Six Myths vs Reality, about digital business growth.

#1 Myth

Digital growth is about how many Likes, Fans and Followers you get on social media.

Reality

Being a digital business is more than striving for “Likes” on Facebook. Although those kinds of moves can be crucial steps on the road to becoming digital, true relationships with brands develop over time through many digital interaction touch-points that create awareness, affection, trust, and eventually a loyal relationship. Facebook is a content touch'point and it should not be positioned in the heart of your digital growth strategy. Customers are at the center of digital business, requiring leader brands to adopt an “outside-in” perspective on their digital experience, Do not isolate your brand on Facebook.

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#2 Myth

Digital business is just for online companies. We sell physical products and services.

Reality

Digital is transforming traditional sectors like banking, energy, mining and manufacturing by changing customer experiences, products, services and processes. Digital opportunity comes from how you use digital to create new combinations of digital and physical resources to help drive growth and results.

#3 Myth

The more digital we become, the less our customers are willing to pay for our products and services.

Reality

This may be true when digital applies exclusively to marketing and sales channels. A digital business strategy finds new connections between customer value and company revenue that create pricing power and avoid commoditization. Digital customer experiences, digital supply chain performance and digital innovation will create a premium that combats the tendency for commoditization.

#4 Myth

My customer demographic is more established. It’s only Generation X and Millennials who care about digital experience.

Reality

Baby boomers and older consumers are among the most avid digital users. They regularly use financial and health services online and on their phones, and they shop extensively online, including comparison shopping. Digital opportunities exist across customer demographics.

#5 Myth

Digital is relevant only in developed markets.

Reality

Many emerging markets are digitally sophisticated; some are creating mobile banking and advertising business models and platforms that are now being implemented in advanced economies. IDC predicts that by 2020, 62 percent of the digital universe (a measure of all the digital data created, replicated and consumed in a single year) will be attributable to emerging markets.

#6 Myth

Digital applies only to B2C companies. It matters less for B2B companies.

Reality

Digital is fundamentally personal. This makes it easier to see digital’s B2C opportunities. However, digital changes how organizations use information and communications to create value. This is how B2B companies such as GE and Caterpillar among others are executing digital strategies to create value.