Strategy and planning is our core business. We work with a diverse range of clients from travel through online retail to charity to undertake this type of work. We’ve been doing this for some time now and without trying to blow our own trumpet too much we think we’re getting pretty good at it. In fact one of the things I really like about working on strategy and planning is that, whilst it is wrapped in a clear process and the application of an appropriate framework, coming up with a successful end result is one that relies on a nice blend of the logical and creative. It’s left and right hand brain stuff.
So why is it so damn difficult? Working on strategy and planning is never an easy ride … and it shouldn’t be. It should be about understanding change, challenging perceived wisdoms and taking a critical look at the way you do things. Don’t expect it to be simple. Here are some of the reasons why. We think that taking these on board from the outset helps everyone involved in the process.
Digital really is different
Success across digital channels relies on a lot of the same things that success across more traditional channels does. Things like understanding your audience, a clear approach to segmentation and targeting and a robust approach to measurement still apply. But digital is different and it does require a different mindset. Digital channels are always on. Increasingly it is about understating networks rather than understanding media. Taking a more agile approach where test and learn rules is critical to success. Those with a more traditional marketing background need to get to grips with where it is different and where it is similar. More importantly planning needs to drive integration across multiple channels and that represents a significant challenge.
The outcome and implications might be uncomfortable
Digital marketing is increasingly becoming more about mouse clicks than media spend. It is also about thinking creatively and being smart. Perhaps ironically, as digital channels continue to develop it is more about people than technology. That puts greater demands on those people involved in delivering strategy and the associated tactical plan. This applies to both your in house and agency team. It can require different people with different skills and experience who are organised in a different way. Those kinds of changes have some uncomfortable realities around them. Senior management must be up to speed and on board if these kind of things can be addressed successfully.
You might not trust what we are saying
No more have I experienced the process that is often described as ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’ than when I have worked with new clients around planning and strategy. The starting point is that we will never understand a client’s business like they understand their business. We say that from the outset. But we do understand digital and marketing and we do bring a process into play that can and does facilitate the better understanding of the opportunities that exist. What is true however, is that after starting out with a shared ‘lets change the world’ vision, we will probably enter muddy waters when you don’t entirely buy into and trust what we are telling you. The best thing I can say is that if you hang in there the useful tension that is created will drive a positive outcome. In each and every planning exercise I have undertaken it has done exactly that.
One thing for sure is that the success or otherwise of any strategy and planning process comes down to the people involved and how they work together to address the issues that arise. Like anything it helps if you are honest and open about some of the challenges you are likely to face from the beginning.
There are probably more than three reasons … but then I can only count to three. This is, like a lot of our work, a work in progress so comments and thoughts are entirely welcome.
We’re developing the web strategy for a new DMO (Destination Marketing Organisation) website. We’re currently looking at segmentation – building out our current approach to segmentation so we have something more granular that supports the development of specific customer personas. Once we’ve defined these groups and fleshed out a clear rationale for going after them we’ll present our approach to key stakeholders.
Getting collective and organisational buy-in around our approach to segmentation and targeting is critical before we move into defining a user experience for each group – mapping out appropriate user journeys and considering the resonant content to meet the needs of each one. Once we have clear picture of the desired user journeys associated with each customer group then, and only then, can we move onto defining detail around the information architecture, content strategy and functionality requirement …
As we’re working through this process I’m mindful of some of the bigger issues facing a DMO. Here’s a recently published presentation from the Manolis Psarros at AbouTourism that looks positively at some of the challenges. It’s well worth taking the time to watch the videos too.
As a follow up to Jon’s post ‘Content is King. More than ever’ I thought I’d outline the foundations that underpin a content strategy.
A content audit
Start by formulating some real clarity around existing content within the organisation. There’s no escaping it, an audit on some scale will need to take place to establish what content is a genuine asset, what content is performing well and what existing content can potentially be re-purposed for a new channel.
Understanding the current patterns of content production
Start with some key questions. How is content currently planned and produced? What resources are being spent on production? Where are the content creation specialisms within the organisation?
Defining business and user goals
Users want useful and engaging content, they also want it to be easy to find and share. The business wants to raise awareness and engagement across key products and services – and ultimately sell more stuff. It also wants to wrap it’s products and services in a brand position, point of view and tone of voice.
The challenge
The challenge of defining a workable content strategy is to mesh these foundations together and make them the foundation of the strategy. Beyond that there’s getting organizational buy-in, creating an editorial board, implementing work flow process and creating content production guidelines. Easy pips!
The reward
Developing a content strategy is potentially a really rewarding digital journey, one that if planned and executed well could put the organisation in a great place. Working more collaboratively with a renewed sense of purpose.
Last week was Social Media Week. Running in cities across the world from New York to Istanbul to Hong Kong. I attended one of the events in London hosted by iCrossing and sat on the panel discussing What next for Content?. When I walk away from events like this I usually have three take-outs in mind. So what were they?
Where developing digital marketing strategy is concerned taking a content led perspective is one of those simple unifying ideas that supports everything we do. At a simplest level that might be an organisation wide content calendar that is adopted by and supported by the whole organisation.
That same perspective supports integration. Having an idea of what type of content is required for which customer and for what purpose across the customer journey as well as how that is going to be measured is one practical way to drive integrated planning.
Regardless of specific purpose there are some overarching principles. For example, content should be engaging, shareable and findable. But above all it should be useful for the user. Don’t forget, good SEO and good user experience are becoming one and the same thing.
If you are interested here are the associated slides by Antony Mayfield and a short video of the event. And why not check out the Google Art Project too while you are at it. Enjoy.
Here are the presentation slides for today’s keynote at ENTER 2011 – the international conference on IT in travel and tourism. Big thanks to the keynote team – Jason Ryan from iCrossing and Tom Hall from Lonely Planet.
If branding online is at least in part reputation management destination brands face a number of key challenges – including content, socialisation, integration and measurement. We used to pay particular attention to things like tone of voice, style and design. In our new world we need to pay attention to things like our point of view and the way we behave as brands.
The emotional journey a customer undertakes with a destination brand involves a journey across awareness, engagement, emotional attachment and advocacy. From a marketing point of view the starting point used to be very much awareness. Now we can kick off that journey at the advocacy stage – harnessing the power of those that love us most and help drive awareness.
We drive awareness through seasonal planned activity. Our marketing campaigns. There is now a very real opportunity to amplify existing attention. Be it events big and small or that which you are gaining through social channels. That conversational content can be used to drive both awareness and engagement.
Test and learn is important. Figuring out how to do things – and more importantly how to do them well. Execution is as important as ever. Digital has empowered marketing departments the world over. The relationship with their agency teams is becoming more collaborative and one much less based around them and us. A relationship where everyone is learning by doing.
We still need a unifying idea. That big idea used to be the starting point. Integration used to be about delivering that idea across the full range of channels – traditional and digital. We need to develop models that support proper integration across owned, earned and bought media. One such model might be putting the big idea in the middle of everything and supporting it through targeted engagement initiatives which crowd source content, develop that content and the communities that exist around it. Through the creative use of paid media channels we achieve further amplification around those initiatives and we wrap it in our brand – or our point of view.
If a lot of what we do in the digital space is always on – including PR, social media, search and content development – one of the challenges is how we wrap that around our campaign activity and support it. So not only are we amplifying what we do where engagement is concerned we are using that engagement to support what we are doing across paid media channels. I talked about simple unifying approaches in the previous post Looking at trends. Is digital growing up? Developing a content strategy based on a content calendar might be one of those approaches.
We need to support such activity with a user centric approach to measurement. One that looks beyond traditional campaign metrics and web analytics by evaluating visitor engagement through measuring user behaviors both on-site and across the networks and communities our customers participate. One that focuses on Awareness (Do people know about us?), Actions (What are they doing when they find us?) and Advocacy (how do they feel about us?). A scorecard approach can be used to track an appropriate set of metrics and help deliver always on measurement to support always on marketing.
It’s that time of year when you tend to look forwards. What will the year bring? How will it compare to last year? Is it going to be a good summer? This time last year I wrote about 10 digital marketing trends to watch out for in 2010 and I’ve just gone back and re-read them. Strikingly it occurred to me that whilst most of what had been written about had indeed been a feature of 2010 most of it was still very much applicable this year.
Take that last point. You need to figure out how it all applies to your business – where to invest, where to test and what deserves a rest. It feels like there is a common sense approach to doing digital. Focus on your core business and what works but at the same time continue to allocate some resource to test and learn. Focus on data and drive actionable insights that help you improve what you are doing. Above all be agile.
We’ve been talking about fundamental and revolutionary change for a while now. Yep, web 2.0 and everything that is social was certainly that. But now? There’s still loads of learning to be done and each day brings something new in terms of the toolset at our disposal but what about the principles? Aren’t we figuring those out? At the same time we are also realizing that some of those principles that represented good marketing in our traditional world still represent good marketing in our digital world.
Integration. We really are thinking about multichannel now and we are even starting to define multichannel roles within the organisations we work in. Those organisations are starting to think beyond the big idea, tone of voice and creative execution. They are starting to figure out how to deliver integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels. Words like conversation, engagement, participation and sharing are becoming part of every marketers vocabulary.
It’s often simple and unifying approaches that help you find solutions to complex problems. Delivering integrated marketing campaigns can feel like one of those problems. So bring it back to the basics. The building blocks – content, distribution, platforms, people and measurement. Developing a content strategy across your owned, earned and bought media that delivers specific objectives across the customer journey is perhaps one of those unifying approaches.
Focus on your core business. Apply well-understood marketing principles. Join things up and find simple unifying approaches to tackle complex problems. Is digital marketing growing up? Feels like it might be.
I sometimes wonder if we should be spending more time posting the stuff you sometimes see on mainstream digital marketing blogs – things like 39 new social media resources you may have missed or Spreading holiday cheer and regional cuisine through AdWords. I always come to the same conclusion – why try and rinse and repeat the stuff that others are already doing so well when we can signpost the good stuff? We already follow some of the mainstream blogs and you probably are too. So, what other blogs do we follow? We are just in the process of moving this site to an upgraded platform and new hosting environment. When we do these ten are likely to feature on the blogroll. Five from me and five from Beth – you can probably guess which ones come from who!
I saw Gerd Leonhard talk about the future of advertising (What future he might say?!) a couple of years ago and have been avidly following him ever since. Love his manner and what he talks about, not to mention the crazy graphics he uses in his slides. Openness is now definitely a survival strategy and data is definitely the new oil!
Search is a really important part of our business. It’s one of the cornerstones that supports a lot of what we do. We work with some really smart SEOs and they have all pointed me to SEOmoz over the years. In an ongoing effort to keep up with everything SEO and a bit more I follow it too.
Endless difference, that’s what this blog is all about. Just when you think all the new angles on a product have been exhausted a clever little fish gets an idea with the ‘cut through’ of a blue whale. Great resource for refreshing thinking on how to make a product stand-out in category.
With loads of contributors posting on a wide range of topics from technology, strategy and planning, e-commerce, social media, user experience, mobile internet, e-mail, online PR and much more. This is a great blog for keeping on top of the multi-channel, multi-skilled world of digital marketing.
I have people like Chris Brogan and Seth Godin tagged ‘Digerati’ in my RSS reader. Chris Brogan is huge and his blog hugely followed. The thing I like about him is his endless enthusiasm for doing things right and doing things well. Plus the straight talking and practical actionable advice.
I love it. If design and ‘User experience’ is your thing then this blog is too. It is pure indulgence in every sense. Get a cuppa and lose yourself. The 52 weeks idea is genius and the ‘old school’ styling gives this modern subject a clever twist. The writing is spot on too.
Every session I spend on Google analytics I discover something new. The learning is endless and the opportunities to turn web analytics into demonstrable ROI for a business huge. I love analytics and just about anything measurement or evaluation so of course I am going to follow this blog!
Essentially this blog covers destination branding and travel and trends in global tourism. It’s a great ‘one stop shop’ for an overview on destination brand strategies and marketing campaigns.
Helge Tenno is a Norwegian planner. He produces lovely looking slideshows and has a knack of cutting through waffle and phrasing things to be simple common sense. I like this intro line “In my work I help companies and organizations discover why they are valuable in customer’s lives”.
iCrossing are a pretty big search and social agency. UK head office in Brighton. As far as agency blogs go I have always thought this is a pretty balanced one. Just the right amount of nerdyness! It’s a good one to point out to people that are managing digital and integrated campaigns. The personality of the place and individuals comes through nicely too.
We’ve compared the waterfall marketer and agile marketer in previous posts – specifically Agile marketing and ‘give it a go and see what happens’. We’ve been talking here about how that relates to the agency world and it came up in a conversation I had yesterday too. So I went back to the original post – Sex and the Agile Marketer – and asked myself how does this apply to the agency world? Are there fundamental differences between agencies and what are they?
If the waterfall agency does exist is this a valid description?
Focus is on fixed annual marketing plans
Repeats familiar programmes
Runs a few expensive programmes
Focuses on the size of the budget associated to an account
Creative over analytical
Sees things as predictable
Brand is rooted in strategy
Makes decisions based on data from media owners
Fights for maximum budget each year
Sees client supplier relationship as them and us
By comparison does this describe a different type of agency?
Builds monthly, weekly or even daily plans
Is always testing new programmes and media
Runs many low cost programmes and the successful ones get scaled up
Focuses on the results delivered on an account
Analytical over creative
Lives in an unpredictable world
Brand is rooted in customer experience
Invests mostly in measurable programmes
Justifies budget from bottom up based on objectives
Sees client supplier relationship as an extension of the internal team
Clearly different. Either end of the spectrum maybe but there definitely seems to be a new breed of agency that has a different mindset and approach to things. One where fail better and fail faster is entirely acceptable.
On some level, when a company offers me a form or an e-mail address as a way to get in touch, I feel slightly snubbed. Why so bloody aloof? Why keep me at arm’s length? I’m an alright person. My needs are not wholly unreasonable. I just want a few answers to a few questions that I can’t find the answer to on the website.
I feel pretty strongly about ‘Contact Us’ pages. They should be welcoming and encouraging. After a first date with someone you really quite like you wouldn’t ask them to leave a message so that you can pick it up at your earliest convenience. Surely you’d make yourself as available as possible. In fact if you really liked them you’d be waiting by the phone, e-mail, text and Skype! After all, this is the critical phase of what could turn out to be lovely long term relationship. Every move matters.
Here comes the trumpet blowing.
On one of the sites we’ve recently been working on we’ve been improving that all important ‘Contact Us’ page. Built on Word Press, it’s not as big and elaborate as a lot of the sites we work on but it doesn’t mean you can’t do things well. We think the end result is human, welcoming and super encouraging to ‘get in touch’. Like most of our website development work it all starts with a sketch and a conversation with the client and then (and only then) do we move into wire framing, information architecture and the techie build. I do the doodles and Pete and his team work their magic on design and build.
The final solution.
Here’s what we decided;
Introduce the lovely staff. Include images and links to find out more about them.
Offer four different ways to get in touch – telephone, e-mail, Skype and a call back form.
Reassure that there is no question too silly and that the staff speak good English.
Be upfront about response turnaround times, call rates and office hours.
Wrap it all up in a bunch of useful content and information. Flickr, YouTube, downloadable brochures, weather and the location.
Offer the option to sign up to hear from them again and win a holiday.
We also worked with the client to set up appropriate telephony and route calls via Skype so the customer only pays for a national rate call. Here’s the end product. You can let us know what you think and what we’ve missed by leaving a comment below. Thoughts welcome!
It’s been a few weeks since I have blogged here. Sometimes you are just too busy to find the time to commit your thoughts to paper (well you know what I mean). Sometimes you are formulating your thoughts so you actually can commit them to paper. Developing a digital marketing strategy is a bit like that.
You rarely have the luxury of starting at the beginning. All of the things that have gone before and the complexity that the real world brings help define the starting point and the challenge you face. In terms of the particular digital strategy I am working on now that includes the following;
A marketing strategy that has evolved over time and defines the right but fairly top line starting point.
A complex set of stakeholders with an equally complex set of requirements.
An organisation that comes from a traditional campaigns led heritage and one that in many respects is struggling to get to grips with the new marketing environment in which it operates.
Digital marketing is managed across three different teams who often approach things somewhat differently and have a different set of priorities.
There are three key marketing agencies, each with their own particular view and set of skills, that need to work together effectively to develop and deliver integrated marketing activity across online and offline channels.
A significant reduction in resources – financial, people, time and mouse clicks.
Sound familiar? So where do you begin? The SOSTAC® planning system provides one useful framework through which you can start looking at each of the following;
Situation Analysis – Where are we now?
Objectives – Where do we want to be?
Strategy – How do we get there?
Tactics – How exactly do we get there?
Actions – Who does what and when?
Control – How do we monitor performance?
In this particular case the word ‘framework’ is an important one. Defining answers to the first three questions provides a mechanism for pulling together the different stakeholders and teams I have already mentioned and helping define a direction of travel for the organisation. One that everyone in the organisation can sign up to. One that helps the individual marketing agencies involved work together on their specific areas to define the fourth question ‘How exactly do we get there’?.
My job is often about breaking things down into their component parts, simplifying them and finding a solution that works once you put it all back together again. In terms of developing digital marketing strategy and helping define the answer to the question ‘How do we get there?’ you can break things down into four key areas that between them form some of the cornerstones of digital marketing.
1. Content
When someone said ‘Content is King’ they weren’t kidding. What content is required for what purpose at what point on the customer journey for which customer? You need to think about who is responsible for that content and how it is going to be created and managed. Don’t forget about the network of content creators that exist around your particular product or service – from within your organisation, other organisations and your customers. Figure out how to make that network work for your benefit.
2. Distribution
The 3D media landscape – owner media, earned media and bought media. These are content distribution channels. Where does the responsibility for each lie, how are things changing and what are the consequences for your organisation? What defines your strategy in each? Think integrated and figure out how they work to support each across increasingly complex and messy customer journeys. Remember multi-channel is best.
3. Platforms
This includes your own digital marketing platforms – your website, your blog and your email. You also need to think about third party, social and other brand platforms. There are an ever increasing number of them. Multiple platforms need to be set up and managed in such a way that they support each other, your brand and your specific marketing objectives.
4. People
Every business is a people business. Be clear about who your customers are, what they think and what they do. Use customer personas and customer journey planning to help drive the insights you need. Pay as much attention to those involved in delivering the marketing programme – it’s got to work for them too. Which teams and agencies are responsible for which bits and how does it work across the piece?
Manage today and plan for tomorrow
Get real. Unless you are starting with a completely clean sheet of paper those four things are probably not going to fit together perfectly. There will be compromise. Furthermore, you and your agency team are likely to be dealing with ‘now’ so you need to create a framework and environment where you can manage today and plan for tomorrow.
Over time you can improve things, implement change and drive better performance. Think about what changes you need to make and over what timescales you can realistically achieve them. Give those involved the headspace they need to think about the future as well as the time to deal with today.
