Click 'Read Original' or scan the QR code in the image to register Recently, the New Distribution team was invited to attend a high-level meeting themed around digitalization at a well-known brand, with attendees including the president, channel vice president, and marketing and HR personnel. The theme was digitalization, but within minutes the discussion turned to business: "How can digitalization bring me more customers and business growth?" Despite an in-depth discussion, no particularly clear results emerged. We certainly cannot expect one meeting to solve all questions about the direction and methods of digitalization, but we still felt the deep anxiety of the client during the meeting. -01- Digital anxiety is spreading across enterprises In 1998, Cui Jian's line "It's not that I don't understand, it's that the world changes fast" seems to have become a prophecy for the 21st century. Over the past two decades, changes have accelerated, making it harder to understand, and anxiety has become commonplace. Why do we feel anxious? Anxiety does not stem from ignorance but from knowing something yet being unable to act on it. We know roughly what the future holds, and we often need to pay a price and take action soon, but we do not know how to get there. This gives rise to heavy anxiety. New Distribution has found that a wave of digital anxiety is spreading across the business world, not just at the well-known company mentioned at the beginning. Those who have not acted worry: How can I act immediately? How far behind am I? Have I missed the dividend? Have I already lost the future? Those who have started digitalization are also confused: they have introduced a pile of systems, conducted countless trainings, and are burdened with concepts, yet still feel fragmented and unclear. Those who have paid a heavy price without seeing the light, and must continue paying "tuition," ask: Where should digitalization go? Even Midea, one of the most successful companies in digitalization, has its chairman Fang Hongbo admitting, "Digital transformation invests billions every year; I am also anxious when I don't see results." How can we alleviate our heavy digital anxiety? -02- For digitalization, a correct start is more important than anything Moderate anxiety is beneficial; it keeps an organization alert and maintains a sense of crisis. Every successful company has traversed multiple cycles and overcome countless crises. Without moderate anxiety, a company is likely to fall at the next crisis. Excessive anxiety prevents a company from maintaining strategic focus, prevents the team from focusing on the right things, and can even lead to wrong judgments and decisions. Suning's cloud-commerce transformation cannot be said to have been misdirected, but the results of its failure were quite disastrous. Adapting to the times, transformation is certainly important, but whether it is necessary to "cut off a wrist" (make a drastic sacrifice) requires careful consideration. In most cases, the brave who cut off their wrists are very likely to become martyrs. As one of the most important strategies for FMCG companies' market competition in the coming years, the opening move of digitalization is crucial. The more important the strategic action, the more important a correct start is. Many companies in digital anxiety are actually in that state because they did not have a correct start or do not know how to start their digitalization correctly. -03- How to correctly start marketing digitalization? Different companies have completely different digital foundations, and what they see and perceive about digitalization may be completely different; this is a reality that must be recognized. Midea Group saw the future several years ago and has invested billions annually for years in comprehensive digitalization. Few companies have Midea's foresight, and even fewer have Midea's financial strength. First, marketing digitalization must be a "top-leader project." Marketing digitalization is the most important part of the entire enterprise digitalization edifice; it cannot be accomplished solely by a functional department, business department, or technical department head. In fact, in the past few years, most marketing digitalization efforts started from the sales department, and even introducing and applying a B2b system or SFA system was the entirety of marketing digitalization. Is this considered digitalization? Of course it is. But in many companies, if it is not elevated to the level of a top-leader project, even just introducing an SFA system can be very awkward, and may not even gain the understanding and support of the sales and channel teams. Accenture found in a survey on digital transformation that only 7% of companies that made digital transformation a top-leader project achieved significant ROI. The vast majority of companies still implement digitalization in a piecemeal manner, only in local areas, making it impossible to achieve satisfactory digital returns. Making marketing digitalization a top-leader project ensures that the company's internal resources, talent, team awareness, and organizational will truly tilt toward digitalization. Only by giving it sufficient importance can marketing digitalization have a correct start. Second, correctly assess the company's current marketing digitalization foundation and stage. Liu Chunxiong, a renowned marketing expert and founder of the New Marketing theory, divides digitalization into three development stages from a marketing perspective. Stage one is digital channels and digital communication represented by B2C e-commerce. Because it originated on the internet, information in this stage is naturally digital. This stage has a very high adoption rate; today, there are almost no consumer goods companies without e-commerce channels. But for most FMCG companies, this business accounts for a very low proportion, generally within 10%, and sometimes only 2%. Stage two is the digital upgrade of traditional business, mainly represented by channel digitalization. Traditional offline business is huge in volume but almost entirely non-digital. In recent years, more and more companies have begun to introduce systems, hoping to build their own marketing digitalization system from both B-end and C-end. Stage three is the comprehensive digitalization stage. Currently, almost no FMCG company has reached this stage; in the entire consumer goods field, only Midea Group is close to comprehensive digitalization. In the comprehensive digitalization period, the enterprise's digital edifice is complete, with all business online, channels online, and users online; all content is basically fully digitalized, and business operations are efficient and precise. Only by correctly recognizing the digitalization stage we are in can the CEO calm down, correctly view the speed and success or failure of digitalization, abandon short-term thinking, and focus on long-term digitalization projects. But reality often deviates from this. Research shows that most companies starting digital transformation expect significant results within one year, and some even hope for huge changes within six months. Why does this mentality arise? It is because the CEO and team lack an accurate assessment of their digital foundation and lack understanding and respect for the laws of the upcoming digital transformation. Such unscientific expectations and goals are particularly harmful to digital transformation, not only making the team eager for quick success but also easily losing confidence after setbacks. Third, marketing digitalization cannot be done behind closed doors; it requires an open mindset, learning while doing. Many companies' marketing digitalization projects are basically implemented by the IT and business departments under the guidance of external system companies. This is the main way most companies implement digitalization, but the result is that more than half of companies' digital transformations are unsuccessful. The problems mainly lie in two aspects: First, system companies are most professional in technology but do not understand the actual business situation of the industry and the company; second, each company has its own marketing model characteristics. Can the system achieve it? How should it be achieved? Should the company's marketing model be upgraded? What to do after the upgrade? These questions are hard to answer. A more effective approach is to broaden horizons by seeking guidance from mentors, and to visit and learn from benchmark digitalization cases, learning and thinking while observing. On the one hand, by deeply understanding the experiences behind others' successful cases, you can accumulate experience for your own digital transformation; on the other hand, you can form an overall mindset on digitalization, avoiding a piecemeal and patchwork digital upgrade. Whether you are about to embark on digitalization or are already in it, you may be anxious or calm, but you will know that all the preparation and effort you put into getting "a correct start" is worthwhile.