We've all heard the words "digital strategy" before. They're bandied around marketing departments and advertising agencies like some magical insight into how the world of online actually works. In reality, the definition of digital strategy is sketchy at best and in my experience changes depending on who you're talking to.
So what then is digital strategy? I've put some thought into this and am happy to put forward Cru Digital's stance on digital strategy.
As with most terminology the meaning changes depending on the context. For the purposes of this article "digital strategy" is taken in the context of a marketing campaign (not necessarily a digital specific campaign either).
Let's first analyse the word "digital". Rather than a literal interpretation from the dictionary we take digital as meaning the provision of services that are delivered digitally. These include:
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Website Development |
Search & Affiliate |
Relationship Marketing |
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Media Planning & Buying |
Conceptualisation |
Mobile Marketing |
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Now let's look at the word "strategy". One definition is "an elaborate and systematic plan of action". However I'd also like to draw on the way strategy is defined by the military (and let's face it, marketing is war!) In military usage, a distinction is made between strategy and tactics. Strategy is the utilization, during both peace and war, of all of a nation's forces, through large-scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security or victory. Tactics deals with the use and deployment of troops in actual combat.
This creates some interesting analogies. Let's pull out the key points:
| Military |
Digital |
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Utilisation of a nation's forces |
We should utilise all of the necessary digital services we can that will add value to the campaign (i.e. will help achieve the campaign objectives) |
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Large-scale, long-range planning and development |
Considering the context of a marketing campaign, we must consider how to best utilise our digital forces over the life of the campaign (and beyond) |
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During both peace and war |
Digital strategy should be considered not just for acquisition, but for the development and retention of existing customers |
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Ensure victory |
For our digital campaign to be successful we MUST understand what the objectives are - i.e."what is the definition of 'success' for this campaign?" |
The analogy is great, but it doesn't give us our elaborate and systematic plan of action. To achieve this Cru Digital has developed a digital planning technique called OMEGA.
OMEGA
| Objectives | |
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| Markets | Engagement |
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| Goals | Analytics |
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Going through the above process with your digital agency will help make your next marketing campaign a success. To see how Cru Digital can help you with your digital strategy please contact us and we'll organise a time to take you through an OMEGA digital planning session.
