Few businesses in Australia have a strategic approach in place to determine how consumer facing technology and digital media platforms can be deployed to drive business results.
Look back a decade and you will see that the IT department used to take care of all company technology, while marketing teams took care of advertising and media to let people know what the company sold, why it was worth buying and where they could get it.
Today, IT and marketing are fast becoming the most unlikely of bedfellows and are replacing replacing sales and marketing as the close cousins in business.
Digital marketing strategies go beyond launching a website or a Facebook page. A good digital marketing plan provides a digital marketing roadmap to cost-effectively reach consumers, inform and engage them with relevant materials and increase opportunities to close the sale.
The opportunity for real growth and efficiency comes when a great digital marketing strategy is led as a company-wide initiative and is completely aligned with business goals and departments beyond the marketing team.
The response of the organisation to the changing consumer adoption of technology will often trigger a transformation of the entire organisation to focus on meeting those needs.
The following three simple steps are helpful when drawing up a digital strategy for your business, with a measurable action plan that resonates through the organisation and can be tracked by the CEO.
1. Know your consumer
Ensure you have an up to date understanding of your real consumer journey and the role that technology plays in their life today. Consider the following:
- Where does technology impact the product research and purchase funnel?
- What is he/she doing online?
- Where is he/she spending time online?
- How can I connect with him/her?
2. Prioritise digital investments based on consumer needs
It is important to recognise that the role of digital often goes beyond the marketing team.
For example, consumer research may reveal that your core consumer base performs an intense period of online research prior to purchase. So, can you provide better digital content for that research period? To help with this your sales team may be able to share product demonstration materials such as an online video that, with modification, could be used to explain product features and benefits to consumers.
How can technology and digital marketing employ and support an action plan to engage the organisation?
Overlaying:
- Identify technology solutions and workflows to collect data and information to generate insight and analytics to inform decision making.
- Implement a plan for the internal resources that will be required to deliver the right services.
- Coach and build ongoing capability within the organisation to support change.
3. Measure the things that matter to your business
At the end of the day, what matters on a CEO scorecard is increasing revenue, cost efficiency and profitable operations.
Digital marketing spend or investment in technology, including eCommerce platforms, consumer data centres and analytical tools, should be tracked in an integral way to any other business investment. Business should ask the following questions:
- Is incremental revenue generated through online channels?
- How much is digital marketing driving purchase intent?
- Is increasing spend on digital activity leading to more cost effective consumer reach?
- Is our digital strategy reducing the cost-per-lead?
- Are digital tools creating operational efficiencies in my business?
Practically, to connect with consumers on digital platforms require reliable IT, relevant content, real(istic) time response. Marketers can’t deliver this without support from others in the organisation, but because marketers know the consumer best, they can write the business plans to open up new revenue streams, reduce the cost of sales or create profitable efficiencies by adding digital to the mix. This puts digital marketing at the heart of the CEO’s scorecard.
Josie Brown
Director of Digital
JWT Melbourne