‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.’[1]

This has certainly been true of companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Tesla. It is easy to see that if a business can ‘inspire’ its market, it will have a much easier task of claiming leadership in that market. However, inspiring the market goes beyond attracting the right kind of attention of the customer and includes positively influencing other stakeholders, beyond the primary buyer and seller, including retailers, distributors, partners and suppliers. This section discusses how to enthuse an enterprise’s market environment. When a company has successfully inspired its market, buyers and the other associated parties will have a natural attraction towards that company’s selling proposition and will play their roles more naturally and enthusiastically.

In our current context, this means a company should explore using the fruits of digitalisation – for example, better or more attractive products or services, easier or more economical access to such services, facilitation of win-win business models for all parties involved – to create the market inspiration. Amazon’s ability to provide quality retail goods at reasonable prices and with fast delivery alongside its retail market platform has excited both consumers and other suppliers.

Google’s ease of search, with rapid and well-sorted results from diverse sources, attracted great amounts of traffic, which pushed Google far higher than all other search engines, allowing it ultimately to claim the lion’s share of the Internet advertising market. Apple inspired the music market with the vision of having ‘1,000 songs in your pocket’[2] – the iPod, a small device on which songs could be stored and heard in digital form, completed by the iTunes platform on which the songs could be bought. The only way the iPod could be used was as a device and platform package.[3] With Apple’s newer product and platform launches and the associated sales and marketing strategies, Steve Jobs addressed two essential market needs: the customer’s need of not having to keep songs in the form of cumbersome cassettes or CDs with an appropriate player; and the need of the music industry to reduce music piracy. Apple had to inspire the customer and to convince the music companies.

In the early stages of the digitalisation journey, it is important to ask whether the existing brands offer a good foundation for the digital reorientation. 

For instance, if a brand stands for a regional structure and personal customer relations, it would not work within the setting of an internationally oriented, anonymous Internet environment.[4] An enterprise must decide in the early stages if the transformation should be realised through the existing enterprise or if a separate subsidiary enterprise, specially designed for the digital transformation, should carry out the process. In both cases, a combination of business model and business strategy is necessary in order to move in the right direction. On this foundation, the company develops its brand and communicates with employees, partners, customers and other stakeholders

In addition, to inspire and implement the digital transformation in every business sector, it is necessary to position the newly envisioned enterprise in the market, explain the digital change within the enterprise and coach the senior management.[5]

The business brand, product and service brand and the employer brand must harmonise and should be coordinated to place a consistent and coherent brand message in the market.[6] Most businesses define themselves by their own brand or slogan communicated steadily over the years. Audi, for instance, has been using the slogan ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’[7] (i.e. ‘Lead by Technology’) for more than 45 years. ‘Engineering’ became the core of the message. Employees identify themselves with the term and get this across to the customer. Digitalisation, however, causes a substantial change. 

Technology no longer sits at the centre of the brand, but the customer does instead.[8]

Generation Z no longer identifies with the car and its specifications, but instead is drawn to the mobility and individuality it promises, as seen in the example of Toyota’s uBox.[9] The car evolves into a lifestyle product. This image has to be portrayed by the employees and made visible to customers. It is highly likely that a new generation of employees will need to be trained and employed to establish this new ideal in the business culture. For the creation of digital products and services,[10] new creativity is needed to handle the business with an emphasis on the human and not the technical angle.

For Generation Z, techniques such as Design Thinking and prototyping become paramount to enhance customer relations.[11] Also, enterprises need to show a modern, digital image in order to attract new talent.

In addition to in-house marketing of the digital reorientation, communication with the market becomes especially important. Communication not only with the customer, but also with the other market stakeholders needs to be addressed. The marketing strategy for digital products and services turns out to be quite different from previously known strategies and must therefore be implemented carefully.

In bringing partners into their digital transformation fold, enterprises may need to adjust their existing partnership strategies. In classical automotive production, for instance, manufacturers have to evaluate whether to continue their digital journey with existing partners or create new partnerships to push through the digital change. Existing partners may need long lead times to fully adapt to new strategies. Therefore, an enterprise must seriously consider building new partnerships. This change is already visible, particularly in the automotive industry.[12]

When considering customer involvement, enterprises need to find the right digital business model for their individual type of customer, since the customer will decide how he or she uses digital channels. Ideally, the customer is integrated into this process, for example, via initiatives such as the Open Innovation platform.[13] It is important that businesses remain credible and authentic during the digital transformation. 

The messages accompanying the digital change must also underline the brand message itself.

Therefore, it is only appropriate that enterprises use digital means to present their digital products and services. O2, for instance, is present on all relevant online channels, involves the customer in the development of products and services and emphasises open communication.[14] This way, the customer can actively join the brand evolution and may even become a brand promoter.