business expands. There is no limit to this expansion except for your creativity and stamina to work. Many entrepreneurs are making millions and they are just a one-person “company”. That is an insane amount of profit for little investment.
Email marketing strategy and business development
Similar to content marketing, email marketing is also a low investment marketing. However, there is not enough income to just work on email marketing alone. Most of the digital marketers work on email marketing along with other areas such as affiliate marketing and content marketing.
Regardless of that, email marketing is related to business development in a big way. It helps reach customers in a personal way and creates brand loyalty. Also, it has a global reach and works great with websites. Most people confuse email marketing with spam messages they receive but that is just a great method used in a bad manner.
Social media usage for business development
The last aspect of digital marketing is social media marketing. Social media is one of the most influential inventions in human history. It has changed our lifestyle and the way we interact with each other. Increasingly, we’re becoming dependent on social media in our lives.
This creates a great opportunity to start a business in social media. Many entrepreneurs are making a handsome amount from different methods on social media. Also, it is used for promoting traditional businesses. Traditional ads are becoming obsolete and social media marketing is replacing them.
Thus, business development is changing every day due to new inventions in the digital world.
Digitalization is inevitable for business development in 2021- an overview
As change is inevitable exact is with the digitalization in various fields. Digitalization has played an essential role in business development as well. As we have mentioned, multiple loops like digital marketing, affiliate marketing, websites, e-commerce, and many more strategic points for digital marketing, let us sum up all in one for our readers.
Digitalization in business development has proven to be almost essential for business success nowadays. A company starts using digital technologies to change the business model and provide new value-producing opportunities.
Digitalization has blessed business development with countless sources of expertise and knowledge available. Every platform needs to be aware of the knowledge that lies beyond the traditional boundaries.
The platform should learn how to bring together collaborative groups to contribute to both the development and creation of surplus economic value.
Advantages of digitalization in business development
As we have elaborated on the content before, we will point out some peculiar advantages of digitalization in business development in this heading.
- Increased efficiency of all operations
- Fewer human errors
- Safer data storage in the cloud
- Reduced operational costs
- Enables data analysis
Due to digital technologies and advancements, workflows are becoming streamlined, and there are fewer human errors. Thanks to these streamlined workflows, all operations are executed more efficiently, enabling businesses to reduce operational costs.
Increased digital presence
It is pretty safe for one to say that this benefit isthe most visible one. If a company and platform are present through social networks, online stores, and business directories, its visibility is multiplied.
Many companies and platforms only have a digital presence, meaning there’s almost no offline presence whatsoever.
Digitalization encourages new innovation
Digitalization in business development has a massive impact on innovations.As technologies and advancement become more and more advanced, they force you to act and innovate.
And once an individual starts, it’s hard to stop. Continuous innovation and creation are going to allow you to be more aware of new trends and opportunities.
We made clear what digitalization is – now let’s see what digitalization isn’t!
FAQs
Q.1 What is digital world business?
Digital worldprovides top-quality services for market penetration and expansion with tailor-made solutions for companies entering the Vietnam market. The digital world has been the market expansion services provider and authorized distributor for over two decades, building trust for more than 30 world-renowned brands.
Q.2 What are examples of business development?
Business development can include many objectives, such assales growth, business expansion, strategic partnerships, and increased profitability.
Q.3 What does a digital business developer do?
Proactivelydeveloping own sales channels to promote the benefits of digital marketing and convert the new business into the company. Contacting new perspectives and essential clients to establish a positive rapport and transform into new opportunities. Creating innovative proposals, presenting to clients, and closing deals.
Final Thoughts
To sum it all up, the digital world has created a lot of opportunities for business development. Many entrepreneurs now use websites, social media, and email marketing and get better results than traditional methods. Advertising agencies are using digital marketing more and more to promote and grow businesses. In the near future, the major share of business activity will take place online and the internet will become the predominant industry.
For this reason, we must transform our businesses to match with online and digital inventions. The next article will discuss the way we can use digital technologies to transform our traditional businesses. We’ll discuss how and why the digital transformation is key to business development.
Till then, keep learning and keep growing with SPI.
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