Is It Time For Your Business To Go Digital?

Is It Time For Your Business To Go Digital?

Sean: Hey guys! Sean here, and this is a special episode that we’re starting just this year, 2022. If you are one of those business owners that are still struggling to adopt or haven’t yet adopted, you’re still pondering if you are going to go digital, this topic is for you.

Sean: In 2020, around 90,000 MSMEs ceased operations during the pandemic. There are 1.5 million businesses that are registered in DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), with 99.6% of those being MSMEs. From April to May 2020, 38% of businesses remained close, meaning they’re not operating.

Sean: From June to July, as lockdown eases up a little bit, only 11% remained close or still not operating, while from August to September, only 6% still remain closed and are not operating. This is last year according to Secretary Ramon Lopez.

Sean: 193 businesses declared themselves permanently closed in June 2020 due to the pandemic, while 1,875 businesses have reduced their workforce significantly according to DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment).

Sean: According to digital reports, the Philippines is among the top countries for e-commerce, digital adoption and penetration, with 2019 seeing a 70% increase in user’s adoption of e-commerce. And that rate increased to 76% in 2020 and 2021, we were on track to hit 80%.

Sean: During the pandemic, there are a lot of businesses that have mushroomed and just sprouted out, and these businesses are new businesses for the most part. These are businesses that deal with online delivery services, e-commerce or online retail. These are businesses that deal with new payments or fintech. These are businesses that deal with technology, LED health care and so on.

Sean: There are so many businesses that have sprouted out and this has actually helped our economy so far. I don’t know about you, but there are so many businesses here in the country that are still brick-and-mortar. Those businesses are still doing trade pre-pandemic. They’re still not adopting payment systems that are more cutting-edge. They are still using cash as a way to transact.

Sean: There’s still a lot of brick-and-mortar businesses in the country, but a lot of businesses have also moved and adapted to how digital works and how digital can help their businesses.

Sean: Before we realize why and how you and I should adopt and go digital, we have to first see: What are the problems that we’re facing right now in this digital trend? And why wouldn’t we adopt?

Sean: The first reason why a lot of business owners really don’t want to go digital or are hesitant to go digital, or they’re really thinking twice about it, is the fear of the unknown. They just don’t know what it’s going to cost them and what it’s going to take for them to go digital.

Sean: The second reason why a lot of business owners don’t like to go digital or are hesitant to go digital is the unwillingness to change. You see, when you’re comfortable doing the same processes over and over again, the same systems over and over again, you don’t want things to change.

Sean: And one of the reasons why business owners start businesses is because they want to put in that effort at the get go, sprint, or maybe do a marathon for 5, 10, 15, 20 years and then cruise all the way until retirement. Right?

Sean: They want to milk that cow. They just want to make that same amount of money until they retire, and that is not a bad thing. That’s not a bad plan. But the world changes over time and right now we’re changing at an extremely fast pace with technology.

Sean: The things we have today and the things that are being developed today, web 3.0 is on the horizon. The metaverse is on the horizon. There are so many new things. You just cannot afford not to move at the pace of the world today.

Sean: And for those business owners who are unwilling to change because they’re too comfortable, what’s going to happen is instead of you cruising to retirement, your business is going to crumble down. And slowly but surely the law of entropy will take over and you will lose whatever process, whatever system, whatever teams you have built around you. And that is a much more dangerous place to be.

Sean: And the third and last reason why a lot of business owners are hesitant to go digital is they don’t know where to start. They don’t know anyone who can take them there. They don’t know someone who can give them good advice, who they can trust their business to.

Sean: One business is Flooring solutions. Flooringsolutions.ph is a website that SEO Hacker built not so long ago. We actually started somewhere in 2018. And before that, the business owner, Anton Laborte, and he’s a good friend of mine now, was actually telling me the same things that I told you.

Sean: He was saying, Sean, why do I need to go digital? Why do I need a nice website? Why do I need SEO? Why do I need to be found on Google? Because all my other competitors, guess what they’re doing? They’re still not yet on Google. They don’t even have a website. Andthe bidding process to get projects, it’s still offline, it’s still through connections. It’s still connections.

Sean: You got to have connections with the purchasers, you got to take them out, give them a good time, pay for their meals. All of these relationship building tactics that are happening offline are important and that’s our strategy and it works. Why do I need your SEO services, Sean? So that’s what he told me.

Sean: This went on for three years between me and Anton, and the conversations that we’re going to be having within those three years are practically the same. Why do I need SEO? Why do I need to go online? Why do I need to digitize my business? Why do I need a nice website? All my competitors are still offline.

Sean: It’s the same thing that he’s telling me, but somewhere behind his head and maybe in his heart, he knows he needs to go digital. He knows that it’s time and he knows he has to do something about it.

Sean: So finally, the time came when we were going to sign the contract, because what I told him is if you’re the first to go digital, then all your other competitors are going to be wiped.

Sean: And the reason behind that is even if right now, the important thing is for you to have that fantastic relationship with the purchasers, what’s going to happen is those purchasers are going to get older and older. And they’re going to get assistance from people who are younger and younger.

Sean: And the young ones, what they do is they search in Google. The first thing they do if they need something, if they need a new supplier, is they search in Google. And whoever has the better looking website, the faster loading website, the more respectable website on mobile, they are the ones who are going to be picked to join the bid and they now have a chance to close the deal.

Sean: The younger purchasers, the millennials, the centennials of our time, they are now in the job market and they are working and they are being hired. And the first thing they do is no longer look for referrals in their network of friends. The first thing they do is they ask Google.

Sean: So if you are there, ranking number one for your keywords, guess what? You’ll be in every bid. I’m not going to say that you’re going to win each and every bid. That’s not what I’m trying to say, but you’re going to be in each and every bid. And now it’s up to you and your sales team to close the deal.

Sean: So finally, he threw in the towel with me, gave me his trust and I showed him the way. By the way guys, you can watch his testimonial video in the link that we’ll put here in the video. That way you can hear from Anton, himself, how his business grew 500% almost from 2018 to 2020.

Sean: Imagine three years time and your business grew five times. His business was making somewhere 30 million gross, 2018. 2020 came and his business grossed more than 150 million, more than five times. That is what digital can do. That’s what we did for him. That’s what SEO has produced for Anton and his business.

Sean: And here’s the thing before I came in, Anton didn’t have a nice website. His company was named IIPI or International Industrial Partners, Inc., and it didn’t mean anything. And when I asked him why it was named IIPI, did you know what he told me? He told me that it was named so because he didn’t know what his business was going to be.

Sean: He just started the business, registered the company and he wanted it to be a broad name, an all-encompassing name. But his business now is Flooring Solutions and that’s where he found his forte. That’s where he found his market.

Sean: So I actually presented to him to rename the entire company and I said, “Why don’t we just name it Flooring Solutions?” The good thing is, Anton agreed. Not a lot of business owners will agree to that; to changing their business name.

Sean: But Anton is a guy somewhere my age, I’m 33 now, and he’s open minded to still changing a lot of things in the business, improving the business. I’m glad to be partnered up with. So we changed it to flooringsolutions.ph. Now his receipt, everything is still IIPI, we didn’t change that, we didn’t need to. But his website was now named flooringsolutions.ph.

Sean: And right now we’re ranking number one for the biggest keywords in his industry – Epoxy Flooring Philippines, Polyurethane Flooring Philippines. In fact, you can go ahead and search these keywords in your web browser right now and you will see flooringsolutions.ph is ranking number one and dominating their entire industry. That’s how we grew his business five times in three years.

Sean: So you see, going digital is really a very big deal. Who wouldn’t want to multiply their gross revenue per year by five times? I don’t know any business owner who will turn that down. And what we did for Flooring Solutions we were able to do in three years. That is not a long time.

Sean: But SEO is a long game. It does take time for you to be able to rank on the first page and in the first place. And Google has its own mind. We can’t tell Google what to do, so you have to invest in your SEO today, right now, because the only thing that you cannot pay for in SEO that is a pretty big factor is time. The earlier you do your SEO, the better it is for you, and the harder it is for your competition to follow suit and try to beat you in the rankings.

Sean: Investing in digital doesn’t have to be hard. You don’t have to be afraid and you don’t have to be hesitant and you don’t have to be unwilling to change, if you know someone who can show you the way.

Sean: I’m here and my email address is at sean@seo-hacker.com, you could send me a personal email, we could get in touch, no commitments. We’ll just do an exploratory Zoom call. I’ll talk with you.

Sean: I’ll tell you how we’re going to be improving your site, where you are right now, why you’re not ranking and what our projections would be 12 months out. Let’s make it simple, easy and inexpensive for you to start your digital transformation.

Sean: If this video has helped you out and has added value to you, don’t forget to subscribe, hit the like button and hit the notification bell so you can be alerted whenever we have new videos.

Sean: Again, this is Sean Si from the Leadership Stack Show and podcast, thank you so much for tuning in. I hope that you also follow us on Spotify, and digital marketing is something that I personally do.

Sean: SEO Hacker is a team of 50 people, we would love to hear from you. I would love to hear from you. If you have something in mind, you could also leave it in the comment section below and we will get in touch with you. And I’ll see you guys on the next episode.