Having worked in digital for 15 years, in a number of different roles and within some large and complex organisations, I recently gave a talk about achieving a successful integrated digital strategy, which contained a number of tips based on these experiences. Breaking down the content of the talk into a series of articles, I hope that ADMA readers will be able to use some of these tips.

When planning your digital strategy, it is important to consider that:

• It can be a complicated time – the business you work in might be complex, and the digital strategy itself can require a technical understanding of capabilities (or limitations) The digital landscape is also constantly moving, and it can be a difficult challenge to define what you want to achieve using digital.
• The strategy will not be a static item. While it  needs to be defined and documented,  it is likely to change and may sometimes have to adapt quickly to the business that might be changing around it. Strategic digital marketers need to be prepared for this.
• Digital marketers need to understand how digital fits within their organisation, the various stakeholders and touchpoints, in order to shape a digital strategy that truly supports the business and its goals.

Tip 1: Align digital objectives with business objectives 

 It is important to understand what the business aims to achieve overall and how digital supports these objectives.

Business objectives can sometimes seem quite remote from specific departments and activities in a large business. In smaller businesses, the digital requirements are often about creation and maintenance of a web and digital presence, and the objectives that those channels are trying to achieve can be forgotten in the day to day activities.

It is important to find a way to map a digital objective to each business objective. As an example:

By having a way to link digital deliverables and objectives to business objectives marketers can achieve a number of things:

• Clarity of what digital needs to do specifically to help the business achieve overall goals
• Real link to business objectives which helps at budget time – if there is a call to reduce the digital budget, the business will need to acknowledge the implication this reduced budget might have to the overall strategy
• Measuring the results of digital activities when they are mapped to business objectives can really help position the importance of digital in context of achieving objectives for the overall business

When mapping the digital objectives to business objectives, it is also time to start thinking about how these objectives will be measured. Setting those in place early ensures that the methods of tracking various objectives can be planned and budgeted for in the planning stage.

Tip 2: Consider strategy holistically before considering channels 

Once the business goals and the digital objectives that will help deliver these goals are understood, the channels can be considered.

It is important to think about the objectives first, before planning activities in specific channels.

Marketers need to also consider the strengths and benefits of various digital channels, and align these with their goals. If for example, your objective is to reactivate lapsed customers, email marketing might be an effective way of doing this, and more effective than spending on online advertising.

Ownership of channels can also get confused, particularly in large organisations where multiple departments might all be using, and claiming ownership of, a particular channel. Social media is a classic example; it is used for customer service, brand awareness, corporate communications, so all of these areas within a business might claim to own it. When it comes to deciding on the use or making plans for how to use social media, the ownership (including responsibility for resourcing and the budget) needs to be clear.

Remember to also bear in mind how the channels can work together, such as using social media as a way to gain email subscribers and including links to social within email communications.

Now that you have defined what channels you’ll use in the digital strategy, the metrics of what you will measure at a channel level can be defined in more detail.

View the full presentation about tips for planning a successful integrated digital strategy.

Article supplied by Tracey Brown, eMarketing Connected and ADMA Tutor.
View more information about ADMA Certificate Courses.

Consumers are using multiple channels to engage with companies and brands across a multitude of media and platforms. When they think about buying products online they use the web to search, evaluate and compare products. Every retailer therefore needs to understand the purchase habits of customers and each of the digital touch points to ensure they provide a consistent and optimum experience.

Australia’s large retailers face increasing competition online both locally and overseas. eMarketingConnected have conducted research into 62 of Australia’s largest retailers and their basic capabilities across web, social and email.

The research found a broad range of capabilities used by Australia’s largest retailers:

The research concluded that large retailers can be split into three distinct groups.

1) Retailers who have a website but do not sell online.
2) Retailers with a basic online shop, who are using – but not optimising – social media and email marketing.
3) Retailers who have an online shop, engaging content, use social media and more sophisticated use of email/OnlineCRM.

In addition, key techniques proven to improve the consumer experience, leverage their competitive advantage and increase sales conversions could be better used by the majority of large retailers. These include:

• More use of customer centric communications, for example, targeted email marketing
• The use of rich media such as video to promote individual products
• Provision of information sought by users such as peer reviews
• Greater in-store integration

The research concluded that retailers need an integrated strategy that optimises their customer’s experience. They should deploy proven techniques that engage customers and improve sales and the retailer’s broad marketing strengths and budgets need to be brought to online to differentiate from local and overseas competition.

For more information including a breakdown of the overall statistics and by sector, detailed conclusions and recommendations – download the report, Beyond The Basics – Why The Largest Australian Retailers Are Losing The Online Battle.

Article supplied by Tracey Brown, eMarketing Connected and ADMA Tutor. For ADMA Certificate Course information click here >