By Jenny Clarke, Associate
Living through a pandemic has taught us much, and one of the most significant lessons learned is the importance of community.
Communities support each other, offer a deeper life experience and help us to rebuild. Communities have an equally vital role to play in business. When it comes to remaining thriving and innovating, businesses that create, build and nurture their community are the ones that will succeed. And this thinking is now being used to successfully reinvigorate whole high streets across the country.
Keeping high streets thriving
High streets have suffered – true – and they were in decline well before Covid-19 hit, although this accelerated the trend. The convenience of internet shopping, coupled with the stay at home orders of the lockdowns saw a dramatic drop in footfall. The good news is that there is a groundswell of support for the high street among British people, with recent surveys showing that three in five feel the high street is important to them. Also promising is that the Councils, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and agencies responsible for supporting high street retailers are stepping up to the plate: all across the country they are getting busy employing an ever increasing array of innovative tools and resources to reimagine what is possible. The ambition and drive to keep the high street buoyant is very much alive.
Building digital ecosystems
So, what are the strategies and approaches that are working, and what are the ‘magic’ ingredients? Of course, as with all marketing strategies this is slightly different for every area, however, the most successful campaigns are those which seek to use technology in innovative and exciting new ways: building tailored digital ecosystems.
A digital ecosystem is the name for a group of interconnected information technology resources that work together as a unit. Digital ecosystems can be made up of suppliers, customers, trading partners, applications, third-party data service providers and any other relevant technologies. The key to success is that they all work together, and it’s this interoperability which makes it so valuable.
Tech vs Community
Our work at DigiKind is to partner, support and advise the organisations focussed on keeping high streets flourishing. If you look at our own extensive work to reinvigorate high streets you might be fooled into thinking that we would say that the best strategy is to focus solely on technology. But you’d be wrong. Indeed, we do believe wholeheartedly in using tech for good tools, smart technology and ultimately in creating digital ecosystems, but we would never say that technology is the answer in itself. The answer is community. Technology FOR the community; digital tools to EMPOWER and BUILD the community.
Digital ecosystems do not exist in a vacuum. They do not stand alone. To be successful they need to work with, for, and be used by the community they serve.
To make this clearer, let’s look at a few of the tools available that could help make up a digital eco-system, and the reasons they work so well to boost engagement with the high street:
1 Business Support
As part of our engagement and partnership with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), DigiKind offers a suite of digital training to help local businesses become part of the wider digital ecosystem of the Borough. Our ‘Lunch & Learn’ training is packed with guidance and expertise on how to create business plans and bespoke digital strategies, proving hugely popular, and has enabled participating businesses to build links with the local community. Additionally, our highly acclaimed ‘Breakfast Briefings’ headlined by nationally recognised, award-winning businesses provide further inspiration and collaborative learning. And all this is wrapped up with the innovation grant support that we offer to qualifying businesses in the Borough. The attendee rates and feedback tells of how successful our training has been.
2 Integrated Social Media Campaigns and ‘Placemaking’
By using social media high streets and businesses, BIDs and councils can create a word of mouth economy that can transform their communities. In nurturing ongoing personal relationships, social media can build brand recognition, market products and create networks. If used properly businesses can also gain feedback and insights from customers, foster valuable word-of-mouth marketing and cultivate brand ambassadors. A great example of social media bringing people together digitally to promote their community is an Instameet – where Instagrammers have exclusive access to a location or event, and share it online – like this one DigiKind supported in December 2021.
3 Creating digital experiences that give customers what they want, when they want
Adding convenience to the high street shopping experience is vital to keep it competing with online retailers. Click and collect uses simple digital technology and, used well, can make local shops more convenient than online, whilst building trust with local shoppers and drawing them back to the in-store experience. High streets and their communities can also benefit from an array of digital tools such as interactive online directories, Indie Shopping Campaigns, or Gift Guides, all of which DigiKind has created for our clients and partners.
4 Tech for Good
We believe in using ‘tech for good’ tools to provide people with a voice and decision makers with insights. We have helped RBWM’s business community collaborate by building their Engagement Hub. We also joined forces with our partners at Hello Lamp Post to provide digital touchpoints attached to street furniture and landmarks allowing visitors and members of the community to interact with their location across Windsor, called Hello My Royal Borough. By scanning a QR code or texting a number you can get information and interact with the surroundings by having a guided ‘chat’ with the technology. This helps people to invest emotionally in their local area, and – vitally – provides feedback, data and insights to decision-makers about who they are and their opinions.
How DigiKind can make a difference
Using our work with RBWM as just one example, we have seen first-hand just how effective creating a digital ecosystem within a shopping district can be at rejuvenating the high street. By always relating our digital strategies back to how they will interact with the community, be used by the visitors of the town, and ultimately bring value to the area, in terms of usable data, revenue and footfall, we can ensure they will bring success.
Ultimately, if we help businesses work to support the building of the local community, then we can have confidence that in turn the community will help support our businesses.
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