Digital Strategy in Scotland & Online Planning
Digital Strategies in a new era of brand management
Digital brand strategies are and should be, very different based on what you aim to achieve. While various aspects of 'best practice' now exist in the likes of accessibility, SEO, HTML mark up and E-commerce cart terminology, the basis for building high level digital strategies is dependent on demonstrating joined up thinking across all your brand's digital touch-points. A corporate site in Scotland for instance, differs enormously from a pan-european e-commerce business's digital marketing strategy. Whether your business is SME in Scotland or a UK blue chip, if you operate online without understanding how and to whom, the communication from your digital marketing strategy is directed, you may go through a website re-build & modernisation every 2-5 years.
This no longer needs to be the case and could damage your brand's marketing online presence in the long term. Your brand's approach to digital marketing strategy should be pro-active and customer focused. Why? Because while web technologies (browsers, plugins and content management platforms) have stabilised in their presentation and technical flexibility, the new digital marketing paradigm is based on freer information flow, customer testimonial and continued content revision. The technical advances in web content publishing of the last 10 years have not solved the brand manager's strategic digital challenges. Digital brand management needs to fundamentally change to incorporate effective modern digital marketing strategy. While early online brand strategy was a controlled broadcast mechanism. Now being open and being less fearful of feedback is important. Your digital "brand protection" service should be as much about gentle 'ushering' of 'off-site' web content as in allowing consumer brand feedback online. An extreme digital strategy example:
Google recently penalised an e-commerce site after it was found that the website's social media marketing score and inbound link popularity was so high only because the webmaster had focused on the worst possible levels of service. He had so many forum and Facebook postings and brand commentary from dissatisfied customers passionate about warning others away from his e-commerce offering that he was ranking highly in Google's search results due to the massive off-site 'brand noise' he created.
Digital Aim clearly does not advocate this approach as it will not work, but here was a brand (based a long way from Scottish and UK shores) who understood the value of promoting free movement of brand content both on the website and elsewhere ("off-site") across the Internet.
digitalAim's approach to reviewing your digital strategy
1/ Look at your team and their understanding of digital marketing.
2/ Look at your web agencies and the extent of their tech / usability / creative focus.
3/ Review your briefing process and your brand's current and historic resulting web outputs.
4/ Agree the format, focus, attendance and agenda for your digital planning session.
5/ Advise and facilitate a brand planning session that is specific only to digital brand marketing.
6/ Define the immediate actions to achieve better work and new approaches agreed from session 1.
5/ Define your digital brand roadmap and long-term vision for your next group digital planning session.
Final thought (unless trademarked by Gerry Springer?)
This decade's new paradigm in digital marketing strategy will be about a new approach to brand management. Consider not the digital / mobile or web project, but more the long term journey of your brand online. In 10 years. Ensure that your brand managers are not one of the few that still wonders how to get customers to engage with your brand online. The 'next big thing' online will not be a gadget, widget or social networking site. It will be brands getting an online brand infrastructure that grows rather than stops, starts and lurches.
Am I allowed to ask for credit for at no time, using the word 'futurology' in this article?