In 2023, if You’re Not Online You’re Out of Your Mind!

You shouldn’t be salivating, you should be foaming at the mouth! It’s really something to witness this online revolution in Trinidad & Tobago. Recently, I saw a Facebook post, a business looking for a Content Creator, they’re everywhere now… and I mean ads for content creators and content creators. A client changed banks a month ago, so I had to re-integrate the payment gateway; got it done in two days because Google Ads were running and the online store just couldn’t have any downtime— that’s how much business the online store was doing.

What the hell is a Content Creator anyway, and when did it become a thing? Well the more things change, the more they remain the same. In this brave and ‘woke’ new world, we also woke up in T&T; now we have content creators, and aargh… ‘Influencers’. But even if they order from an app, they still have to eat a doubles and roti in person. That’s my way of telling you that offline isn’t going anywhere.

Not a day passes in T&T that you don’t go online for something; most of the time you’re looking for information, and you don’t mind if information finds you while you’re browsing. There’s always something that may pique your interest to act on right away, or keep in the back of your mind for later on when you might need it. That’s what everyone competing for your attention is counting on.

I’m happy to say that’s an understatement. Now more than ever, they’re looking online for YOU! But there is a problem… in this woke day and age, there are still many low quality websites and online stores. Visitors just roll their eyes in disgust when this happens.

This market was always woke, and looong before the pandemic. The reason is simple— nothing was stopping companies from setting up a website; no obstacles like there were for online stores. Business websites are basically online brochures… Who We Are, What We Do, Why Choose Us. But even that basic premise has been difficult to execute. Still to this day, many companies in Trinidad & Tobago have their visitors rolling their eyes when they look for them online.

The pandemic brought this gift horse to the fore, and it’s a gift that is still giving. The online market stretched like a rubber band, and like a rubber band, remained in a ‘stretchier’ state when it snapped back. This is a good thing, because even as things went ‘back to normal’ the local online market has continued chugging along.

This is good news but the bad news is that even woke, some are still on their beds. The back-to-normal mentality, combined with the innate Trini-ness of Trinis, has allowed the complacency to creep in.

Those who chose to get their ass up, well, they’re reaping they sow; not only capitalizing on the woke market, but securing and fortifying their online presence for when the competition stiffens… which it will.

Genuine ‘entrepreneuring’ can’t beat Trini to de bone ‘trying ah ting’, and both business concepts have been implemented. Some fallouts of the wars have been the multi-vendor online marketplaces that popped up then popped down as quickly as they came for this very reason. Web designing is easy, i.e. the technical, setting-up and configuring of the functional part. The aesthetic and content design for optimal user experience is hard, and requires the expertise and experience to pull off.

Online marketing is so fluid, we can hardly keep up. The onslaught of TikTok has started to reign in with the desperate reaction of Instagram and YouTube when they saw them getting big in the mirror. And it’s not a moment too soon, TikTok was bearing down like a freight train.

Unfortunately, in the frenzy, the ‘jump on the train’ mentality clouds all judgement and good business sense. To not get left behind, proper business strategy gets thrown out the window with the only winners being Content Creators and Influencers.

From my more than a decade in the business, with my education being business and financial (financial accounting, management accounting, business management, marketing), and NOT web design, and combined with being of an age that I can recall when color TV’s came out, when VCR’s came out, when video games came out and I can go on… everything that was new… computers, floppy disks, flat screens, CDs, DVDs, iPods… EVERYTHING, I had a front row seat; what changed are only the tools of business and marketing, but the fundamentals and concepts remain exactly the same.

I want to urge businesses to bear that in mind. Content Creators and Influencers can only do so much unless they have a marketing background or really savvy with their knowledge and expertise. I’ll be the first to say that formal training isn’t a requirement as it was before, I have none in any web technology, and yet, here I am, this is just a caveat. Just keep at the front of your mind that there’s no replacement for good business.

In the excitement of the newest best thing since sliced bread, businesses jump on the train with their eyes closed and fingers crossed that this magic speeding bullet will rain customers like that. It may or may not happen only out of luck, but you have to make your own luck., i.e. increase your chances of conversions by properly executing a TiKTok campaign.

I urge you to bear in mind the concept and audience of the platform, most TikTok users are between 13 – 40 years old, so align it with your content and strategy.

I prefer IG Reels over TikTok, but that’s personal preference. I see many TikTok branded videos on Reels anyway, which means they are being repurposed wholesale, and it’s also possible that identical content are uploaded independently, and even simultaneously, to both or all three (including YouTube Shorts).

There’s nothing inherently disadvantageous to this approach, it gives the peace of mind of a higher chances of reaching your target audience, and that’s assuming the content would be interpreted as intended.

Facebook has matured, but not going anywhere anytime soon. YouTube will still be the king of long format videos. Your audience is much more fragmented and scattered now, hence my advice to keep your eye on the ball, and not get carried away, flinging darts willy-nilly. Of course, Facebook has noticed their waning growth rate and preponderance of competing channels, and will obviously implement a plan to suck every last penny out of your marketing budget, you can count on it.

My mother used to say: ‘a place for everything, and everything in its place’. Wise words from my mammy.

Influencer is a word I’ve added to my list of pet peeves that make me cringe (the others are ‘decadent’ and ‘disapora’ if you’re wondering). I really hate it because I don’t know what the hell that means. It used to be that only celebrities and athletes endorsed products and that had nothing to do with anything, like perfume, watches and breakfast cereal. They were the original influencers because they had, you know, influence, something earned over the course of their careers.

In many instances they make sense, like basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal promoting Icy Hot brand for pain relief, something athletes would identify with. But Shaq promoting ‘The General as a quality insurance company’ like he shops around for car insurance underscores the notion that the influencer’s following are mindless sheep.

Today the world of ‘influencing’ has businesses giddy thinking about the the number of new customers that would drop on their laps because the influencer says so.

For me, I think it’s a hybrid. The purpose is to sell more, as with any marketing campaign, but what I question most is credibility. I agree that the aspect of ‘entertainy’ messaging is a nice hook, like the Alphabet guy, it gets your attention. But what about the ROI- Return on Investment… does this ever figure into the campaign plan? In our Trini business model of trying a ting, it hardly does.

A good example would be last year’s launch by Unilever Caribbean Ltd of the new Breeze dilutable liquid laundry detergent at Brix Hotel. This $500,000 event saw T&T’s top influencers being invited, I suspect to make for a nice launch pappyshow as there’s no way in hell their followers know anything about detergent or how to operate a washing machine.

My opinion on this is that influencers should be mostly relevant to the subject at hand, and if not, be really able to influence. Number of followers does not necessarily equate to the number actually ‘influenced’.

And my apologies, I should have wrote snake oil salesPERSON… oops, we’re no longer politically correct, we’re woke now, so its sales[insert gender here].

Official definitions of the term generally refers to one who makes and provides content, both entertaining or educational, for digital channels such as websites and social media, that targets a specific end user or audience. What I have trouble comprehending is whether companies realize that content creation dovetails with marketing strategy, because it looks like they don’t.

Content creation is more than graphic design and funny videos; somewhere in there should be an actual professional marketing plan.

Except for Scotiabank, who released their own payment gateway last year, see the article here: New Payment Gateway! Scotiabank eCom+™, the other local banks in T&T appears a bit ‘un-woke’. I can’t necessarily assume they’re asleep, they may have their own payment solutions in the pipeline, but according to the little birds who ‘tolds’ me, most don’t.

First Atlantic Commerce (FAC) is as solid today as they were when I was first introduced more than a decade ago. I like their Kount Fraud and Risk Management Solution, which works well and is reliable just like FAC. Their one and only competitor is Scotia eCom+, which competes only on price.

FAC runs like a swiss watch and always has. They may get beaten on price but can’t be touched on service. I have to hand it to Christopher Burns, CEO, who I met once in the very earlies, FAC’s operations are very efficient and on point, and they will remain permanently rooted in Trinidad & Tobago as a solid solution.

My dealings with Scotiabank’s reps have all been positive, and we’ve cultivated a really good relationship. Their integration process is slightly different from FAC’s, and their gateway has been solid as well. I see this payment solution as one to stand shoulder to shoulder with FAC’s and not to be dismissed.

WiPay is popular and more well known than PayWise, it’s competitor. PayWise only recently began directly competing when they finally introduced their WordPress plug-in to integrate directly with the Woo Commerce shopping cart.

WiPay continues to be an enigma for me and a basketcase for itself. Such is the case because politics makes strange bedfellows. I don’t have to read and spell this for you, and it’s also none of my business. My interest is in how optimal it is as a payment solution for your business.

On paper WiPay is a good low-cost option for especially SME’s, because of their free WordPress/WooCommerce plug-in and competitive transaction fees. In practice, I get constant complaints from clients about WiPay’s poor customer service. This has been the one thing WiPay has been consistent with and can’t seem to get right.

On the positive side, WiPay generally works; it’s only when you need support that you want to pull your hair out. Do I recommend WiPay? If you’re serious about E-Commerce, I recommend going with the bona fide payment gateways and not payment aggregators.

Also an enigma, PayWise introduced their own WordPress/WooCommerce without any fanfare, does no promotion, has little info on their website. My opinion is the company has bigger fish to fry after the Central Bank issued a provisional registration to PayWise Ltd last year, to become the country’s first electronic money (e-money) issuer. From September 1, 2022 the company was authorized to issue e-money in Trinidad and Tobago.

Bottom line, my opinion is that the two local payment aggregators don’t appear to be focused on promoting and developing their solutions the way I think they should be. And again, that’s none of my business.

It’s really is an exciting time for the industry. The online marketplace in Trinidad & Tobago is in a state of flux; everyone’s jockeying for position, and it will take some time to settle. When it does, you’ll know who’s who then, and then they’ll become the yardstick to measure against. In the meantime you just have to do your own thing— do something— else you’ll only have to wave while they pass you by.