In a world where physical distance is the new normal, the shift to a digital existence has accelerated dramatically. And while the global pandemic may not deliver unexpected change, it has certainly accelerated those trends that were already in play.

I have been on more video calls in the past three months than my entire life combined. I have produced more video content, scrolled through more TikTok and Twitter than I thought possible and I have written more words sitting at my laptop than I care to count. Everything seems to be done digitally now, and that can be alarming for small business owners.

“Going digital” is being hyped as the solution to all of your problems as a business owner. There is some truth to this of course, but it is never as simple as it sounds.

If you sell physical goods then e-commerce can be complicated and can widen the cracks in an already breaking business. If you’re selling digital goods or services online then shifting to online sales is significantly simpler. If you have not worked on a digital plan for your business then now is the time to start. Three months ago would have been better but we can’t change the past so let’s move forward.

In this edition of the SME Toolkit, I will introduce you to some high-level digital ideas that you can research more deeply and apply to your business.

Remember, there is no silver bullet with digital. Every decision you make will have consequences that lead to a slightly new and different business. Consider them carefully as you introduce new ideas to your businesses, teams and customers.

Like many events around the world, Comic Con has made the decision to cancel its live event and shift to digital exclusively for the 2020 Comic Con Africa event.

“Despite months of planning, diligent consideration of the state of the pandemic dictates that cancelling the 2020 edition of Comic Con Africa is the only way forward.”

Instead, over the original 24 – 27 September dates, Comic Con will take place online, offering a variety of interactive content.

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As entrepreneurs, we are lucky in the sense that we are used to making our own way in trying times and rapidly adapting to change. Whether your business already has an online component or you’re creating brand new offerings, now is the time to be creative, not only to survive, but to become stronger after the crisis.

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The industrial, medical and recreational potential of the cannabis plant is touted as being worth between $150bn and $250bn. South Africa could be a world leader in this emerging industry, but rather than being bold, the government is fiddling with incremental changes to legislation.

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Top private and semi-private schools are named in a new anti-racism account on Instagram as global protests for equality and against violence take on digital form in South Africa.

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Accounting firm PKF recently conducted a survey to try and understand the impact of the lockdown on SMEs. 

• 40% of businesses surveyed have less than one month of cash in the bank.
• 60% of businesses surveyed were not confident they could pay their wage bill in the next 1-3 months
• 67% of businesses surveyed have not had any employee layoffs.

E-commerce

Shopify Shopify is your best bet if you want very little friction, simple user experience and an affordable price point. The platform offers extra plugins to give you features they might not offer and designs for free that are good enough to kickstart your store.  WooCommerce Founded by South Africans, WooCommerce has grown into a global behemoth and is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in the world. It is slightly more complicated to get started and requires a fair amount of extra purchases to get the robust offering you might be looking for.  Shopstar If you are looking to support a local platform then give Shopstar a try. Their pricing is reasonable and their feature set is sufficient to get you up and running.  There are many more options to research if you want alternatives to the above that include Magento, OpenCart, Squarespace and many more. 

Social Media

My main tip regarding social media marketing is that you do not have to be on every platform.  It’s expensive and hard work to produce content for one platform let alone all of them. Trying to be everywhere is really tough these days when you have Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, LinkedIn and all the others that I’m not cool enough to know about yet.  Find your audience and play where they play. Engage with them in an authentic way and do it consistently. Start today and don’t worry about the quality of the video production or the framing of your perfect photo.  If you don’t know who your target audience is then that’s a great place to start. 

Online Advertising

There are many places to go to spend your money online in the hope of driving sales. Many of them work wonders but the key when considering advertising is that you are selling a great product to the right people.  Aimlessly spending money on ads in the hope of magically discovering an audience or sales is not going to work. You need to have a clear strategy with a specific goal targeting a specific customer segment.  If you want to dip your toe into the world of online advertising then you can start with Facebook ads and boosting your posts. If you’d like to test out search ads then AdBot is a great way to start with a small budget and no experience. 

Logistics

Selling physical goods online is a great way to reach a wide audience. There’s a lot to consider: Do you warehouse your own products or use a partner? Which courier do you use and do they integrate with the e-commerce platform you’ve chosen?  These questions are important so contact the companies below and ask them:  
DawnWing
Ram FastWay
The Courier Guy
Aramax
ParcelNinja
Pargo

Payments

There are many options to choose from for your digital payments. Many of them are integrated into the top e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce but some are not. It’s important that you spend time reviewing the different payment platforms below to ensure they meet your needs before you commit.  Here is a list to get you started:
Payfast
Yoco
Peach Payments
Ozow
Snapscan
Zapper
i-Pay
PayGate
MyGate
PayU

The graph of the week comes to us from Yoco’s COVID-19 recovery monitor.

At 58%, the turnover index indicates that the small business sector is trading down from last week’s 65%. This is still up from our first newsletter on the 20th of May when the index was at 28% of the pre-Covid-19 levels.

In the interests of helping Small and Medium businesses, Johannesburg-based radio stations, Classic 1027 and HOT 91.9 FM have launched Lock ‘n Load, an initiative which helps these businesses to advertise their special deals at a vastly-reduced rate. The Lock ‘n Load deals are only available via the stations’ websites (www.classic1027.co.za and www.hot919.co.za)

World Cup-winning Springbok star, Bryan Habana, has announced the launch of MatchKit.co, which provides athletes with a platform from which to grow their personal, commercial brands.
This is more important than ever considering that this year sporting revenue will fall by an estimated $61.6-billion globally, as a result of the lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 virus. Inevitably, it is the athletes who are personally affected, as event cancellations result in pay cuts, loss of appearance-fee income, and reductions in endorsement deals.

Cape Town based gaming startup Carry1st has raised a $2.5 million seed round led by CRE Venture Capital, bringing the company’s total VC to $4 million which Carry1st will deploy to support and invest in game publishing across Africa.

Wyzetalk connects large organisations with their frontline employees through its software solution to improve communication, increase employee engagement and drive business performance. In the midst of the global pandemic, the company announced that CNBB Venture Partners has made a multi-million euro investment in it. The investment will be used for a successful market introduction in the Netherlands and to achieve further European growth.

Momentum, Science of Success - for SMEs Masterclass
When: Wednesday, 17 June 2020, 19:00
Registration link

Social Media Webinar Series - #Ridethewave: helping your social media stand out from the crowd
When: 12, 19 & 26 June 2020, 12h00 - 13h00
Registration link 

#StartSomething Stream with Heather Moore - SkinnyLaminx
When: Mon, Jun 15, 2020, 2:00 PM
Registration link

Organisational Resilience Webinar
When: Friday, 12 June 2020, 10:00
Registration link

If you missed last week’s edition of the SME Toolkit, click here