Welcome to Digital Marketing Strategy :
An integrated approach to online marketing. Before we get into the meat of the book I thought that you might find it useful if we go over what it’s all about. My inspiration to write this book came from the fact that I have struggled to find supporting material and helpful tips when I have been constructing my strategies over the years.
I have always been able to find guides and tips on each digital channel, on user experience, digital transformation, customer service and many more relevant subjects but there are few that bring it all together and also consider how the digital strategy should fit within your organization, no matter what it might be. I hope this book goes some way to filling that gap. Firstly, it is worth looking at what we mean by digital strategy.
What is a digital strategy?
This is perhaps best answered with a question. Can you sum up in one sentence what you will be trying to achieve over the coming years? If not, then you don’t have a strategy. If you can articulate that but you don’t know how to get from where you are to your end vision, then you don’t have a strategy. If you have a vision and a path to get there then you have a strategy but if that is not based on research, bought into by your leadership team and with clear deliverables then your strategy will almost certainly not be a success.
If you were to Google the word ‘strategy’ you would find definitions such as ‘A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim’ (www.oxforddictionaries.com) and ‘A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem’ (www.businessdictionary.com). Both of these definitions are of course true, but we need to go deeper. What we look at in this book is how to turn your great ideas and those of your team and business into one strategy that is robust, agreed and aligned with your wider business.
This strategy needs to go through some 1 2 Digital Marketing Strategy clear steps to becoming something you can believe in, clearly articulate, gain advocacy for and work to as a clear plan to deliver you vision. This needs to be accomplished through these core areas:
● understand what is possible;
● understand your business and market context;
● understand your customer;
● understand the potential challenges you face;
● plan your strategy for optimal delivery;
● understand the possibilities within the relevant digital channels and touchpoints;
● measure and evolve your strategy;
● gain buy-in. Once you have these in place you have a strategy and so this book is designed to address each of these steps.
What’s the story of this book?
As mentioned above, this book will talk through each of the key steps to creating your strategy.
In Chapter 1 we look at the background of digital marketing, wider marketing and business models to ensure that the strategy you develop is based on proven techniques and models. This gives some academic perspective that is very useful in ensuring that your methods are robust.
From here, in Chapter 2 we move on to look at how your strategy must align with your business if it is to perform effectively. Working in silos is a challenge that many large businesses face but whether your business is large or small it will need to be aligned. A business that pulls in different directions runs the risk of pulling itself apart.
In Chapter 3 we look at some of the challenges that face digital marketers today. There are many challenges that can completely change the shape of your strategy and so understanding these early on is vital.
Once we have the background from these first three chapters, in Chapter 4 we look at effective planning processes and how to ensure your plan is solid and logical before we get into the detail of each channel. In Chapters 5 to 8 we look at some of the key channels.
This book is not designed to be a ‘how to’ guide to digital marketing and so we don’t go into Introduction 3 every channel and the detail of technical set-up, but we do focus on strategic and tactical approaches to each and what that means to your digital strategy.
In Chapter 9 we look at user experience, as this is the ultimate destination of most users, and we also examine digital transformation within your organization before moving onto wider marketing techniques in Chapter 10, such as CRM and retention and how these apply to your digital strategy.
Personalization (Chapter 11) is increasingly important and the effects of this on customer service and content strategy are examined in Chapters 12 and 13 respectively, as well as best-practice service principles and best-practice content techniques. We look at measurement throughout the book but Chapter 14 goes into detail on tracking, measurement and analysis as well as reporting techniques to encourage knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
In Chapter 15 we examine how we take your strategy and gain buy-in from your decision makers. After you have covered all of these steps you should have a strategy that can withstand the tests of time, aligns with your business and is agreed by your key stakeholders, but that most importantly takes your business on a journey to delivering excellent digital progress for your organization.