What is a digital strategy?
Digital transformation consists of completely
rethinking your internet strategy to adapt to digital. It is a reflection
on the form as well as the content, a change in the way of
understanding your marketing communication, and the tools used.
Many possibilities are available to you:
·
rethink the marketing
model for your products and services,
·
set up an Omnichannel
CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) solution,
·
work
on your online presence via
social networks
Regardless
of the solution(s), you are going to put in place, here we are talking about
establishing a good digital strategy: it must therefore be thought out upstream
to be as effective as possible and its results must be able to be measured.
1 - Do an analysis of your situation on the market
Before you even build your digital strategy, start with a bit of introspection about your business
and think about the current state of the market.
Define your
strengths and weaknesses but also the market opportunities and external threats
to take into account.
Ask yourself the following questions:
·
How is your business doing in terms of
sales?
·
How does it compare to competitors
(market share, positioning, etc.)?
·
What is your image with the public? Good,
bad, non-existent?
·
Does your offer meet a public need? Does
she meet her expectations?
The better you
understand the situation as a whole, the more easily you will be able to
establish a relevant and effective digital strategy.
If you don't
have time, you can also hire a digital marketing agency
The
SWOT analysis method
To support you
during this crucial step, which consists of analyzing
the market situation as a whole,
you can use SWOT type analysis methods.
It is an English
acronym that can be translated as SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This will allow you to clearly define your strategic options.
2 - Define the objectives of your digital strategy
Your digital
strategy should focus on SMART
objectives and indicators.
Definition
of the SMART method
The SMART
method consists of five
indicators:
·
Specific
A specific objective must be directly related to the work
to be carried out: it must be personalized. This goal
should be unique to your business. It
must be clear, precise, and understandable by all.
·
Measurable
A measurable objective must
be quantified or qualified.
·
reachable
An achievable goal is one
that is challenging to achieve and big enough and ambitious enough to be motivating.
·
Realistic
A realistic goal
is able to anticipate the obstacles you will encounter and avoid
abandonment.
·
Temporally defined
A time-bound goal is
clearly bounded in time, to a specific date.
These indicators
are all variables allowing the achievement of your objectives for your digital
strategy.
Your objectives
directly influence your action plans to be implemented.
Of course, a
digital transformation may seem essential to adapt
to new technologies and the resulting consumption habits. So
it's wise to think that you don't really have a choice.
But it is indeed
a real opportunity for your business: new ways of communicating that will allow you to reach
a wider audience and increase your turnover.
You cannot, therefore, embark on the adventure without
clearly defining your expectations.
Many objectives
are possible, including:
·
Traffic: traffic generation, both online on your
e-commerce or m-commerce website and in a drive-to-store strategy to generate
point-of-sale traffic...
·
Lead: lead generation (prospects), lead
nurturing, conversion...
·
Visibility: development of its notoriety through
brand image, your online presence, and improvement of your e-reputation;
·
customer loyalty,
·
The customer experience.
Also, ask
yourself what you want from your strategy: is it for a single product, a
catalog of products, or even your entire company?
3 - Analyze the digital strategy of your
competitors
Your competitors
have the same goals as you. It is therefore interesting and instructive to see what methods they use to build their digital
strategy.
This can allow
you to identify what works or not, to inspire you, and even more so to differentiate yourself and
do better.
For example, in
a market like that of B2B SaaS solutions, which is highly competitive, being
able to stand out from what competitors are offering becomes vital in order to exist and not blend in with
the crowd.
·
Who are these competitors?
·
What are their strengths and weaknesses?
·
How do they communicate with your target?
·
On what media?
The answers to
these questions are all avenues to follow in developing your own e-marketing
strategy.
4 - Define the target of your digital strategy
Implementing
a digital marketing strategy without clearly defining the target to be reached is
irrelevant.
This could lead you straight to a
resounding failure.
To help you, you
can create a buyer persona, i.e. a typical profile of the consumer you want
to target:
·
Who is he? Age, place of residence, job, hobbies, income...
·
What are his needs?
·
What are his motives?
·
How does he use the Internet? How many times a day and
when? More mobile or desktop?
·
What social networks does he use? Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, LinkedIn...
Accurately draw
up his profile. You will know how
to communicate with him, on any media and at what times.
5 - Define your web marketing budget
Implementing a
digital strategy represents a cost for companies. You must therefore establish a budget because it will determine at least in part the means you will use to achieve your
objectives.
Digital is a
real gold mine in terms of possibilities, each with its advantages and
disadvantages, and above all with a distinct price.
Some means
represent a significant financial investment when other solutions require above
all patience and subtlety, as is the case with an Inbound Marketing
strategy.
6 - Define your digital communication strategy
You have
identified your strengths, your weaknesses, your objectives, the target to be
reached, and your budget to achieve it. You can now think about the means of communication that you
will use to retain your prospects.
Depending on
your needs, you can:
·
Invest in social media (social networks);
·
Upload videos to YouTube;
·
Launch a newsletter by emailing;
·
Develop a website or a blog that will serve as a showcase for
your brand or support for e-commerce or m-commerce;
·
Create a mobile app...
Or why not all
of that at once if it's relevant!
7 - Set up a content creation strategy
This point
directly relates to the choice of the various digital communication channels
used. Indeed, you do not broadcast the
same content depending on the chosen channel. And you don't choose the same channel depending on the content to be broadcast. These two points are therefore inseparable.
Are
you going to bet on an Outbound Marketing or Inbound Marketing strategy?
If you opt for
an Inbound Marketing strategy, you will have to ensure the web writing of brand
content:
·
blog posts (blogging),
·
eBook,
·
white papers,
·
infographics,
·
etc.
Outbound
Marketing delivers quick results, but
it's expensive.
Inbound Marketing is not expensive, but
the results take longer to arrive.
This is a basic
strategy that focuses on the medium and long term: produce content with
high added value for visitors, which will, in turn, promote your products, your brand strategy, and
your values through the employer brand.
The patience it
requires is very well rewarded, so much so that this strategy becomes
essential.
To make things
easier for you, consider Marketing Automation which will allow
you to optimize your productivity and your results.
Marketing
automation is an emailing strategy allowing the automated sending of emails
according to the actions carried out by your leads.
The
boom of inbound marketing
According to the
"State of Inbound Marketing 2017" report published by Hub Spot in
early 2017,
69% of marketers using inbound marketing believe
it's an effective strategy.
They are also 38% who think that outbound marketing is overrated and
does not deliver the results promised.
8 - Measure your web performance
You have
established a strategy on the net and it is now deployed. You now need to analyze the data using
performance indicators.
Define the KPIs
(Key Performance Indicator) that will allow
you to effectively measure your performance. There are a lot of
them, so you have to choose them carefully.
We can cite:
·
The traffic generated on your website;
·
The conversion rate;
·
SEO ranking (natural
referencing);
·
The click rate;
·
The time spent on the site;
·
The ROI (Return on Investment).
Don't wait to
analyze the data, because it provides you with essential insights into what
works and what doesn't.
·
It is therefore an opportunity to adjust your web strategy as
you go.
You now know how
to build a digital strategy. It is both a work of introspection on your
business and observation of the market, opportunities, targets, and
competitors.
A job that will pay off if done well!
Key points to remember:
·
Analyze your strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities
and threats.
·
Define your objectives and targets to decide on the actions to
be implemented.
·
Monitor your performance to adjust your overall strategy if
needed.