Digital ignorance threat to SW businesses

Eighty per cent of businesses in the South West feel inspired to grow, and 87% feel capable of doing so. However, the government’s Do More Online campaign is highlighting the risk that small businesses will be hampered because they are not doing enough online and are missing out on opportunities to find more customers, be more efficient, and save money.

The Do More Online campaign found that 19% of small businesses in the South West don’t have a website; 50% are without any social media presence and 15% are not using online banking. The research also found that 51% have never used basic online marketing and many have never traded online either through a third party site like Ebay or Etsy (85%) or their own website (88%). With total website sales in the UK worth £193 billion, government and industry experts are urging small businesses and sole traders to do more online to make sure they don’t miss out.

Government Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Simon Devonshire, said: “Government research suggests that nearly two million UK businesses are not online, and of those that do have an online presence; over two thirds are not transactional. I cannot think of a business to whom being online is not now vital to their trade, irrespective of their ambition to grow. I think those businesses that embrace the digital opportunity are improving their opportunity to reduce costs; to scale-up; and possibly even export – giving a further boost to the UK economy."

Tips from the experts
To help micro businesses and sole traders looking to do more online, experts from some of the world’s leading technology companies have joined the Government’s campaign to share their simple tips for online successes

Caroline Halpin, Google Partners
Start with the basics using free online tools that are available to you. Google My Business is a fantastic starting point, especially if you don’t have a website, as it will give you listings on Google Maps and Google + and ensure that your company appears when people search on Google. Start small and simple. You can do more once you built up your confidence.

Chris Rothwell, Microsoft
Get a simple web presence because this is where customers expect to be able to find you. If you’re not online, they won’t find you. This doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. There are many tools to help you do this, for example, GoDaddy has a package where you can get a domain, a website and an email for just £1 a week.

Steve Heywood, eBay
Just get started! If you are making something that people want to buy offline, then there’s no reason they won’t want to buy it online too – so be brave and take the first step by getting your product listed on a site like eBay. You can do this for little or no cost, in around just 90 seconds, putting your product in front of millions of potential customers.

Nadya Frost, GoDaddy
If you are setting up a website, think about why you are doing it and what you want customers to do once they reach you. On the front page have a clear call to action – don’t bother with a lengthy explanation of your journey, just be really clear about what you want people to do. Do you want them to request a quote, make an appointment, or put something in their shopping basket?

Jonathan Zatland, Etsy
Online selling with sites such as Etsy is fairly risk free and easy. You can start by just listing a few products and build it up from there, once you have tested the water and understand a bit more about how your customers are responding.

Neal Baroni, Facebook
To engage your customers online through social media platforms such as Facebook, it’s really important to be authentic and stay true to your brand’s vision. See what works. See what engages your customers – keep doing that, and learn how to do it better.

Government’s Do More Online campaign aims to help small businesses improve their digital skills to find more customers, be more efficient, and save money.

The research was undertaken by TNS on behalf of the Do More Online campaign between December 2014 and February 2015