Digital strategies OR How to start increasing business: a primer.

This is part two to a two part series. Part 1 can be found here.

TL:DR: Digital strategies, 5 things: 1. Set a goal. 2. Find out how you can achieve that goal internally, 3. Write down a strategy to get the goal 4. Keep your eye, every day, on the goal 5. Measure the failures as well as the successes. Rinse. Repeat every month. Grow.

So you’ve been told that “Digital” is the best thing ever for your business. I’m going to give you a few things to help you start the process.

Measure, test, report and adapt. Keep your eye on the goal.

A good reporting system and focusing on KPIs or Key Performance Indicators mean that you don’t spend your time searching for what went wrong. You have learned what is going wrong and you adjust. Maybe your product uptake is better when you host seasonal sales, for example, or maybe the coupons aren’t really giving you the traffic you were hoping for after a month. Switch up and change up. You will get where you are going.

There are a ton of resources, mostly free, that can help you analyse the data. Google Analytics is one and well as Facebook page insights. Use them but don’t try to analyse everything. Stick to the KPI and the goal.

Don’t be afraid to fail after executing a digital campaign.

Google has said that they experiment every day and 90% of their experiments fail. This is important to note. Failure doesn’t mean you haven’t achieved the goal, somewhere along the line conditions change, the market shifts, competitors get wise and start doing something else. Keep your eye on the ball and shift accordingly.

The key thing to remember with a digital strategy is to work at the pace of digital (pdf). Things move fast, so stay focused. Don’t leave your ad campaigns running for days, you need to check that every morning. Look at how the indicators you have set in the strategy are doing. Are you falling behind? Is it doing better than you expected? This is where buy in from those on the ground and in the Digital departments work together to see the goals are met.

Digital creates value. You will find that you will be spending less money on conversions once you’ve got your “groove” so don’t give up. Keep going back to the strategy and checking it against measurable sales and conversion data.

That’s it. 5 things you can start thinking about right now to start your ball rolling. If however you’ve already started all of this, then great job! Just remember keep your eye on the goal.

If you’d like to discuss more about how I can creatively help you with a digital strategy, just get in contact. As always personal experiences and comments on this post are welcome.