CEO of WEBITMD, Mattan Danino Talks About Digital Transformation in the Post-COVID-19 Era
Mattan Danino, CEO of WEBITMD, has joined our Q&A session. He shared his insights into how digital transformation has become mandatory for almost all businesses.
He also mentioned how WEBITMD has helped its clients during the coronavirus pandemic and how they are doing now in the post-COVID-19 era.
Q1. The last two quarters have been challenging for the world. How has your team been faring? What’s next for them and for your agency?
We saw an initial impact to our business like many others – folks we’re just scared and pulled back first on their marketing investments. That lasted only a few months (March – April 2020) and since then we have seen a boom in inquires and business growth! Many organizations have now ‘had’ to pivot towards digital marketing & sales tactics to grow their pipelines and that’s where we fit in perfectly to support that growth. Going now into Q4 2020 we can’t complain.
Q2. What challenges did you meet during the COVID-19 outbreak and how did you overcome them? What do you advise the ones facing the same?
When there is uncertainty, business owners become hesitant to invest further. It’s a natural reaction but I would argue not always the smartest move. We advised (successfully) some clients to actually double-down during COVID. Other clients, we suggested we pivot our engagements to focusing more on cleaning up the house and implementing technology that would ease their comeback growth.
Q3. Thankfully the majority of the digital agencies were already equipped and trained to work remotely. So during the outbreak, they were all able to work from home. However, we assume that you have clients from different sectors that are not familiar with online meetings. How do you manage video calls instead of in-person meetings with them? And how do your customers feel about it?
Half of our agency team is remote – it was a breeze for us internally. Our clients however had to adjust and we supported them in that transition. Technology has helped a ton and let’s just say — we’ve all gotten comfortable in front of the camera.
Q4. What were the top three remote working tools which your team has been using, internally or externally, during the outbreak? And what are your thoughts on them?
Project management with Asana, ZOOM for video calls, HubSpot for marketing & sales automation. Without these tools, we would be in trouble. They fuel our operations and efficiency to get work done!
Q5. What industries are your clients mainly focused on? How has COVID-19 affected these industries?
We are not a vertical-specific agency but we’ve seen the most negative impact on our retail and hospitality clients and the most success with our direct-to-consumer eCommerce clients.
Q6. The companies which have survived the first few months of the coronavirus outbreak have been getting back to business. We would love to hear your observations and experience regarding actions by different sectors during the post-COVID-19 era.
I believe that the companies that took a step back or pivoted their business models during the early stages of COVID are in the best position today. We helped many clients with those pivots and positioned them strongly in the “new” market that we all live in now.
Q7. Digital marketing is evolving every day. And digital agencies are the ones who need to adapt quickly so as to success. With this fact in mind, can you mention some of your investment plans for business development in Q4?
We are investing heavily in rich-media content creation, additional technology, and hiring in Q4. We want to share some of the learnings we’ve had during COVID and how businesses should be thinking about 2021. I personally will be launching a podcast as well as YouTube video series interviewing top players in the marketing & sales world. Lots to come!
Q8. As an effect of the coronavirus pandemic, investments in digital marketing have been rising, which promotes higher competition between digital agencies. Considering all these, what are your plans to promote your business in the last quarter of 2020?
We don’t just want or need ‘any’ client anymore. We want the right clients that are aligned with our values, methodologies, and tech-stack to be successful. I am speaking to lots of folks but only preparing proposals and strategies for those businesses we feel the most connected with and with the highest potential for success as a result of our partnership.
Q9. How does being a DAN member contribute to your agency’s success?
We’ve been partnered with DAN for 5+ years. It’s been great to share content with the community, interact with DAN staff and be a part of the growing world of digital marketing & sales. We love it and DAN is a leader in the space.
