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Digital entrepreneurship: how to take advantage of all the opportunities in your environment
Description

In recent years, the digital environment has become particularly relevant in all areas of people’s daily lives. This has led to the emergence of new business opportunities related to digital entrepreneurship that need to be seized.

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What is digital entrepreneurship?

DefinitionClick to read

In simple terms, digital entrepreneurship is the creation of a business selling products or services over the Internet, without the need for a physical space to serve customers. 

 

Examples of digital businesses include:

  • Online shop (e-commerce). Selling products or services over the Internet is a must for any business nowadays.
  • Online training (e-learning). Digital training is booming thanks to the possibilities it offers, so if you are an expert in any field, you can provide quality training through this method.
  • Thematic blogs. For example, on personal care, video games, sport or nutrition. A blog that provides quality content and gains relevance can earn revenue through advertising.
  • Influencer / Youtuber / Streamer. Although the probability of being able to make a living from these professions is lower, it should not be forgotten that they are also digital entrepreneurs.

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Advantages and opportunitiesClick to read

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you have surely seen how many companies around you have chosen to have a presence on the Internet, and how many others have disappeared because they have not made the transition to digital. We already know that the digital environment is the future for a large part of companies. And you, do you know what the advantages of digital entrepreneurship are? 

  • New opportunities. Consumer needs are changing, and nowadays many of them are related to the digital world, so you can find numerous business opportunities by selling your products or services over the Internet.
  • Flexible work. When you are an entrepreneur, you decide your own working hours. When it comes to digital entrepreneurship, you are not limited to being in the same space all the time, as you only need your digital devices to work from anywhere in the world.
  • Low initial investment. As you don’t need a physical space to carry out your work, the initial investment is greatly reduced, as you only need a computer and an Internet connection to get started.
  • Greater visibility. You will be able to reach anyone anywhere in the world, depending on the audience you want to target. Even if your visibility is small at the beginning, if you put your mind to it, you will be able to reach many more people than in non-digital entrepreneurship.

 
Although despite the advantages of digital entrepreneurship, you should not lose sight of your goals, as success is not guaranteed and there is a lot of competition, and you can quickly lose your way if you do not persevere and stay focused.
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Steps to take for start a digital enterpriseClick to read

  1. Study your possibilities and what you can offer. What are you good at? What would you like to offer your clients? How would you like to work? From this you should come up with a business idea.
  2. Analyse your environment, the market and potential competitors. To analyse the feasibility of your idea, you can carry out different types of analysis, such as a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). In addition, you should do some research on who your competitors might be.
  3. Develop a customer profile. What segment of the population do you want to target? You can think about age, occupation, location…
  4. Create your corporate image. Once you have defined everything you need, it is time to create a good name and an attractive logo. Define the logo according to a colour palette and a typography that fits.
  5. Create a website. There are many free tools that allow you to create a website in a simple way, and there are also companies that are dedicated to it.
  6. Choose the right social networks for your business. Think about your audience - do you think that if your potential customers are young, they will be more on Facebook or Instagram? Visit the "Social Media Management" module to learn more about this.
  7. Develop and follow a digital marketing plan. In this module you will be able to do a practice task!

 

 
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How to be on the Internet

LogoClick to read

To be on the Internet, the first thing you will need is a logo that identifies your company and differentiates it from the rest. The characteristics it should have are:

  • It should be simple, but attractive.
  • It must be original and represent the essence of the business.
  • It should be scalable, i.e. it should be usable in different sizes, and be adaptable to different formats.
  • It should be long-lasting, not based on fads
  • The text must be legible and free of spelling mistakes.

 

Although it is not easy to create a good logo, you can also help yourself with tools such as the following ones, which will allow you to get inspired and focus on how you want your logo to look like:

Hundreds of free templates and resources. This website creates a logo automatically by entering the sector, name and typography. Allows the logo to be created automatically with the name of the company and its activity.
https://www.canva.com/ https://www.logomaker.com/ https://looka.com/logo-maker/
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WebsiteClick to read

A website is essential for customers to find you on the Internet. It will include your logo and all the elements that represent your brand, as well as the products and/or services you offer and relevant information for your (potential) customers. A website is made up of several web pages.

A website is made up of several elements:

  • A registered domain (URL).
  • A server that hosts the files.
  • A content management system.

 

Therefore, the first thing you will need to do is to register the domain, which will usually end in .com, although there are other categories such as .edu or .org. An example of a domain is projectspecial.eu.

The place where your website will be located is the server; let's say that this is where your website will live. This type of service is called "hosting", and it can be shared (your website will be hosted with other websites), dedicated (a server just for you) or in the cloud (the server is not in a physical location).

To create the website, there are two ways: hire the professional services of a programming company, or create it with a tool on the Internet. This type of tool will allow you to manage the contents, such as WordPress (https://wordpress.com) o Joomla (https://www.joomla.org).

 

One last tip! It is best to start your website with https, as it indicates that your website has a secure Internet protocol, and protects the integrity and confidentiality of all visitors to your website. To do this, your web server must have an SSL certificate installed. For example, you can see that Special's website is: https://projectspecial.eu.
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Social mediaClick to read

It is not mandatory for your company to have social media, but it is quite important if you have a digital business. A company profile on social networks will allow you to create an online community, connect with your customers in a closer way, as well as advertise your products and/or services. 

But you don't have to be present on all the social networks that are currently in use, but only on those that have users that are similar to the profile of your customers. Also, if you create a profile on a social network, ideally you should put it to good use and be active, because if you don't post anything for months, your potential customers will not have a good reference about your business.

If you want to know more about how to use social media, visit SPECIAL's training "Social Media Management” ;)
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Digital Marketing

What is digital marketing?Click to read

Marketing encompasses a set of techniques and strategies that aim to improve the commercialisation of a product or service and satisfy the needs of a target market. When we talk about digital marketing, we refer to the application of all those marketing techniques and strategies carried out in digital media, characterised by the irruption of social networks, immediacy, and new tools.

Digital marketing has evolved along with the Internet:

Web 1.0 – Static web

Advertising moved from traditional media such as television and radio to the first websites. There was no communication with users and the company was the only one able to control what was published.

Web 2.0 – Social web

With the arrival of social media and new technologies, a massive and instantaneous exchange of information begins. The Internet becomes a means to create an online community and get feedback from users. Today we are still at this point of development, while web 3.0 (semantic web) is already beginning to develop, which will mean that digital marketing will also continue to evolve.

 
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Digital marketing techniquesClick to read

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

It is about optimising search engines so that your company appears on the first pages of search engines, such as Google, improving the visibility of the website.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

This technique refers to paid advertisements that appear on search engines for certain keyword searches. It is carried out through services such as Google Ads. The main difference between SEO and SEM is that in SEM you pay to appear on the first pages, while with SEO you improve your organic positioning through more complex techniques related to keywords.

Content marketing

This technique or strategy is about creating content to attract potential customers, through blogs, videos, infographics, etc.

Social media marketing

It is about using social media to attract the target audience. Paid advertisements can also be used.

Email marketing

Through a database of emails, communications are sent to customers and target audiences. There are tools for this, such as Mailchimp (https://mailchimp.com/).
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Summing up

Summing upClick to read

Digital entrepreneurship

In recent years, new opportunities have emerged for digital entrepreneurship and for selling products and services over the Internet.

Advantages of digital entrepreneurship

The advantages of digital entrepreneurship include lower initial investment, greater flexibility and more flexible working than with traditional entrepreneurship.

How to be on the Internet

Special attention should be paid to having a good logo, a website, and even social media.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing strategies will improve the marketing of products and services by meeting the needs of the market.

 
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Quests! Learn more.

Before starting: SWOT Analysis

Designing a digital marketing plan


Test Yourself!



Related Glossary:
  • Community manager:
    A position within a company. This person is responsible for the company's online presence, managing and administrating social media, building an online community, creating and publishing multimedia content and interacting with the company's audience.
  • Influencer:
    This is a person who is an opinion leader on the Internet, who expresses opinions on one or more topics and influences many people who follow or know him or her. Nowadays, influencers are the celebrities of the Internet, and are dedicated to topics such as fashion, make-up, video games, sport, among many others.
  • Networking:
    A term that refers to building a professional network of people with interrelated interests. The larger the network, the greater the chances of finding work or business opportunities.
  • Privacy:
    It is everything related to an individual's personal life, which is kept confidential and does not have to be shared with others without the individual's consent. Privacy is a fundamental right enshrined by the United Nations, by the European Parliament, and even by the laws of individual countries.
  • Social media:
    Or social network. A concept referred to the Internet world since the end of the 20th century. It is a digital platform that allows people and communities to connect and interact with each other, as well as to publish and share multimedia content. For example, Facebook or Instagram.
  • See all terms
Educator Tips:

In this training, students will have to put themselves in the shoes of a digital entrepreneur, adapting their mindset so that they are able to perform the proposed tasks.

Therefore, there is a need for them to acquire a good level of knowledge about everything that surrounds the digital environment of a company, from how to create a website, to what digital marketing is and how to create and develop a marketing plan.

Quest 1: in this task, students' analytical skills will be strengthened, and it will be necessary to give examples of weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities that will allow them to detect variables for their analysis.

Quest 2: a template for a digital marketing plan is proposed in this task, but it is not mandatory to follow. A marketing plan may differ in certain steps or stages, depending on the characteristics and needs of each company.

Keywords

entrepreneurship, digital, e-commerce, marketing, website

Bibliography

Hotmart (2022). Digital Entrepreneurship: all you need to know to start an online business in 2022. Hotmart. https://hotmart.com/en/blog/digital-entrepreneurship

Sánchez, J. (2020). 5 ejemplos de posibles negocios digitales en tiempos de Covid-19. Pymes y Autónomos. https://www.pymesyautonomos.com/marketing-y-comercial/5-ejemplos-posibles-negocios-digitales-tiempos-covid-19

MBA Madrid (2019). En qué consiste el emprendimiento digital. Cámara de Comercio de Madrid. https://www.mba-madrid.com/empresas/emprendimiento-digital/

Mundo Bloggr. Ventajas y desventajas del emprendimiento digital. Mundo Bloggr. https://mundobloggr.com/emprendimiento-digital/ventajas-y-desventajas-del-emprendimiento-digital/

Calabuig, J. (2020). Los 10 primeros pasos para emprender un negocio digital con éxito. Quiero Tener Un Blog. https://quierotenerunblog.com/cuales-son-los-primeros-pasos-para-emprender-un-negocio-digital/

Ortiz, A. (2022). ¿Qué es el marketing digital o marketing online? Estrategias y herramientas. InboundCycle. https://www.inboundcycle.com/blog-de-inbound-marketing/que-es-el-marketing-digital-o-marketing-online

Llasera, J. P. (2020). 7 características para diseñar un buen logo hoy en día. Imborrable. https://imborrable.com/blog/7-caracteristicas-para-disenar-un-buen-logo-hoy/

De Souza, I. (2021). Cómo crear un sitio web: echa un vistazo al paso a paso para hacer el tuyo desde cero. Rock Content. https://rockcontent.com/es/blog/como-crear-un-sitio-web/


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