Through the Canadian Digital Adoption Program (CDAP), your small to midsize businesses can get access to up to $15,000 in digital grant to work with a digital advisor like Advesa to build a tailored digital action plan for you.
No matter what industry you are active in, it pays to leverage technology to streamline your operations and to better serve your customers. An effective digital strategy can help you position your business ahead of competitors and strengthen your brand positioning through improved products and services, better insights into customer’s behavior and productivity.
So how can you get your business started for effective digital transformation? It can be overwhelming with many marketing options and efforts to choose from that will ensure you desirable return on your investment. Fortunately, the Government of Canada and Advesa are here to help.
Here are how an effective digital strategy crafted by a team of marketing professionals can help you make the most of your effort and budget:
Build and maintain positive customer relationships
Knowing your customers is crucial in building the products and services that best serve them and win them over. You’re more likely to build strong customer loyalty if you can satisfy their wants, anticipate their needs, and deliver consistent and high-quality service. Digital adoption has made it easy for businesses to interact with and understand customers, particularly for small businesses that may not have the funds for traditional marketing and advertising techniques.
Keep Customer in the Loop
Email marketing, company websites, and social media management allow small business owners to keep customers up to date on the latest changes or developments. Business owners can use these tools to inform customers about new products that may interest them, or to inform them of sales, store events or other campaigns. The low-cost nature of these tools means even small or new businesses with bare-bones budgets can maximize customer relations without a major investment.
Effective delivery
If you’re an online retailer, you will enhance your customer service by integrating CRM tools that help monitor customer interactions with your store. Customer service management software programs track and analyze data and customer feedback, making this information easier for companies to understand. Using these programs, companies can automate personalized emails, phone calls, and other forms of communication to show customers that they are seen and valued. This facilitates clear communications, smooth interactions, and positive relationships.
With data analytics enabled by technology, businesses can now track which website pages and platforms generate the most traffic and allocate more investment in these pages. This way you are delivering what people are most interested in and satisfy their needs without wasting your budget on investment that doesn’t yield little to no results. At the end of the day, every business owner knows that every dollar counts and they wouldn’t want their efforts to go down the drain.
Increase productivity and reduce costs
Technology now allows consumers to reach a company at a time that’s convenient for them, not just during business hours. Using AI-powered chatbot enables buyers to inquire about products or services and receive a response immediately. Electronic communication is also cheaper and faster for both parties, and the convenience factor may encourage more customers to interact with their favorite businesses.
Your sales efficiency and effectiveness would significantly improve if you’re able to prioritize the leads that have the highest conversion potential, engage your customers, anticipate their needs, know when to contact prospects, etc. Technology can also help companies streamline operations, reduce staff and processes, and cut costs internally, which can then be passed on to the consumer in the form of lower prices. Since many consumers actively seek out value pricing, this strategy serves as an effective way of building customer relations.
How the Canadian Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) can help
The CDAP aims to accomplish this goal by providing $4 billion dollars in total funding to small and medium-sized businesses who want to adopt new digital technologies. The program has two main objectives
- To help businesses enhance their existing digital presence and platforms
- To help businesses digitize their operations.
Through the Boost Your Business Technology grant, you can access up to $15,000 in funding to cover up to 90% of the cost of hiring a digital advisor like Advesa to help you craft the best digital strategy for your business. We can help you determine your eligibility and assist you with the entire application process.
Once approved, you’ll also have an opportunity to obtain a $100,000 interest-free loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to help pay for your technology implementation projects. And we can help you craft a road map to help you achieve your business goals.
Besides CDAP, there are also other grant options you can look into in order to maximize your chance of getting the financial support for your success. Check out Small Business Grants You May be Eligible For.
