Introduction
Many businesses experience transformations due to the rapid development of online commerce. They always have to seek new ways to attract and retain customers in the digital environment. Therefore, such organizations as bookstores need to adapt constantly to an ever-changing market, as well as to customer preferences and convenience in their online shopping.
Business Description
Since the interest in reading faints gradually, there is a need to popularize books. As one could guess, the business that requires effective digital-first strategies will be a bookstore. It will sell books, including rare and old ones, comic books, periodicals, scholarly literature in paper, electronic, and audio formats, and other book-adjacent items. This bookstore aims to heat curiosity in the literature of different genres and revive reading passion. In addition, there will be a book exchange service, including an online one, where people can bring books they do not need and take one they want to read. Thus, the bookstore will have an interactive and convenient online platform with many features, which will be described as parts of strategies.
Strategy One
The first strategy concerns attracting new customers and profitability, which represents a challenging task given the massive customer migration online during the COVID-19 pandemic. First and foremost, one needs to develop a buyer persona, considering their demographics and interests (Serd Studio, n.d.). Preliminary, the target group will encompass people aged 16-60 years fond of literature. However, the bookstore will perform continuous marketing research to identify its core customer group. In addition, the organization will need to make the purchasing process as convenient as possible because, nowadays, people choose self-service options (Cicman, 2020). Furthermore, it would be necessary to rely on social media to expand the geography of potential customers and thus increase the bookstore’s profitability (Li et al., 2020). Here, the organization’s ability to offer books to any taste with the help of social networks plays a pivotal role.
Social media has become an area in which most people spend their free time. Bala and Verma (2018) see a favorable and cost-effective opportunity in using such platforms as Facebook. Shaw (2020) also asserts that increased presence in social media and performing digital marketing activities keep businesses visible. Thus, another step in the strategy is creating and maintaining the bookstore’s social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and other even less popular ones. Along with this, one needs to implement online advertising and video-marketing approaches, as they will help to transfer information about available products faster (Bala & Verma, 2018; Andrzejewska, 2021). Thus, the expansion of geography and development of attractive online marketing will facilitate engaging new customers, increase profitability, and save costs.
Strategy Two
The second strategy is related to customer experience improvement. Customers need to feel they are valued, and this fact increases the necessity to establish close connections with them (Li et al., 2020). Moreover, customers have become more autonomous and tend to take more control of marketing communication activities. Thus, it is necessary to build an interactive environment where they can communicate, collaborate, and create (Li et al., 2020). One of the options can be starting a YouTube channel with book review videos because it will maintain social connectedness through mutual interests. On the other hand, live video streaming with the participation of modern authors has a chance to increase customer loyalty because interaction with influencers plays a crucial part nowadays (Andrzejewska, 2021). Nevertheless, the bookstore will have to continuously work on adding new content to keep customers interested.
Another effective digital marketing tool for the bookstore will be launching blogs. Bala and Verma (2018) state that when customers can read reviews and share comments about their experiences, it significantly boosts sales revenues. Furthermore, such practice elevates customer enjoyment and self-esteem, which in turn, impacts their buying decisions (Bala & Verma, 2018). In addition, the bookstore can use customer knowledge derived from comments in blogs and improve the experience of customers by offering what they like.
In this stance, social media can also help build more connections with customers. Here, it is also possible to combine social networks and customer relationship management or CRM. This approach will provide the bookstore with the possibility to divide its customers into specific segments with respect to their characteristics and thus customize the offerings according to their preferences (Li et al., 2020). Furthermore, it will allow for engaging customers through one-to-one interactions on social media (Li et al., 2020). In this way, they become more collaborative and can share innovative ideas, which will extend the bookstore’s efforts in advancing customer experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the bookstore has to keep abreast of the times using innovative digital technologies. Since its purpose is to awaken the passion for reading, it needs to conform to customer preferences in the digital environment. Thus, one strategy aims at expanding geography through an increased presence in social media and launching online video marketing, which will help attract new customers and lift profitability. Another strategy includes launching a YouTube channel, live video streaming, creating blogs, and the combination of social media and CRM to maintain close interaction with customers, which enhances their experience.
References
Andrzejewska, A. (2021). Why is a digital-first marketing strategy a must right now? Medium. Web.
Bala, M., & Verma, D. (2018). A critical review of digital marketing. International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering, 8(10), pp. 321-339.
Cicman, J. (2020). Make your B2B business a digital business. Executive overview: the B2B eCommerce playbook. Forrester.
Li, F., Larimo, J., & Leonidou, L. C. (2020). Social media marketing strategy: definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(1), pp. 51–70. Web.
Sedr Studio. (n.d.). Digital-first strategy: a guide to modern marketing. Sedr Studio. Web.
Shaw, P. (2020). Going digital-first: book marketing response to COVID-19. [Master’s thesis, University of British Columbia]. Google Scholar. Web.